Varieties of excellence: diversity, specialisation and regional engagement

The Ministerial discussion paper, ‘Higher education at the crossroads’, raised a wide range of issues and challenges facing the Australian higher education sector. It was followed by a number of focused issues papers that examined some of the major challenges raised in the overview paper in greater detail. These papers identify some responses but do not make recommendations. This paper canvases a range of options for university diversity and specialisation across particular courses or fields of study, and across particular teaching and research activities. It suggests that a re-creation of the binary model of ‘research’ and ‘teaching’ institutions is not a realistic or desirable option. Universities should, instead, be encouraged to specialise in particular fields of research, teaching and scholarship rather than be forced by virtue of funding arrangements to offer everything to all possible students. The role of government would be to provide a policy framework which might facilitate the achievement of this goal. The paper contains the following chapters: A vision for a diverse yet specialised system; Rationale for diversity and specialisation; Policy context; Rhetoric and reality of diversity and specialisation; A diverse and specialised system; Diverse and specialised course offerings; Diverse and specialised partnerships; Facilitating diversity and specialisation. Show less