Universities mull over federal control plan

If the Constitution were written today, universities in Australia would be seen as obviously a national responsibility, says Greg Craven, who leads the multi-state Australian Catholic University. He was commenting on reports that Education Minister Christopher Pyne is discussing a plan for the universities of New South Wales to surrender state governance in favour of federal statutory control, writes Bernard Lane for The Australian.

Most of Australia's universities were founded by state legislation but Craven said a model national statute for institutions across the country could reduce duplication and inconsistency in governance, auditing, the makeup of university councils and freedom of information laws.

But "the biggest gain would probably be at the conceptual level", because new model legislation would allow the independence and autonomy of universities to be better expressed.
Full report on The Australian site