Graduations

Graduation address given by the Hon John Hatzistergos MLC

The Hon John Hatzistergos MLC, Member of Parliament and Fellow of Senate, gave the following occasional address at the Faculty of Law graduation ceremony held on 26 October 2001.

Graduation address

Emeritus Professor Dame Leonie Kramer, Vice Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Fellows of the Senate, Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

In a country proud of its informality and egalitarianism, a graduation ceremony is still a serious and formal occasion.

It is an occasion of lasting importance not only to graduating students, but also to families and friends, and the University itself.

Today, we acknowledge and salute years of perseverance and dedication to learning.

Through a grisly course of instant coffee, takeaway pizzas, and disasters with computers, you have emerged triumphant, and eager to seize the next stage of your life.

Today's acknowledgment is shared and cherished also by those whose lives have been touched by the awesome process of completing a degree.

• The fretful parents and partners who have endured the late nights and bad moods when an essay had to be finished.
• The neglected friends whose invitations to socialise had to be declined.
• The academic staff with whom you have worked, and who leave this ceremony knowing that each of them have made profound difference to your lives.

The University naturally shares in the celebration of this occasion. Not only have you the graduates shared in its mission, you have added to the intellectual store ofthis country.

As a barrister by profession, I feel a special affinity with the law graduates today. You will be our nation's guardians of justice, our bringers of change. Many of you may have in mind a lucrative practise as a solicitor, a glorious career at the Bar, eventually to subside gently onto the Bench.

May I exhort you however to look outside this conventional path and to look for new ways of working with the law.

Speaking personally I am sometimes troubled by the suggestion that our society already has too many lawyers. It may be more true to say that we have too many of the same kind of lawyer. The Bachelor of Laws provides a general education in the sense that the law touches every facet of life. I encourage you now to explore and expand the ways in which law can improve the lives of your fellow citizens.

To those students graduating in education, you will be the catalyst for our nation's future prosperity. From infants' school, through primary and secondary school and beyond, our teachers have a profound influence on our feelings and values.

It is worth reflecting upon how vital it is, therefore, that teachers be persons of talent and integrity. Those who educate our children are worthy of the highest esteem.

ALUMNI
When you leave this ceremony each of you will do so as members of this University's alumni.

These days when one leaves a job to go to a new one, or leaves a particular club or sporting pursuit, it is rare for there to be any ongoing relationship with former institutions.

Universities are different in this respect. Why is this so? Why should it be so? Should the affairs of Universities only be of interest as long as one is an active participant in University life?

In understanding the distinctive role that graduates play, a starting point may be found in the 1992 draft report of the Higher Education Council entitled "The Quality of Higher Education ". That report noted that graduates are key stakeholders in maintaining the quality of higher education. The report
went on to state:

"graduates have one key characteristic which makes their judgment particularly useful: the passage of time and experience. They are in the best position to assess the extent to which their higher education has equipped them with the transferable generic skills which support lifelong learning and adaptation to changes in their own careers, and in the world of work generally."

Accepting these statements then it seems to me that recent controversies create extraordinary challenges which invite your participation.

Think back over the recent years about the issues that have been topical in public discussion concerning universities:

• High personal costs and student fees;
• University marketing practices;
• Availability of placements;
• Soft marking;
• Awarding of honorary degrees;
• Quality assurance;
• Overcrowding of classes;
• Staffing cutbacks.

Ask yourselves what all these factors have in common. The answer is the potential impact that they have on the value of institutions such as this, you the graduates, and the public which a university ultimately serves. I say to you the graduates: the value people ascribe to your degrees in the future will inevitably reflect on the contemporary reputation of this University.

CUTBACKS
It is of course impossible to address the issues facing universities without a nervous eye to the bottom line.

The savage cuts to public university funding since 1996 are undeniable.

Australian public investment in higher education as a proportion ofGDP has declined from 1975-76 to 1997-98 by 40 per cent. That is, from 1.5 to 0.89 per cent. More recent budget papers project that by 2003-4 it will fall further to 0.53% ofGDP. By contrast, other OECD countries such as USA, UK and Ireland have increased their investment.

