Governance in Australian Universities : Where Next?

In 2004 a set of National Governance Protocols were established for universities in Australia (DEST 2004) because there had been some significant breakdowns that had damaged reputations, caused tens of millions of dollars in losses and led some universities to the brink of bankruptcy. In February 2008, the Australian government decided to separate the National Governance Protocols from funding requirements, in effect making these protocols voluntary and the three year review of the protocols then underway redundant. However, there is evidence that there are still significant governance issues prevalent throughout the Australian higher education sector (Austin 2008; Blackman et al. 2008; BIHECC 2007; GPSC2 2009a; GPSC2 2009b; NIG 2007, 2008a, 2008b, 2009;Walters 2006) and that there needs to be consideration as to how such challenges can be addressed