Opinion: Look to synergies, not geography

The state’s universities could be facing a marriage of merger inconvenience. 

Each time talk of merging Western Australia’s universities comes up, the discussion tends to trace the same well-worn path, and the predictability risks shutting down fresh possibilities. 

The conversation is fixated on whether the four public universities should be reduced to three, two, or perhaps one ‘super university’. 

However, we might end up short-changing ourselves if the conversation stays locked inside state borders. 

Merger talks focused on our own backyard only shrink the possibilities, ignore natural alignments and risk outcomes more related to geography than genuine strategy. 

The WA government’s announcement of a review into university merger options marks a new turning point that demands careful consideration.

International and Tertiary Education Minister Tony Buti has established a committee, chaired by former Labor state minister and federal MP Alannah MacTiernan, to weigh the costs and benefits of merging our public universities. 

The committee is due to report by the end of the year.

Edith Cowan University is reportedly already out of the merger mix (explicitly excluded as it prepares to open its city campus in February).

It is expected the panel’s most likely recommended merger ideas will be tie-ups between The University of Western Australia and Murdoch University, or between Curtin University and Murdoch.

Less likely is a merger of all three.

This renewed debate comes in the wake of developments interstate.

In South Australia, The University of Adelaide and University of South Australia have merged to create Adelaide University.

The merger is designed to boost competitiveness in research funding and international student recruitment, with the SA government sweetening the deal through a $464.5 million package covering research, student support, land and international student attraction.

At some point during the past four decades, each of WA’s four public universities has flirted with the notion of consolidation, though every effort has fizzled out before it gained any traction.

In 1986, Murdoch and ECU held talks about a possible union.

After a year of discussion, the plan went nowhere.

Three years later, Murdoch was back at the table (this time with UWA). That proposal also collapsed.

In 2005, Murdoch and Curtin launched a joint merger feasibility study, only to abandon the idea after several months of fruitless discussions.

History shows that merger talks in WA have rarely moved beyond the drawing board, possibly because we keep looking inwards instead of outwards.

There is, of course, a certain political neatness in imagining a single WA tertiary education powerhouse.

Yet pride does not always translate into the best results for students, staff or the broader community.

The reality is that higher education does not operate within state borders: universities are part of a national and global marketplace.

Prospective students evaluate universities across the country, researchers build collaborations across continents, and rankings are measured internationally.

Pretending our institutions operate in isolation is as unrealistic as it is unhelpful.

It’s also true that not all WA universities are natural partners.

UWA, as a member of the Group of Eight, often finds more common ground with the universities of Sydney or Melbourne than with its WA peers.

Curtin’s role in the Australian Technology Network makes it more closely tied to RMIT or Queensland University of Technology than ECU.

And Murdoch’s place within Innovative Universities Australia gives it natural partners interstate, not necessarily next door.

These groupings tell us that the most strategic partnerships might not be local at all.

If we look further afield, we see plenty of models worth considering.

In Europe, cross-border federations and mergers have helped institutions pool resources, cut duplication and sharpen their global competitiveness.

If we are serious about creating a higher education sector that is distinctive, resilient and globally competitive, we must look locally as well as beyond state borders.

Anything less would be a disservice to the universities and, more importantly, to the students and communities they exist to serve.

The right partner for a WA university might just as easily be located in Melbourne, Sydney or Darwin.

• Professor Gary Martin is the chief executive officer of the Australian Institute of Management WA