Dawkins Revolution
The Dawkins Revolution[1] was a series of Australian tertiary education reforms instituted by the then Labor Education Minister (1987-92) John Dawkins.
The reforms were proposed in Higher education: a policy discussion paper ('the green paper') which was published in December 1987 and announced in Higher education: a policy statement ('the white paper') published in July 1988[2].
Aims and outcomes
The reforms were aimed at improving the efficiency and international competitiveness of Australian universities,[3] as well as a solution for the perceived brain drain. These reforms included the introduction of HECS, the conversion of all Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) into universities, and a series of provisions for universities to provide plans, profiles, statistics etc. to justify courses and research. As a result, undergraduate student numbers increased dramatically as universities were given economies of scale. There were also many mergers between universities and CAEs, with some successful (University of Queensland Gatton Campus), and others not so (the University of New England and the then Northern Rivers CAE which subsequently spilt acrimoniously to become Southern Cross University), and others didn't proceed (Australian National University and the Canberra CAE, now the University of Canberra).
Criticisms
Many, especially those among the Group of Eight, saw these reforms as dumbing down higher education, as college diploma students became university graduates overnight. The traditional universities were forced to compete for research funds with the newly designated and amalgamated universities, although they still continue to dominate competitive research funding.[4]