Professor Vin Massaro

Professor Vin Massaro was educated at Morwell High School and Monash University, where he graduated with a BA and PhD.  He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Vin has held several senior positions in educational management and policy in universities and government, and as a consultant and adviser in Australia and internationally. He has also been Chairman and a member of several company boards, and is currently the Independent Member of the Board of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists and recently served two terms on the Board of Northern Health, one of the Victorian Metropolitan Health Regions.

He has also been a Professorial Fellow in the LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management, and in the Australian Health Workforce Institute, a joint Institute of the universities of Melbourne and Queensland.

Vin is currently Managing Director of Massaro Consulting, specialising in higher education and health workforce.

His past roles have included Executive Dean of the School of International Development at Melbourne University Private, Chief Executive of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, inaugural Chief Executive of the Victorian State Board of Education, and Director of Administration and Registrar at Flinders University. He has held senior positions at Latrobe University, the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences and the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee. He has also been a consultant on higher education to the OECD and an adviser to several governments.

Vin has an Honorary Fellowship of ATEM and has held several elected positions in the organisation, including as President (1989-1992), Vice-President in 1980 and 1988 and Victorian Branch President (1998-1999).

His research interests are in higher education policy and management, with particular emphasis on quality assurance and governance, and he has published widely on these topics.

Vin was a Founding Editor of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, editing or co-editing it for the first twenty years; and he has been Editor of the OECD's Journal, Higher Education Management and Policy.

Selected publications

“Higher Education in the Aftermath of the Bradley Review: A Critical Reflection”, Australasian Journal of Community Engagement, Vol 4. No 1, Autumn 2009, 28-44.

"How goes the Revolution? – Targets, Funding, Compacts and Regulation".  Address to the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Conference, Sydney, 8-9 June 2010.

“Cui bono? - The Relevance and Impact of Quality Assurance”, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 32.1 (2010), 17–26.

“A Tale of Two Strategies: Higher Education and Economic Recovery in Ireland and Australia.” Journal of Higher Education Management and Policy 23.2 (2011), 79–102 (with Ellen Hazelkorn).

“TEQSA and the holy grail of outcomes-based quality assessment”, in Marginson, S. (ed.) Tertiary Education Policy in Australia.  Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, 2013.

“A Framework for Differentiation” (with Leo Goedegebuure, V. Lynn Meek, V.L. & Alan Pettigrew). In James, R., French, S. & Kelly, P. (eds) Visions for Australian Tertiary Education.  Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, 2017.

"A New Start for Policy and Funding".  Address to the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Conference, Sydney, 9-10 March 2009.

"Higher Education and the Outcomes of the Bradley Review: The Implications of the Government's Budget Response".  Keynote Address to the ATEM Central Region Annual Conference, Adelaide, 20 May 2009.

"Curriculum Models for the 21st Century: The Melbourne Model".  Address to the New Zealand Universities Quality Enhancement Meeting 12.  Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand, 13-14 September 2007.

"Adaptation or Irrelevance - New Context and New Responsibilities". Response to Keynote Address, OECD/IMHE General Conference.  Paris, 13-15 September 2004.

“Professional Accreditation and Audit”.  Proceedings of the Australian Universities Quality Forum 2003.  Melbourne, AUQA, 2004.

Quality Assessment - The Australian Experiment.  Stockholm, Högskoleverkets Skriftserie, 1996:7 S.

“Learning from Audit? - Preliminary Impressions from a Survey of OECD Countries”.  In Quality Assurance as Support for Processes of Innovation - The Swedish Model in Comparative Context.  Stockholm, Högskoleverkets Skriftserie, 1997:1 S.

“Institutional Responses to Quality Assessment”.  In Brennan, J., de Vries, P. and Williams, R. (eds) Standards and Quality in Higher Education.  London, Jessica Kingsley Publishing, 1997.

“Benchmarking in Australian Higher Education”.  In Schofield, A. (ed.) Benchmarking in Higher Education: an International Review.  London, Commonwealth Higher Education Management Service, 1998.

