ABSTRACT
In Australia, the Federal government plays a dominant role in higher education. While the government had been steadily accumulating power over higher education institutions since the 1950s, a stepwise changed occurred in 1988, when the government initiated sweeping changes to the role and structure of the higher education system. The twenty-five-year-old binary system of universities and colleges of advanced education was replaced by a ‘unified national system’ comprising some thirty-five consolidated institutions, mostly formed by joining the colleges of advanced education to existing universities, or to each other to form new universities. Within the new unified system, institutions operate on the basis of specific missions agreed to, and funded by, the Federal government. The major objective of the government’s reform agenda was the closer alignment of the universities to national economic goals. Stronger institutional management processes were identified as the key to achieving the government’s objectives, and strategic planning, performance monitoring, and review were nominated as critical components of the government’s relationship with institutions.
