Mary O’Kane to lead ATEC from July, UA chief’s pitch to press

The chair of the Australian Universities Accord is to lead the yet-to-be-established Australian Tertiary Education Commission, Education Minister Jason Clare revealed on Wednesday night. His Universities Australia Shaping Australia Awards speech reflected on the 12 months to last February when the Universities Accord final report was released. He will put the ATEC in legislation if re-elected, he said. "If we win the election, I will introduce legislation in the second half of this year to formally establish the ATEC and I want it fully operational by this time next year. "But I can announce tonight the team I have appointed to get it up and running on an interim basis from the 1st of July this year. "I am getting the band back together. The people who wrote the Accord will help to make it real." From July 1, ATEC's Chief Commissioner will be Professor Mary O’Kane, supported by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) Commissioner Barney Glover and Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt, he said. Minister Clare speaking at the Solutions Summit dinner on Tuesday night. Picture: UA The Commission will have the power to decide higher education policy, direction and funding decisions, led by a chief commissioner, two deputy commissioners, a First Nations commissioner, an equity commissioner, and the already established regional education commissioner. Education opposition spokeswoman Senator Sarah Henderson, in a speech to universities on Wednesday morning, said ATEC shows the sector that Minister Clare "doesn't know what to do," and that the appointment of the JSA commissioner is a "conflict of interest." Commissioner Glover speaking on a 'productivity' panel at the UA Solutions Summit. Picture: UA Commissioner Glover on Saturday released JSA's Towards a Tertiary Harmonisation Roadmap, where the body continued to call for a funding and policy boost in the vocational education sector to "align" VET and higher education. She said this Labor government has also forced Professor O'Kane to do the "heavy lifting" of policy reform through the Accord. The announcement comes ahead of Universities Australia (UA) chief executive Luke Sheehy's National Press Club address today that will touch on the hard financial position universities find themselves in. In the speech, seen by Campus Review, Mr Sheehy will note that investment in public infrastructure is redundant without academic innovation. “My question today to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is simple. Mr Sheehy will deliver his address at the National Press Club today. Picture: UA “If getting our universities match fit isn’t a first-order national priority, how are we going to deliver all our other national priorities? "We’ve so far seen billions of dollars promised for better roads and more homes. We can’t build better roads and more homes without engineers." Mr Sheehy is adamant that every Australian household will be $20,000 better off if the government buckles down to deliver on the Universities Accord targets. “We’re being asked to educate a million more domestic students every year by 2050 to meet Australia’s skills needs," he will say. "Our economy stands to gain $240 billion if we get there. That’s the equivalent of a $20,000 boost for Aussie households." He will also call for both governments to consider UA's election pitch.