Media Releases 2003

3 November  2003

Chancellors and AVCC Unified on Issues of Governance

The Chancellors of Australia’s universities and the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee today released a statement on university governance and proposed amendments to the National Governance Protocols for Public Higher Education Institutions. The joint statement on university governance sets out the basic principles that should underpin good university governance arrangements.

"A balance must be set between external accountability (that maintains public confidence in the operation of a university) and each university’s capacity to set its own direction to achieve its objectives" Mr Klingberg (Chancellor, University of South Australia) and Professor Schreuder (President, AVCC) said.

"Australian Chancellors and the AVCC have worked together to agree on operational good practice in governance arrangements suited to the diversity of Australian universities," Mr Klingberg and Professor Schreuder said.

"A vital ingredient to effective governance is the development of a ‘partnership’ between the Chancellor, the governing body and the Vice-Chancellor and an acceptance of the critical reality that all universities have distinctive characteristics – shaped by history, mission, practices and conventions.

The amendments to the National Protocols address universities’ concerns that the Commonwealth Government’s protocols released in Backing Australia’s Future were too prescriptive.

"The higher education sector has provided the amended National Protocols to Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to take up in agreeing a revised set of Protocols" Mr Klingberg and Professor Schreuder said.

"Chancellors and the AVCC encourage all Governments to take the revised National Protocols into consideration before finalising their decisions on university governance.

"These documents should not, however, be construed in any way as conceding that the Commonwealth Government can or should tie access to needed funding with compliance to protocols whether on governance or workplace relations, particularly as the former depends on State or Territory legislation over which universities have influence but not control," Mr Klingberg and Professor Schreuder said.

Copies of the two documents released today are available form here

Media Inquiries Tracey Jiggins – phone: (02) 6285 8206 or 0400 166691