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The Australian government should consider devolving university funding decisions to a new-look Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission, University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis argues in his new book.

Professor Davis argues in the book that the change would help ¡°future-proof the sector from digital disruption and rampant private competition¡±, .

His vision ¡°also requires a single policy perspective covering post-school education, funding for teaching and research that reflects actual costs ¨C so that each university is no longer forced to "hedge its bets through complex internal cross-subsidies" ¨C and a "fifth wave of new institutions¡± focusing on niche sectors to accommodate growth, the newspaper said.

¡°They could straddle sectors, offering vocational as well as university qualifications,¡± Professor Davis says of new institutions in The Australian Idea of a University.

¡°Diversity might embrace institutional size, mission, student mix, course offerings, mode and language of instruction, undergraduate and postgraduate offerings, (and) generalist and professional programmes.¡±

And he writes on the idea of a Tertiary Education Commission: ¡°An independent commission charged with exclusive authority to distribute all public funding according to transparent operating procedures would stop universities behaving like mendicants, always hassling government for some local advantage.¡±

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com