He said smaller credentials would bolster Australia’s security aspirations by cultivating a sovereign skills base to produce the thousands of nuclear engineers, cyber specialists, and AI technicians demanded by the AUKUS pact.
Artificial intelligence, Shorten said, should be used to ascertain students’ level of prior knowledge, potentially shortening course lengths.
“The current system is designed assuming everyone commencing study knows nothing. This is a profound waste of human potential and time,” he said.
Shorten also raised broader issues across the tertiary system, arguing every institution offering a wide range of degrees had created a system where Australia’s limited resources were spread too thinly.
“At its best that breeds uniformity, at its worst, mediocrity,” he said.
Instead, he said universities should differentiate themselves, pitching the idea of specialised universities focusing on fields of national importance such as physics, computer science or health.
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“Such institutions would concentrate our finite research funding and talent, creating genuine, world-leading centres of excellence, rather than dozens of competing, under resourced departments,” he said.
Australian universities compete in global rankings driven primarily by research output, but Shorten proposed creating a new set of universities with teaching quality as a key performance indicator.
“This is not about creating a two-tiered system; it is about creating a fit-for-purpose system, where excellence is defined by the successful execution of a clear and distinct mission,” he said.
He also said Australia had not reaped the rewards of its excellence in discovery research, suggesting a research and development collaboration premium for industries which partner with universities.
“This new model is the mechanism by which we finally solve our national paradox. It is the forge that will allow us to turn the raw materials from our quarry into the high-value, sophisticated products of a truly sovereign nation,” he said.
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