Australia could have much to learn from reforms to New Zealand’s higher education sector.

With deregulation looming and fears of further meddling in local universities, Swinburne University of Technology’s Professor John Grundy says Asutralia only needs to look to its near-neighbour for a glimpse of the outcomes.

New Zealand has recently made changes to introduce market-rate interest on student loans, uncapped places, unlimited private provider student access to government loans, and fees for higher degree research students.

While there are differences between the New Zeeland and the proposed Australian version these measures, and NZ has many more not being considered across the Tasman, Professor Grundy says much can be learn from the comparison.

“It’s interesting to look at some of New Zealand’s experiments, their consequences and – in some cases – their reversals,” he says.

“Some of these one might not ever wish Australia to try; others perhaps.”

Professor Grundy says that Australia and New Zealand have both tussled with the idea of not capping the annual intake of students - known as ‘bums-on-seats funding’ - swapping back and forth in some cases. He found that after period trying both systems, New Zealand is increasingly seeing voluntary caps placed on course.

One key part of the NZ uni landscape is the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), which allocates funds based on the quality of previous research.

“The Group of Eight would almost certainly love to see this ‘reform’ on the Australian agenda, given these elite universities have the most scope to conduct research,” Professor Grunday says.

“Essentially, the better the PBRF grade, number of areas assessed, completing PhDs and research income, the bigger the income.

“I think this would be a poor outcome for Australia.”

The Australian expert combs through the recent higher education histories of the two Commonwealth outposts in this article for The Conversation. 

It contains a number of valuable insights and foresights into what could be the future of Australian university education.