Flinders University warns Adelaide Uni and UniSA merger could create an uneven playing field

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Flinders University is warning a proposed merger between the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia could create an uneven playing field. Its Vice-Chancellor has told a state parliamentary inquiry he was never formally invited to take part in merger discussions and is now concerned about the amount of taxpayer funding being proposed for the deal.

Transcript

00:00 It's touted as a half a billion dollar deal to bolster SA's university sector.

00:08 But Flinders University says the proposed merger of its two biggest rivals will do anything

00:14 but

00:15 "Providing funding to one institution for such support is unfair.

00:19 And I do not mean unfair to Flinders, it's unfair to the students who might have chosen

00:26 Flinders."

00:27 The state government has promised to spend $200 million on research and another $100

00:32 million on scholarships if the universities of Adelaide and South Australia combine.

00:38 Mr Stirling says that will create an uneven playing field.

00:42 "Investing in one and not investing in the other I think would simply be undermining

00:50 the potential that we have in the university sector here in South Australia."

00:54 "I think there would be enormous risk if investment was made in a new university that

00:58 excluded Flinders University, especially in an ongoing way."

01:02 Through a statement, Deputy Premier Susan Close told the ABC, Flinders already has many

01:07 partnerships with the government and it will work with all three universities to strengthen

01:13 the state's higher education sector.

01:15 The committee has also heard from leading Western Australian institution Curtin University.

01:21 In a written submission, the university warned that mergers could be risky and disruptive

01:25 and said they could result in a brain drain for the state.

01:29 But the UniSA Vice-Chancellor is confident the merger will benefit the state.

01:34 "The evidence base that we have for what this institution will attain and the opportunity

01:38 that it affords us to rethink and redo and recast how we deliver education is absolutely

01:43 exciting but it's also daunting."

01:46 It also requires a rewrite of legislation that needs to pass Parliament.

01:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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