澳大利亚高等教育资助制度改革新策略--《2003年高等教育支持法案》解析

2003年12月澳大利亚议会通过了《2003 年高等教育支持法案》。针对高等院校提出了联邦拨款计划、其他拨款和联邦奖学金拨款三种拨款形式,对学生应承担费用的贷款制度和全额付费学生的贷款制度进行了改革。《法案》力图通过改革经费资助制度来促进整个高等教育系统合理发展,促进高等教育的多样化,并保障不同经济背景的学生接受高等教育。《法案》还试图通过拨款使联邦政府对高等教育的管理在自由与调控之间取得一种平衡。     

Australian social scientists and transition to a more commercial university environment

Australian social scientists generally are highly critical of Commonwealth Government higher education policy and funding levels, and the new commercial, entrepreneurial and managerial university environment. They are frustrated with increased workloads, higher degrees of regulation and reporting requirements, incompetence of university management and often deteriorating social relations within academic departments. At the same time, many social scientists have proved to be remarkably adaptable, showing high degrees of interest in and commitment to their teaching and research, impressive levels of research productivity and substantial involvement in providing policy advice to government and in commercial activities, including recruiting fee‐paying domestic and international students, consultancies and attracting external research funds. Many work effectively with colleagues or in research teams, and often publish jointly with colleagues from their own and other institutions. Despite strong research links with government agencies, respondents report that their research is primarily driven by intrinsic interest and to generate inputs to teaching, rather than by utilitarian motives.     

澳大利亚高等教育成本分担计划概述

高等教育成本分担计划(HECS)不仅促进了澳大利亚高等教育规模的持续增长,还被国际上公认为是一种接受高等教育的公平途径,对澳大利亚高等教育成本分担计划出台的背景、实施过程及实施效果进行研究,将会对我国高等教育成本分担政策的制订有所启示。     

The end of modernist approaches to school funding policy in Australia: a new rationale for funding with inclusive implications for all Australian schools?

The Australian Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee has been asked to examine the principles of Commonwealth Funding for schools, with particular emphasis on how these principles apply in meeting the current future needs of government and non‐government schools and whether they ensure efficiency in the allocation of school funding. The Committee will also investigate accountability arrangements including and through the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. This paper provides a critical discourse analysis of recent developments, tracking two themes: the construction of ‘efficiency and effectiveness’ in the allocation of school funding in Australia, and the impact of such a construction on a discourse of inclusive education for all schools in Australia. Through this analysis, it is argued that the current enquiry creates an opportunity for a substantial shift in focus — from funding government and non‐government schools in relation to government schools, to both government and non‐government schools — within a framework of presumptive equality and inclusion. It is also argued that extant policy, removing the substantial Catholic sector from its hitherto hybridized and separate funding position and bringing government and non‐government schools into sector‐specific funding competition with each other, realigns and rearticulates federal involvement in school funding policy areas that have been the traditional preserve of state governments and territories. In the process, responsibility for instilling and supporting inclusive educational practices is currently solely that of the states and territories where, in many cases, funding as well as inclusive education policies and programmes have been determined at local levels. The endorsement by the federal government of new principles in funding, as proposed here, linked with renewed requirements in relation to school access and participation, creates a space that potentially enables new strategies for inclusive education to be conjoined with funding allocation policy in Australian schools, to the economic and social benefits of all schools as well as the polity.     

The Impact of FEFC Funding 1997‐99: Research on 14 colleges

This article is based upon research undertaken by NATFHE and the Lifelong Learning Group, Institute of Education, University of London (Lucas et al., 1999). It looks at the impact of funding on 14 FE colleges (spread across England and including inner city, suburban and rural colleges, two sixth form and an agricultural college) and follows up the research carried out in 1996-97 by NATFHE and the Institute of Education: Learning Funding: the impact of FEFC funding, evidence from twelve FE colleges, (1998). The research we examined focuses on the effects of the FEFC funding methodology upon colleges and the further education curriculum during the period immediately following the crisis in 1997 over the 'demand-led element' of funding (DLE). A full report can be obtained from NATFHE or the Institute of Education.     

Australian teacher education: inside-out,outside-in,backwards and forwards?

Abstract

Teacher Education in Australia seems to be in a dynamic and constant cycle of review and change. Policy governing teacher education has also been eminently changeable and dynamic. To some extent this stems from three year terms for governments where a short term and expedient political view is taken. There has also been ongoing centre-periphery tension between the Commonwealth government and the State governments regarding regulation and accreditation of teacher education programmes with there now being regulatory bodies at both national (Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership – AITSL) and state levels. Despite all of this, teacher education is still the butt of ongoing criticism and investigation and is now more highly regulated than ever. Since teacher education occurs within a university context, with the exception of that which is offered through some private providers or some Technical and Further Education (TAFE) providers, it is also at the whim of government funding policies impacting universities generally.     

