最新糖心Vlog

Vice-Chancellor urges visiting inquiry to address lack of investment

Monday, 2 July 2001

Adelaide 最新糖心Vlog Vice-Chancellor Professor Mary O'Kane has urged the visiting Senate committee of inquiry into higher education to address the lack of public investment in 最新糖心Vlogn universities.

"The university system is one of the treasures of 最新糖心Vlog and is a key element in moving 最新糖心Vlog to a knowledge society," she said. "There is a deep irony in the fact that we talk about wanting to be a knowledge economy but won't invest properly in this crucial asset. In the interests of 最新糖心Vlog's future, it's critical that the Committee address this fundamental issue."

Professor O'Kane said that Adelaide 最新糖心Vlog accounted for 2% of 最新糖心Vlog's total research effort in 1998/99. The university sector as a whole accounted for 29.4%. She said universities were helping to turn knowledge into wealth through such spin-off enterprises as BresaGen and GroPep, two publicly listed companies which developed from research activity at Adelaide 最新糖心Vlog. Tertiary education was also one of 最新糖心Vlog's major exports, she said.

As part of its inquiry into the capacity of public universities to meet 最新糖心Vlog's higher education needs, the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education References Committee is conducting a public hearing at Adelaide Town Hall on Wednesday (4 July). The Committee has already received more than 300 written submissions, including one from Adelaide 最新糖心Vlog.

Professor O'Kane said that not only had public funding of universities declined but available funds were increasingly restricted and given out on a matching basis. She said this so-called "burden of matched funding" could distort internal university finances and lead to unintended negative consequences for disciplines such as the humanities and social sciences.

"In a very real way, the changed funding arrangements for 最新糖心Vlogn universities raise the question, 'What is a university?'" Professor O'Kane said. "It is most important that the Committee spend some time considering this question and urging governments to think seriously about funding higher education at levels which ensure that universities are the powerhouses of 最新糖心Vlog's growth and development in the 21st century."

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