Tertiary Education In The Information Age

There are several issues with education, and several competing ideologies and realities that are affecting tertiary education. On one side, we have those that believe tertiary education is an egalitarian goal, and as a result the state should ensure that there is no fiscal barriers to anyone who seeks to further themselves through tertiary education. On another side we have the free marketers who see education being the most efficient when education is exposed to free market competition and pressure.

At the moment however, we have the worst of both worlds. Government is enforcing quotas on tertiary institutions, and micro-managing what courses can be taught, and what fees can be leveraged. The government is also demanding that the universities be self-sufficient fiscally. The universities have responded by seeking more international students, but without the universities able to set their courses and student intake to supply and demand domestically, they are proving inefficient.

Another issue is how the economy has sped up, and the industrial education structure, of which the current Universities are one, are no longer as relevant to the information economy. In the 1950s someone who spent three years at university learning a profession had every right to expect that this would serve them well in their career until they got into upper management.

These days, career changes are common, and workers specialise for a project, before moving to another project and specialising in another topic. This matches the business investment cycle more closely. Workers rarely stay on a project beyond a year and generally have to learn another technical speciality once assigned to a new project. Money, investment, technology and knowledge are moving faster than ever before, and the industrial era education infrastructure is quite simply too slow to keep up with it.

The Australian worker is a global citizen already. We have one of the largest diasporas in per capita terms with approximately one million Australians working outside of Australia at any one time. The diaspora is turgid as well, with Australians constantly moving in and out of the country while seeking opportunities overseas and at home. Despite the restrictive borders of the nation-state, labour is increasing following investment money as workers move to where they can maximize the return on their skills.

Australia, and Australians will have to compete in a world labour economy where commodity skills can be moved with short notice to any other part of the globe. The only way to stave off these pressures is to ensure that the skills of Australians are specialised, and the opportunity to increase their education is constantly on tap. This will require shorter, faster and cheaper tertiary education.

Egalitarianism

University education is a positive for an individual. Those that attend University earn more in their careers. There is consensus in Australia that youth require a level of education and maturity before being given the vote. This is commonly taken up by the state education system from age five to eighteen. This education is used to determine whether a student can enter University. But under the current quota system, the marks to enter University are often arbitrary and more an indication of a courses popularity inside the quota system than anything else.

Education in human history has constantly accelerated. It was not so long ago that the brightest scientists on the planet were defined by their ability to do Cartesian algebra. We now teach algebraic concepts and problems to six year olds. The human capability to absorb and apply new information is exceptional. The pace of education has increased rapidly with the pace of human technological and scientific achievement.

With the information age now starting to mature and promise a new era of technological, economic and intellectual growth, the pace of education will have to increase once again, but this time between the ages of five and eighteen. Australia's children will be up to the challenge.

HSC to become Arts Degrees

In NSW the final two years are defined by the Higher School Certificate [HSC]. This is a quasi-university style curriculum where students choose electives, and majors with only 2 unit maths and english being compulsory. These subject are then tested at the end of two years to combine to the HSC mark which is then used to determine which course at University a student can attend.

Unfortunately first year university mimics the HSC process, and most of the subjects are repeated in first year as were done in the HSC. Leaving many a first year University student wondering why. Another issue with the three and four years degrees is how they remove an individual from being a productive contributor to the economy. Too often students are reduced to poverty until they can complete their degree, which in itself is no guarantee of employment. Our system often removes some of our brightest young people from participating in the economy, leaving them indebted - making University a heavy burden.

As a result the HSC should be sped up so that it becomes a two year liberal arts degree that is done in High School. HSC students already choose electives to study. This should be expanded so that students can choose between science, arts and mechanical arts majors. Essentially the High Schools will take over the role of the first two years of University, and set up a student to specialise in an area once they complete High School and enter a tertiary institution.

One Year Specialisation

Where the current system is working is in post-graduate courses. Since 1994 these have been opened up and exposed to market pressures. Andrew Norton wrote in "Unchained University";

Since this is one of the few areas where universities can make money, they offer more courses. Between 1994 and 2002 the number of postgraduate courses increased ... from 4,250 to about 6,000.

This has led to some masters courses being as little as six months in duration. A positive sign that specialisation needs are dropping to the pace of private industry. The Australian Qualifications Framework [AQF] defines accreditation for bachelors degrees, master etc. It does not specify course duration for masters courses, allowing Universities more discretion to match the students' needs.

One year for specialisation is a ballpark, but is far less than the current two years, or the multiple years for post-doctorate work. I would not be concerned if the AQF was removed, and private institutions were capable of popping to challenge the existing standards of what constitutes a bachelors and masters degree.

Conclusion

Tertiary education is too slow for the fast paced investment and technological cycles of modern private industry. It is based on an industrial era view of education, which is further hampered by government micro-managements, funding and quota system. As a consequence it is out of sync with the needs of its students, private industry and the rising Australian global workforce.

As a result high school education needs to be hastened, so that the HSC is replaced with a tertiary degree that is equivalent to the first two years of a current bachelors degree. Universities can then concentrate on postgraduate education for students. In this area the Universities are already largely free from government intervention and capable of matching the needs of their students more closely.

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