The Commonwealth Government did not start contributing directly to funding teachers and technical colleges – colleges of advance education – until its acceptance of the recommendations of the Martin Committee in 1965. When it did, it took over and then adopted funding arrangements quite different from those used for universities. So, for example, quite apart from the extra funding the Commonwealth gave universities for research, it funded the teaching of accounting by a university by a different method and at a higher level than a program leading to the same vocational outcome taught by a college of advanced education.
In 1989 under the then Minister Dawkins the Commonwealth decided to remove the institutionalised distinctions between colleges of advanced education and the 19 pre-existing universities, a policy that was symbolised by establishing the ‘unified national system’ of higher education. One of the biggest distinctions between institutions was their funding levels. The Commonwealth dealt with this in three stages.
First the Commonwealth commissioned three studies of the then current pattern of the allocation of funds within institutions. That is, the studies were not of cost drivers let alone of what should be disciplines’ funding levels, but of historical patterns of funding levels which in turn were the product of earlier government funding decisions.
The historical expenditure patterns were then analyzed and adjusted for a combination of pragmatic and principled reasons to give a relative teaching cost matrix (DEET, 1990b:13). This matrix calculates funding levels by two main factors: discipline groups and program levels. So for example, engineering is funded at a higher rate than accounting and research higher degrees is funded at a higher rate than other postgraduate and undergraduate courses.
| Cluster | Undergraduate weight | Other postgraduate weight | Research degree weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.0 Accounting Admin/economics Law Other humanities |
1.4 Accounting Admin/economics Law Other humanities Education Maths/stats Other social studies |
2.0 Accounting Admin/economics Computing Education Law Maths/stats Nursing Other built environment Other health Other humanities Other languages Other social studies Visual/performing arts |
| 2 | 1.3 Behavioral science Education Maths/stats Other social studies |
||
| 3 | 1.6 Computing Nursing Other built environment Other health Other languages Visual/performing arts |
1.8 Computing Nursing Other built environment Other health Other languages Visual/performing arts |
|
| 4 | 2.2 Engineering Science Surveying |
3.0 Agriculture Behavioral science Dentistry Engineering Medicine Science Surveying Vet. Science |
4.7 Agriculture Behavioral science Dentistry Engineering Medicine Science Surveying Vet. Science |
| 5 | 2.7 Agriculture Dentistry Medicine Vet. Science |
Source: Assessment of the relative funding position of Australia’s higher education institutions, tables 3.1 and 3.2 (DEET, 1990b: 13).
So if the funding for undergraduate accounting were set at $10,000 per eftsu, undergraduate Behavioral science would be funded at $13,000 per eftsu, research accounting degrees would be funded at $20,000 and other postgraduate engineering courses would be funded at $30,000 per eftsu.