Higher Education Policy Discussions

The Melbourne CSHE's public seminars on tertiary education policy have addressed contemporary national debates and provided a forum for leaders from across Australia's education and government sectors to discuss issues of national importance and interest.

What will be the new government’s vision for higher education?

With tax cuts being the main priority for the re-elected Coalition Government, and so many other pressing issues, higher education is in danger of being forgotten. The lack of genuine and transparent consultation with the sector on evidence-based policy options is not particularly encouraging. Yet, there are some major challenges for higher education - and post-secondary education as a whole – in Australia, as it moves into a new phase as an expanding knowledge-based society and economy:

  • Is higher and further education fit for purpose in the 21st Century?
  • How can we fund it in a way that is sustainable well into the future?
  • How could we better integrate HE, VET and other post-secondary education?
  • How can we achieve greater equity in access, success and graduate outcomes?
  • Has internationalisation gone too far?
  • How should Australia’s HE sector position itself globally?

These and other issues will be the subject of three policy discussions open to the public, hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education (Melbourne CSHE) during the first 100 days of the new government. The aim is to generate new ideas drawing on the latest evidence, challenge conventional thinking and offer practical steps that ministers can take in the next few years towards a longer term, comprehensive vision for post-secondary education.

Government must address system’s urgent problems

Watch the livestream of the third policy discussion, Has Internationalisation Gone Too Far?, on Wednesday 7 August 2019. Use #unimelbHEpolicy to join the conversation:

Upcoming policy discussions

Past seminars on public policy