Principles for equity in higher education performance funding

Governments have long sought to assess and reward higher education institutions for their performance. Understanding the relative performance of institutions in teaching, retaining and graduating students would provide accountability for growing public funding, and would also be extremely helpful for prospective students. What constitutes performance though, and how should it be measured? To answer these questions, it is helpful to refer to the national objectives of higher education. Enshrined in legislation, the goals of Australian higher education include quality, diversity, and the promotion of student equity. ‘Performance’ would ideally be defined by institutional success against these inter-related objectives, whether assessing teaching quality or the ability to develop thoughtful, productive and employable graduates.