Dawkins Revolution - Aims and Outcomes

Aims and Outcomes

The reforms were aimed at improving the "efficiency" and "international competitiveness" of Australian universities, as well as a solution for the perceived brain drain. These reforms included the introduction of income contingent loans for tuition costs through the HECS scheme, 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).