Monash University's motives questioned

By I. N. Cider

As Monash university seeks Asian expansion questions arise concerning its motives.

HOWTHORN, Victoria (JP): Despite serious confusion over the future of several departments at Australia's Monash University in Australia, the institution is expanding into Indonesia. At a time when staff and departments are being cut, Monash has begun a feasibility study in consultation with the Indonesian Government to establish an Indonesian campus.

Student demonstrations, staff forums and media speculation have been focused on Monash as it reduces staffing levels and academic subjects.

In a recent demonstration, students disrupted a staff meeting and confronted the vice chancellor, Professor David Robinson.

They asked: "Why is the university cutting into core disciplines? Why is the university turning into a global corporation?"

Most under threat are the humanities. Critics suggest that Robinson is building a university funded by full-fee paying Asian students while the humanities, one of the university's core disciplines is restructured and cut by up to 40 percent.

The vice chancellor confirmed that the expansion into Asia was part of his ongoing business plan. This echoed his words at the end of a recent visit to Indonesia when he said Monash's desire to participate fully in the Indonesian education sector over the long term had remained unchanged.

Commenting on the Asian crisis, Robinson said: "The university remains strongly committed to forging links with Indonesia's education sector, even during these times of difficulty".

Critics of the university are now asking questions about whether the university's commitment to international education is based on sound education principles or involves exploiting a new market of full-fee paying students.

Department of Politics postgraduate coordinator Paul James has serious doubts about whether the globalization of Monash into Asia is being done for the right reasons.

"Monash University is becoming a business corporation more concerned with making money than to provide the network of services necessary for a balanced education."

In contrast, Robinson has argued that the new campuses are part of the university's plan for the Asian region and other selected countries. So far the focus has been the Malaysian Sunway Campus.

The Sunway campus, he says, "will benefit Malaysian students who want a Monash qualification but can't for whatever reason, come to Australia to study. It will also be an attractive option for students from other countries in the region."

Critics of this expansion say that divisions of the university have been carved off as corporate entities and are intended to become self-financing businesses. To achieve this end, Monash plans to pay staff employed on local campuses at significantly lower rates than on Australian campuses. It also plans to charge international students in American dollars rather then local currency.

As the rupiah has fallen to 80 percent of its mid-1997 value, an Indonesian student spokesperson believes it will be difficult to attract Indonesians to the new institution. The spokesperson also believes that "what we are seeing is the 'weeding-out' of future Indonesian intellectuals based on economic wealth."

Exacerbating this is the fact that since the economic crisis began the Indonesian government has cut scholarships for overseas study while at the same time international study costs have increased.

According to James, "the university has placed economic considerations at the forefront in remaking itself Australia's largest tertiary institution. Glossy corporate brochures, with cover images of planet earth, picture a future of global expansion. Professor Robinson has carried this process to a new level. In Robinson's view, the decision to seek to open up seven Monash campuses across the globe is simply "good business practice".

In the mean time, Indonesian students wishing to follow humanities courses, including languages, developmental studies and sociology, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, may soon be forced to take alternative subjects to those of their first choice.