A handful of Australia's higher education institutions may need to lift their game to hold onto their coveted "university" status under a shake-up of the sector backed by Education Minister Dan Tehan.
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The push for tougher standards to qualify as a university is contained in a newly-released review of provider category standards in higher education, with the report author finding a need to simplify the system and safeguard the cachet of Australia's universities.
Peter Coaldrake, a former vice-chancellor, put forward 10 recommendations intended to "protect brand Australia and in particular protect the interests of our students".
A key recommendation is that to be called a university, an institution must produce world-class research in a minimum of three, or a third, of the fields it is teaching in. This threshold would rise to 50 per cent over a decade.
Professor Coaldrake said "the objective of the game isn't to throw people out" but rather to introduce a new standard to bolster a defining feature of a university.
"And there might be three or four universities which might struggle to meet the 30 per cent requirement," he said.
Professor Coaldrake said the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, would ideally work with the universities to ensure they met the new threshold.
He has declined to name the at-risk institutions but they are likely to be regional, private and newer universities that have limited research programs.
According to 2018 Australian Research Council performance ratings, Bond University, the University of Notre Dame, Charles Sturt University and Federation University were among the providers with low output of world-standard research.
"One can't be apologetic for a recommendation like that. Because we talk about our universities being world-class so if we want our universities to be world-class, it follows that your research should be world-class," Professor Coaldrake said.
Education Minister Dan Tehan endorsed the recommendation and said the government would assist universities in lifting their capacity.
"So I do not see it as something that this will lead to any universities missing out. What it will require is the government working with those universities to make sure that they meet that requirement," he said.
Mr Tehan welcomed the report as critical to the future of higher education and said the government would respond formally to the recommendations in due course.
Professor Coaldrake has also called for a reduction in the number of provider categories in higher education and introduction of a new label for high-performing providers which do not qualify as universities.
Peak body Universities Australia welcomed the emphasis on research as a core activity for Australia's universities.
"We especially welcome the recommendation that reinforces the nexus between teaching and research as a defining feature of an Australian university," said Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight elite research universities, said the report highlighted the importance of quality research and urged the government to consider the "long overdue" changes.
"Our research supports productivity, pumps some $24.5 billion into the economy each year and supports many thousands of jobs. That will only continue if we ensure our research is truly world class," she said.
The review is one of a number of government initiatives in motion, with an overall goal of revamping the structure and effectiveness of Australia's post-secondary education systems.
- SMH/The Age
