Australian universities should be thankful that they have largely been sidelined from the new government¡¯s signature talkfest, according to a leading analyst.

Australian National University policy expert Andrew Norton warned that this week¡¯s Jobs and Skills Summit could generate ill-conceived thought bubbles. ¡°A hundred-person focus group is not really a great way to make public policy,¡± Professor Norton told Times Higher Education.

¡°I¡¯m concerned that ideas will have a consensus accumulate around them without having been subjected to rigorous analysis.¡±

The summit, a key Labor Party promise before the May federal election, takes place on 1 and 2 September and is likely to focus on migration, industrial relations, wage stagnation and productivity.

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Places at the summit are keenly sought, with numbers initially limited to 100 ¨C although that figure has been revised to 142 ¨C and employers and unions claiming the lion¡¯s share of places.

While 12 academics and two chancellors have been included for their expertise or business or community links, universities as institutions have a sole representative in the form of Universities Australia (UA) chief executive Catriona Jackson. The term ¡°higher education¡± merited just one mention in the summit¡¯s , compared with 14 for ¡°training¡±.

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Professor Norton said this could be interpreted as a slight against universities. ¡°I think that¡¯s not intended. It¡¯s just that the momentum is around the obvious big skill shortages, which are mostly in the vocational education and training [VET] occupations.¡±

He said universities were lucky not to have a bigger presence. ¡°I don¡¯t want universities to be told, ¡®you¡¯re producing 5,000 graduates and 10,000 nurses¡¯ and all that kind of command and control, which has been used in VET. They list the courses, funded by precise name. We don¡¯t want that level of detail in higher ed, because my view is this actually leads to dysfunction.¡±

Education minister Jason Clare hosed down suggestions that higher education was not going to be ¡°part of the narrative¡± at the summit.

¡°I think it¡¯s going to be a big part of the conversation,¡± he told the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit in Sydney on 30 August. ¡°The treasurer has made it very clear that he doesn¡¯t want 500, 600, 700 people congregating in Canberra, because the bigger the group, the less likely you are to get real outcomes. It is a small group, but universities are represented.¡±

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Ms Jackson?said?UA would push for ¡°fairly¡± simple measures, such as a boost to the skilled migrant intake and an extension of income-contingent loans to students undertaking microcredentials.

Mr Clare agreed that more international students should be granted residency status following their studies, with only 16 per cent remaining at present. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be great if [more] stayed on and helped us fill some of those chronic skills gaps that we¡¯ll be talking about later this week? Seems to me like a no-brainer. Other countries have cottoned onto this and have changed their visa settings to attract students. I think it¡¯s something that¡¯s worth considering here.¡±

He said he would convene the Council for International Education to ¡°kick this idea around, and hopefully we¡¯ll get a run at the Jobs and Skills summit in Canberra later this week¡±.

UA also wants more clinical placements made available for students in health-related fields. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how many health workers ¨C nurses, doctors, paramedics ¨C universities educate if we can¡¯t get them clinical places,¡±?Ms Jackson told the Sydney forum. ¡°We can¡¯t graduate them out the other end and we can¡¯t get them onto the wards and into the mental health and aged care facilities.¡±

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com