In this context the approach one takes to the funding crisis is critical. Indeed, many of the controversies that I referred to earlier could be seen as its symptoms.

Today universities are frequently torn between their traditional role of providing excellence in teaching and research, and the imperatives of financial survival. The response to the crisis has been a mixture of accelerated fundraising and inevitable cutbacks.

Let me examine both of these.

FUNDRAISING
First fundraising.

As much as universities would like to attract more funds from their alumni, the fact remains that despite extensive appeals the funds from this source remain modest. As yet we simply do not have the culture or capacity of the great American universities like Harvard which raises on average a million dollars a day from donations and bequests from its alumni.

Similarly, corporate fundraising has its limitations. It is well premised on the notion that, as a beneficiary of higher education, corporations should contribute to its costs. However, with some exceptions, corporate Australia has shown little willingness to match its benefit with an appropriate level of funding. Reasons given have included the small size of Australian organisations as well as shareholders' short term focus.

Even where such funding has been forthcoming it is such that it cannot be used as a basis for long term commitments. It is also not possible to ignore that such funding sometimes raises ethical issues over academic freedom and university autonomy, particularly when it is conditionally made.

Increasing reliance on fee income from students also needs to be addressed. Allegations of soft marking and inconsistent policies regarding some these students were well documented in the recent Senate report entitled "Universities in Crisis" .

These days more than ever, Australian universities are energetically marketing themselves to an increasingly competitive world market in higher education.

The challenge for universities must be to sell themselves, without selling out.

Short-term publicity may not always produce long-term benefit. On this theme, I would draw your particular attention to disturbing trends in the awarding of honorary degrees.

Those receiving postgraduate degrees today have demonstrated their continued belief in the value of higher education. You have toiled for years in your chosen area of expertise to produce your own valuable research.

But what of those unlike you who have had honorary degrees bestowed without making similar contributions?

You would no doubt have seen how cases of benefactors, champion athletes and other celebrities managed to secure honorary doctorates both in Australia and abroad.

In light of the controversies that such cases have generated, this University recently decided to review its honorary award system. We did this in a context of much public cynicism about the awarding of such degrees and the message it sends out about universities and their standards.

In light of that review let me make one point perfectly clear to you the graduates of this Australia's oldest university.

This University will not scour the sporting fields, board rooms and palaces of the world to bestow honorary degrees as part of some business plan.

Nor should any other University. The Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee should immediately develop a protocol on honorary degrees based on principles which this University has articulated.

It remains appropriate to award honorary degrees to those who have made a great intellectual contribution, but where that contribution was not made in the context of university study.

However, unless something is done, I see a serious danger that cash-strapped universities will become increasingly shameless in obtaining so-called "trophy patrons" who can win their institution a picture in the paper, or a sound-bite on radio or television.

CUTBACKS
Let me now deal with the question of cutbacks in university services.

The pressures on universities to adjust to the changes brought about by funding cutbacks are well know to all of you. I do not need to repeat them.

The impacts, however, have been accentuated by the fact that these adjustments and the need for greater marketing have inevitably led to a growth in administration.

A recent study by Marginson and Considine has found that, in a sample of 17 universities, the total number of deputy vice chancellors and pro vice chancellors rose from 19 in 1987 to 69 in 1998 an increase of 300 per cent at a time when staff numbers have been virtually static and student numbers have increased by 70 per cent.

Universities are the assembly lines for the professionals who keep our society functioning. They produce our teachers and lecturers, our nurses and doctors, our engineers and lawyers. The quality of our universities in turn impacts upon the quality of the professionals they generate.

• Will we have enough nurses in the future?
• Will our teachers continue to be of sufficient calibre?
• Will our doctors be equipped with training that is world-class?

Consider the contents of this letter referred to in the recent Senate report and written in August last year by Professor Tony Klein who is the Australian Institute of Physics representative to National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA). It states:

"I regret to inform the NATA Council that it would not be safe to assume that today's graduates in engineering from most of Australia's universities will have been exposed to even the most rudimentary practical training in physics. It is therefore up to individual member laboratories to ensure that adequate training is given to new staff in the use of scientific measuring instruments, the practical techniques of measurement, the estimation of errors and other basic matters which could have been taken for granted."

