A FIRST-CLASS education system for Australia requires elite skills training as well as an elite university sector - not an undifferentiated combination of the two.
Julia Gillard's rather odd decision to govern without an education minister and to split schools, TAFE, undergraduate and postgraduate responsibilities three ways is not necessarily a blueprint for disaster. But the new framework would appear to make an integrated policy approach harder than ever. As deputy prime minister under Kevin Rudd, Ms Gillard covered the waterfront -- looking after all the sectors. It was a giant portfolio, but structurally it made sense and reflected a Labor government that understood the value of integrating all layers of learning for citizens of an increasingly complicated 21st century.
The fragmentation of the portfolio combined with the fact that higher education is not specifically named in the title of its minister, Chris Evans, has alarmed many university leaders.