Transparency of university governance should be supported

Anne Summers, Marcia Langton, Clive Hamilton, Peter Singer, Patrick McGorry, and Fiona Wood are just a few of Australia’s eminent academics and researchers whose new ideas and knowledge have incontrovertibly shaped the world.

Our tertiary institutions are continuing that tradition of fostering groundbreaking work in the sciences and the arts and are major economic contributors to Australia’s GDP. They drive growth and productivity through the technological and social innovation that results from research, as well as the contribution that graduates go on to make to the national economy.

However, there are genuine concerns that the ability of Australian universities to be at the forefront of social and scientific leadership is being compromised due to several variables currently impacting the sector.

This masthead has reported on a string of issues over the past 12 months ranging from the impact of funding cuts and redundancy rounds to the staff underpayment scandals, with wage theft in the sector believed to be topping at least $380 million nationally even on “a conservative tally”.

Some also question the nature of some institutions’ private funding deals, including with weapons manufacturers and fossil fuel companies, or why universities spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year hiring consultants.

Others lament that the costs of tertiary education are reducing access to university and, thus, the diversity of the student body.

And, as we report today, there are also concerns that while the overall university workforce is increasingly casualised, the corporatisation of the upper echelon of the tertiary sector means Australia’s highest-paid vice-chancellors are now earning 20 times as much as their staff and that university boards have more corporate bosses than staff and student representatives.

Five of Victoria’s eight universities paid their vice chancellors more than $1 million last year, as did about half of Sydney’s universities, the latest annual reports reveal.

Many in the sector argue that these salaries are justified given the mammoth remit of a university vice chancellor: they run complex public institutions the size of ASX top 10 companies, with more staff and massive overseas enrolments, yet less research funding than elsewhere.