Such a letter, and the broader issues it encompasses, raises fundamental questions for everyday life, the answers to which lie squarely in the state of this country's universities.

The best policies in the world are worthless if the necessary personnel to address needs at the practical level are absent.

Education is not just another service to be thrown into the free market maelstrom. Rather, education is a vital pillar to a civilised society. A pillar that must stand firm despite the vagaries and fickle fortunes of the economy. As such, there are sound democratic reasons why governments should retain a major
public interest in universities.

In a speech earlier this month, media proprietor Rupert Murdoch argued that Australia needed to invest much more in our centres of learning. He pointed to the brain drain from countries that don't have top-notch institutions of higher education. Mr Murdoch spoke, therefore, of a financial imperative that Australia invest strongly in what he called "human capital", "intellectual capital", "human resources". This is market economy Newspeak referring to all of you.

I prefer to say we need to nurture and sponsor our nation's thinkers. A thinker has the capacity to learn, to criticise that learning, and to solve problems. The amazing versatility of a lateral thinker has been demonstrated throughout history.

Australia's so-called "human capital" is our greatest resource, one that must be utilised properly if we are to remain globally relevant and competitive. The cultivation of an intelligent nation will ensure that Australia is a country where business and innovation can thrive. If Australia is allowed to slide into a position of global disadvantage in higher education, our entire economy will be degraded and every Australian citizen will be worse off.

So much depends on you, as graduates, being vigilant. Alumni have the capacity and the responsibility to monitor, instigate and assess changes to higher education. Universities are in sore need of a culture change. Graduates can pilot through that change, and this university should be your starting point.

It is up to graduates and the wider university community to inject new ideas for transmitting a message to government, fundraising, public relations and the pursuit of excellence.

ACCOUNTABILITY
To do so you need to be well informed.

For this reason accountability and transparency in university governance are particularly important.

When I first arrived as a Fellow of the University Senate, I questioned the absence of any defined accountability procedures.

Refuge was taken in the traditional notion of university independence. This notion dictates an arrangement whereby the university is free to determine how it runs meetings, how it devolves power, whether it provides information to Senate Fellows, and what decisions are to be made in public,
rather than behind closed doors.

University autonomy is a precious thing, but there are dangers in allowing the ivory tower to rise too high. Independence will always be important to preserve the intellectual freedoms of students and academics. However, if the higher education sector as a whole is to survive, a shift towards more transparent internal governance is vital.

Sydney is not alone in being forced to confront the issue of accountability.

Across Australia, we are experiencing a powerful policy emphasis on tertiary training, fierce competition for placements, and huge demands for graduate availability in particular disciplines. And
of course, universities expend significant sums of public and private money.

In addition, all university legislation in this country has publicly proclaimed objects that include the development and provision of cultural, professional, technical and vocational services to the community, as well as the promotion, advancement and transmission of knowledge and research.

All these factors are challenging traditional notions of independence and accentuating the public interest role in university decision making.

Bodies like our Senate and through it you the graduates must be furnished with the information necessary for each of us to carry out our respective roles.

CONCLUSION
Each of you is now holding a degree certificate, the abiding value of which depends on maintaining the fine reputation of this university. You should always feel proud to be a Sydney graduate. That means staying alert and making sure this institution has the resources and will to be truly world-class.

We live in an era when universities use their names as 'trademarks' to attract private capital in a global knowledge market. As graduates, you have a personal interest in protecting and adding to the value of the Sydney University trademark.

Beyond that, you should also continue to take an interest in the state of university education in this country. It is about caring for the higher education of your children, but it is about much more than that. Caring for higher education also means caring for the vital services that universities underpin.

Surrounded by sandstone and the trappings of a glorious academic history, it is a dangerous temptation for the Sydney University community to rest on their laurels.

For your own sakes, for the sake of your university and your country, I charge you with vigilance. Alert yourselves to these problems and fight to redress them. If this university is allowed to decline, so too your degrees will become tarnished.

With heads held high, depart now this Great Hall as Graduates of the University of Sydney. I look forward to hearing of your successes. Apply your new status diligently and in good conscience.

Cherish your education and stand up for your University.

Keep us great and make us proud.