Efficiency by Performance Indicators? Evidence from Australian Higher Education

In its drive for higher efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, the Australian Commonwealth Government released its policy on higher education, Higher Education: A Policy Statement during the late 1980s which contributed to the introduction of performance indicators to manage and assess the performance of the higher education system. The research component of annual Commonwealth funding to universities, called the Research Quantum, is now distributed by a set of performance indicators: external research income, publications count and higher degree research completions. This paper analysed the impact of these indicators on the research activities of Australian university academics based on Leibenstein's model of X-efficiency. Although the impact of performance indicators on university academics was found to follow the pressure-effort relationship, for some respondents, the increase in effort as a result of heightened pressure had involved strategic behaviour. Two conditions that are identified for the minimisation of an institution's X-inefficiency despite high staff effort are a high ratio of maximising to non-maximising decisions for both the staff and institution, and for all the institution's essential objectives/activities, and not just those which are measured by the performance indicators. The implications of these findings for the development and application of performance indicators are discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

澳大利亚“高等教育收费计划改革及其对中国的启示”

迫于高等教育大众化需求和教育财政经费短缺的压力，澳大利亚在20世纪80年代后期开始实施高等教育收费计划（HECS）。文章首先介绍HECS收费改革及其学生贷款的配套计划，随后评估HECS实施效果，最后探讨对我国的启示。     

Research planning and management in non‐traditional research discipline areas

Abstract

In its drive for higher efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, the Australian Commonwealth Government released its policy on higher education, Higher Education: A Policy Statement during the late 1980s which contributed to the introduction of performance indicators to manage and assess the performance of the higher education system. The research component of annual Commonwealth funding to universities, called the Research Quantum, is now distributed by a set of performance indicators: external research income, publications count and higher degree research completions. This paper analysed the impact of these indicators on the research activities of Australian university academics based on Leibenstein's model of X‐efficiency. Although the impact of performance indicators on university academics was found to follow the pressure‐effort relationship, for some respondents, the increase in effort as a result of heightened pressure had involved strategic behaviour. Two conditions that are identified for the minimisation of an institution's X‐inefficiency despite high staff effort are a high ratio of maximising to non‐maximising decisions for both the staff and institution, and for all the institution's essential objectives/activities, and not just those which are measured by the performance indicators. The implications of these findings for the development and application of performance indicators are discussed.     

University-School Collaboration: Identifying faulty assumptions

The 1993 Teaching Accord in Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, Australia Education Union, and Independent Education Union) committed all funding for professional development to programmes promoting partnerships that involve teacher organisations, education authorities and universities. Since then there has been a proliferation of collaborative research and development projects involving universities and schools. The author has been a university participant in a number of these projects, including the Innovative Links Project (Innovative Links between Schools and Universities for Teacher Professional Development, 1994-96), the Australian National Middle Schooling Authentic Assessment Research Circle (1997) and the School-based Research and Reform Project (1998-2000). The first part of this article reports on research the author conducted into the experiences of the seven teacher educators who worked in the Innovative Links Project in South Australia. The research revealed that for these teacher educators, the Project expectations proved to be problematic because they were based on invalid assumptions about the personal, structural and cultural conditions that impacted on both school and university participants at that time. In the second part of the article, the author draws on experiences in later projects to look at what forms of collaboration are possible in the light of these conditions.     

Costing distance education and open learning in sub‐Saharan Africa

This article is based on a report of the same name emanating from research undertaken by a team of South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) researchers for the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) during 2003. The article explores the importance of costing distance education and open learning (DEOL) in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA); describes the research process and research findings; and provides conclusions and recommendations.     

Towards an Analysis of Language in the Further Education Classroom

abstract

Since the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, colleges of Further Education have been funded by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC). Now that these arrangements have been in operation for over four years, it seemed appropriate to evaluate their impact. A college of further education known to have significant funding problems was selected for the study. Teaching staff were requested to complete a questionnaire relating to their perceived understanding of funding mechanisms and the means by which they believed that funding could be optimised. Results indicated that many staff appeared not to understand the workings of the funding mechanisms. There was no willingness to adopt any course of action to boost FEFC funding from purely economic motives, student welfare being of paramount importance to staff. Given that results indicated that staff perceptions of FEFC funding mechanisms were often misconceived, or lacking, a list of possible areas for optimisation of funding was compiled that could be brought to the attention of these and other staff. Indeed, it is intended that, if the college is typical, the areas for highlighting awareness raised in this article may be applicable throughout colleges generally.     

关于完善我国高等教育投资体制的思考

从我国现阶段高等教育经费投入不足对高等教育发展的制约着眼,通过对高等教育投资资金来源结构中的问题进行深入研究,结合当前实际的高等教育需求,从教育经济政策、教育收费制度和社会资助三个方面对完善我国高等教育投资体制提出了建议。     

FEFC Funding: research on 12 colleges

Abstract

This article is based upon the research undertaken by Dan Taubman of NATFHE, Tom Leney and Norman Lucas of the Post‐16 Education Centre, Institute of Education, University of London. The research focuses on the impact of the FEFC funding on colleges’ curricula, teaching and internal management. The full report of the findings was presented to a NATFHE conference in January 1998 entitled Learning Funding: the impact of FEFC funding, evidence from twelve FE colleges (Leney et al., 1998). This article summarises the main findings of the research — the full version and report of the conference can be purchased from NATFHE or the Post‐16 Education Centre.     