“Las Respuestas Institucionales para el Aseguramiento de la Calidad”.  In Malo, S. and Velázquez Jiménez, A. (eds.) La Calidad en la Educación Superior en México: Una Comparación Internacional.  UNAM/OECD/ Miguel Angel Porrúa, Mexico City, 1998.

“Institutional Responses to Quality Assessment: Developing Diversity”, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 18.1 (1996).

“Quality Measurement in Australia: An Assessment of the Holistic Approach”, Higher Education Management 7.1 (1995) 81-99.

"Financing Higher Education".  In Marshall, N. & Walsh, C. (eds) The Governance and Funding of Australian Higher Education.  Canberra, ANU, 1992.

Selected newspaper commentaries

“What’s an Australian University?”, Fellow Voices, MCSHE, University of Melbourne, 27 July 2020 (https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/lh-martin-institute/fellow-voices/whats-an-australian-university)

“Funding model inadequate on teaching quality and standards”, Campus Morning Mail, 15 July 2020

“Far-reaching reform of the funding model must begin now”, The Australian, 29 April 2020.

“Take the politicians out of education policy-making”,  The Australian, 13 December 2017.

“Revisit reform, this time with vision” , The Australian, 28 June 2017.

“How to fix the tertiary system: bring on an apolitical review”, The Australian, 15 April 2015.

“Rational deregulation of university fees”, University World News,  Issue No:335, 19 September 2014.

“Universities must be able to plot their own courses”, The Australian, 3 September 2014.

“Towards Policy Coherence”, Campus Review, 22 August 2011.

"Outcomes of the Bradley review", World University News, Issue 77, 24 May 2009.  (Feature Article on the 2009 Budget and the Bradley Review.)

"Fix the funding shortfall or universities will fall in a hole", The Australian Financial Review, 11 May 2009.  (Opinion column on higher education reform and the federal Budget.)

"Concentrating on research", Campus Review, 2 March 2009. (Opinion column on the Review of Australian Higher Education.)

"Unpicking the Bradley Report", The Australian, 17 February 2009.  (Opinion column on the Review of Australian Higher Education.)

"Failure to deliver a road map", The Australian, 17 December 2008.  (Opinion column on the Review of Australian Higher Education.)

"Revolution could take some time", The Australian, 9 July 2008.  (Opinion column on the Review of Australian Higher Education.)

"Review Provides a Difficult Test for Government", The Australian Financial Review, 31 March 2008.  (Opinion column on the Review of Australian Higher Education.)

"Independent Planning is Essential", The Australian Financial Review, 30 July 2007.  (Opinion column on higher education policy advice, with Simon Marginson.)

"US Fund-Raising Recipe Not Ideal Mix for Australia", The Australian Financial Review, 25 September 2006.  (Opinion column on philanthropy in higher education.)

"Quality is a matter of degree", The Australian Financial Review, 15 May 2006. (Opinion column on the quality of university degrees.)

"Ruling not needed to bolster specialist training", The Australian Financial Review, 27 March 2006. (Opinion column on increasing the specialist medical workforce.)

"Open market in study loans", The Australian Financial Review, 5 December 2005. (Opinion column on the deregulation of university fees.)

"Let universities choose their own path", The Australian Financial Review, 12 September 2005. (Opinion column on the Federal Government's discussion paper, Building University Diversity.)

"Feds in the driver's seat", The Australian Financial Review, 22 November 2004.  (Opinion column on the implications of the Federal Government assuming legislative responsibility for universities.)

"The Numbers Crunch", The Australian, 11 August 2004.  (Opinion column on worsening university staff:student ratios.)

"Answer to university funding is in the market", The Australian Financial Review, 23 February 2004.  (Invited Opinion column on university commercialisation)

"Diversity must be rewarded", The Australian, 16 July 2003.  (Invited Opinion column on the government's proposed changes to Higher Education.)

"Indemnity Still on the Critical List", The Australian, 2-3 November 2002.  (Opinion column on the government's proposed solution to the medical indemnity insurance problem.)