ABSTRACT
This chapter implies that universities have too much freedom, that the technical and further education (TAFE) sector has too little, and that the position of the colleges of advanced education (CAE's) is just right. It argues that some changes should also be made in the CAE-State Board relationship. The chapter deals with present coordination at the State Level, and with the concept of accountability and its relationship to State coordination. It examines the case for a post-secondary State coordinating body, and the case against a post-secondary State coordinating body. Arguments on accountability are bedevilled by major semantic and perceptual differences which reflect critically upon the general standard of discussion with respect to educational policy and organization in Australia. Most of the case for subordinating universities to State coordinating bodies is an argument in favour of increasing the proportion of prescribed behaviour required of the university, and hence it is clearly an argument about status, not accountability.
