Aussie Universities for the High-Jump?

Australia’s 43 universities have had it good —forever.

Sky high fees. Hordes of international and local students.

And Vice Chancellors commanding salaries north of $20,000 a week.

Some say all that may be about to end.

COVID-19 is helping to accelerate an inevitable tertiary education trend to fully online degrees.

Under today’s model, universities have a local advantage. A bit like the corner store.

Why do you think we have so many of them?

If i live in Wollongong, for example , Wollongong University has to be a chance.

Online is poised to kill that golden goose.

When students have to choose between 20, 30 or 40 thousand dollar a year traditional degrees, or perhaps a tenth of that for the online equivalent, it doesn’t take a graduate to figure the answer.

Most will choose the Internet over the lecture hall.

Which means universities will have to compete on their global brand, and increasingly, the global reputation of their degrees.

Should i online study engineering at Charles Sturt in Darwin?

Or just maybe, the world famous MIT?

English literature at Edith Cowan in Perth, or— hey — what about Oxford?

Mathematics at Caltech — or the University of South Australia?

Some experts say we’re poised —over the next few years — for a bloodbath — as a small number of international higher education elites — grab the lion’s share of the pie.

The question: How many Australian universities will survive?

The answer: Only those offering degrees which — like Olympic athletes — are world class.

Sydney’s Macquarie University, for example, — long famous for its actuarial studies.

But what else do Australian universities offer that might compete head to head with major players in the US, the UK, Europe, Japan, and the rising stars in Asia?

if you thought the battle between free to air television — and upstarts like Netflix was fun to watch, just wait until our universities are fighting for their multi-billion dollar lives.

I’m #PhilAckman and this is #PhilAckmanCurrentAffairs #PhilAckmanEditorial #CairnsFM891