Opening of the University of Western Sydney College

E&OE TRANSCRIPT University of Western Sydney College Date 20 February 204 Subject: Opening of the University of Western Sydney College CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you very much, Barney, to you as the Vice‑Chancellor. To the Chancellor, Peter Shergold, to Aunty Mae and Aunty Sandra, and I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land. To my Parliamentary colleagues – the Minister for Human Services, Marise Payne, Senator Payne, who’s made western Sydney her home and her career for much of the last decade. To the local member, Craig Kelly, Member for Hughes, and David Coleman, Member for Banks, whose electorate is not very far from here. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today to open this University of Western Sydney College. This is the flagship building, but we’re really opening also campuses at Penrith, at Lithgow and at Blacktown, but doing it all here at the one place. I’m unabashed enthusiast for the University of Western Sydney ever since Sev Odowski bought me here many years ago as the Shadow Minister for Education, a position I held for about five and a half years and I’ve now obviously been Minister for Education for about six months. And I would like to read for you a quote and then tell you after who the quote is from because it may surprise you: “I foresee a very large increase of the university population. Therefore it may well be that the time has come for the establishment of new universities. If a new university is to be created, it should be created on a first-class scale with such financial foundation as will enable it to attract the highest talent to the teaching staffs and make the degrees granted, recognised and reputable.” Our Party founder, the Liberal Party founder, Robert Menzies, said that in 1945. And I say it because it’s important for us all to remember, it was Robert Menzies who massively expanded higher education as Prime Minister, across Australia, and brought higher education within the reach of tens of thousands of people who otherwise would have been excluded from higher education. And the reason why I’m such an unabashed enthusiast for the University of Western Sydney, is because this university is living that mission and that charter in Western Sydney. There are 39 universities, 37 of them public. Two of them private. This is the first opening of a building that I’ve done since I was the Minister. I’ve obviously been invited to dozens of openings since the last election. But I’ve chosen to make my first building opening here at the university of western Sydney because I am passionate about what you do here, and passionate about higher education in modern Australia. And this University of Western Sydney College, this system, and the programmes that the University of Western Sydney have initiated, developed and rolled out for students, particularly from non‑traditional backgrounds for higher education, so low‑SES backgrounds, Indigenous students, non‑English speaking background students, is at the forefront in Australia and probably the world. And the University of Western Sydney is giving thousands and tens of thousands in the future, the opportunity to get a higher education they wouldn’t otherwise get. And can I just say in terms of the debate about ATAR scores, the University of Western Sydney is one of the reasons why I am so confident that when I say that ATAR scores are not the determinant of whether somebody can finish and complete high quality higher education, I know I’m right. Because the University of Western Sydney is doing that right now, taking people, maybe with lower ATAR scores that, perhaps they’d been given a better chance earlier in life, they might have achieved higher ATAR scores. But rather than say, “your score has determined your future for the rest of your life”, the University of Western Sydney are saying, “come here, and we will put you in the kind of pre‑ or sub‑bachelor courses that are necessary, the pathways programmes to prepare you for higher education”. To make you work harder in that first year by extending the weeks that are offered here at the University of Western Sydney. Then by giving support in second year, third year and fourth year, to students, to make sure that they don’t just pass but that they get a real higher education qualification. What Menzies talked about as a reputable and recognised degree. And nobody would say that the University of Western Sydney was graduating undergraduates and post‑graduate students who were not of a high quality calibre in terms of the degree that had been awarded. So the University of Western Sydney College is to me, exactly what universities like Western Sydney should be doing around the country. You are in a growing part of Sydney, a growing part of Australia. I come from Adelaide, there are more people in Western Sydney than there are in the entire rest of the continent west of the Blue Mountains. So, this is defined as a large part of Australia and University of Western Sydney is right in the middle of it, with several campuses, encouraging people from the area to get a university degree. And can I just say also, as you probably know, I asked for a review of the demand driven system by Andrew Norton and David Kemp. The demand driven system has meant that for all the programs that are in place for low‑SES students, Indigenous students etc, the demand driven system of itself has encouraged low‑SES and Indigenous students to go to university because they could access higher education with Commonwealth Government support in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise been able to access it. So, I’m a great enthusiast for that as well. There are lots of other things I could talk about. You’ve probably have read a bit of the, a few of the priorities for this Government. Obviously we want to have a deregulation agenda. We’ve already made steps in that direction by instructing TEQSA through Ministerial directives about some of the things that they’re doing now. We’ll soon announce a TEQSA Advisory Council. There will be a TEQSA reform Bill in this session of parliament. We have a heavy emphasis on international education, growing that as an export market after five years of suffering a bit, under the previous Government. We have a quality agenda to make sure that we enhance and keep our international reputation. And one day, I hope and I expect that the University of Western Sydney will enter that pantheon of universities in Australia that are in the top 100, 200 in the world, because Australia has at the moment, the third highest number of universities, behind the US and UK, in the top several hundred universities. And the UWS will be knocking on the door I’m sure, in this way that other universities have developed dramatically in the last decades. So thank you very much for having me and I formally declare open the University of Western Sydney College buildings. Thank you. Ends