Studying and Working: A national study of student finances and student engagement

Tertiary Education and Management - A key determinant of the new relationship between students and universities in Australia is the changing nature of higher education funding arrangements and the...     

Policy-Practice Proximity: The Scope for College-Based Higher Education and Cross-Sector Collaboration in Wales

In relation to the size of its population, Wales has a relatively large number of higher education institutions, several of which are small and located in rural areas. Compared with other parts of the United Kingdom, only a small number of higher education students are taught in Welsh further education colleges. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to increase higher education provision in the colleges, beginning in the late 1980s with the encouragement of franchising arrangements by the Wales Advisory Body and later with a joint initiative by the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils for Wales to expand some sub‐degree higher education in the colleges by direct funding. These developments represent just one strand of activity linking the higher and further education sectors in Wales and have not been a subject of major or regular policy attention. For reasons of scale and geography, and through the enabling structures and processes serving both funding councils, cross‐sector initiatives and collaboration have generally been given high priority in strategies to widen access and build progression. The administrative devolution reflected in these arrangements has been increased by political devolution since 1999, with as yet unclear implications for the future development of higher education in the colleges.     

THE CHANGING SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF NURSING STUDENTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES

This study had two major aims: 1) to establish a reliable data base on the social and demographic origins of nursing students in New South Wales universities since the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and the change from diploma to degree level programs; and 2) to compare the social and demographic origins of nursing students in higher education programs in 1995 with the data base established by Wright in New South Wales in 1986 to detect changes over time. Comparison of data from the 1986 group (N=447) and the 1995 group (N=512) revealed that there was a no significant difference between the two cohorts on the socio‐economic variable. There was, however, a significant difference in the SES variable between the 1986 and 1995 sample for the female group. From a household perspective, there was a significant difference in the number of siblings, and income received by the mother between the 1986 and 1995 cohorts. In addition, no support was found for the assertion that country students would be disadvantaged with the move to higher education programs. It was also found that almost 79.3% of the 1995 group chose to delay their HECS payment until they entered the workforce.     

The Social effects of the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS)

Australia’s Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) is an income contingent loan scheme, in which university students pay back part of the costs of their tuition after their post-university income reaches a certain threshold, is an important policy innovation for the financing of higher education. However, its critics claim that HECS increases socioeconomic inequalities in higher education and the HECS debt reduces the ability of young people to make the transitions to adulthood. This paper investigates these claims. There is no evidence that socioeconomic inequalities in higher education in Australia increased after the implementation of HECS in 1989 or the 1997 reforms. The magnitude of the HECS debt was found to have a negative impact on the transition to parenthood, but had no negative impacts on other transitions to adulthood: leaving the parental home, marriage and home ownership. Its effects on parenthood were moderate compared to other influences, such as full-time work in the previous year, marriage and being in a de facto relationship. Furthermore, only a small proportion of young people who attended university have large enough HECS debts for it to affect their fertility decisions.

Postgraduate Education Towards the Year 2000 — A Changed Role for the Commonwealth Postgraduate Awards Scheme 1

Ph.D. research training in Australia only came into existence after World War II. It grew slowly until the late 1950s when The Commonwealth Postgraduate Award (CPRA) Scheme was introduced to promote the development of research training. The scheme has had an extensive impact on research training, supporting over 700 new students a year by 1982. However, no serious evaluation has been made of the Scheme and whether in the changed circumstances of the 1980s it needs to be revised. The present article reports some of the key results of the evaluation that the Commonwealth Department of Education commissioned. This study has shown that the CPRA scheme achieved its original objectives’, to develop postgraduate research schools; to maintain a flow of highly trained personnel to the workforce; and to promote the full intellectual development of the most talented students. But it is now operating in a new context where the conditions of expansion of the 1960s no longer exist and stronger pressures for relevance are being exerted on university research. In short, education policy and research policy have come into conflict, the result of which is new pressures on research education in general and the CPRA scheme in particular. Solutions to this conflict are proposed, involving no radical alterations of the scheme, but the trial introduction of a pluralist approach to postgraduate support which leaves the present scheme intact but meets the new demands the changing context is placing on postgraduate education.

     

Funding and the attainment of transformation goals in South Africa’s higher education

The link between the funding of higher education and the attainment of higher education transformation goals in South Africa, especially access by students from previously under‐represented communities, is the main focus of this paper. Specifically, the paper examines three questions: (a) How does public funding of higher education encourage (or discourage) the attainment of higher education transformation goals in South Africa? (b) What challenges do frequent tuition fee increases pose to the attainment of higher education transformation goals? (c) How can South Africa’s higher education be made affordable for indigent (mostly black) students? The paper concludes that although South Africa’s higher education funding formula is generally geared towards attaining the goals of transformation, several of its aspects are inimical to the achievement of these goals. Further, declining public funding of higher education and frequent tuition fee increases by public universities vis‐à‐vis higher education’s natural inclination to reproduce, and even to exacerbate, existing social disparities and inequalities do not bode well for the attainment of transformation in South Africa’s higher education. This is aggravated by existing high levels of poverty and inequality mostly affecting the majority of the communities that were marginalised during apartheid.