Hawke report criticised

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 7

Hawke report criticised

The University of Canterbury Council will make submissions on the Hawke report on postcompulsory education and training. Considering the report at the council’s meeting yesterday, members were critical of it and its recommendations. Increased potential for Government interference in universities would result if the recommendations were adopted, members said. The report proposes that councils be reduced to 12 members, four of whom would be Govern-ment-appointed.

The recommendation for separation of teaching and research was unworkable, and showed little understanding of the way universities worked, members said. The report proposes that research funding be assessed and granted by a new body. Council members said that this could lead to the Government effectively deciding what research should be done. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bert Brownlie, said the university was not afraid of accountability. However, the methods of accountability proposed in the report were of

concern. Taxing graduates, and charging them more for their education, was opposed by all members. The proposal to charge for learning raised the fundamental question of how one viewed education, Professor Brownlie said. “Is education just another product, rather like toothpaste?” Professor Brownlie said that education should instead be viewed as something given as of right to individuals (and to a society) allowing them to take their talents as far as possible.