University merger plan could be abandoned if business case fails, minister says

Education Minister Tony Buti speaks to the ABC live on radio in Perth. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)

The WA tertiary education minister has defended his government's controversial plans to merge three of the state's biggest universities.

In an interview with the ABC, Tony Buti said many students were receiving a "sub-par" education, but did not clarify how a merger would resolve those issues.

Dr Buti said while he supported the proposed merger, the government would only proceed if the business case stacked up.

University students in Western Australia are receiving a "sub par" education, with some being taught at year 10 level, necessitating significant reform.

That's the view of the state's Tertiary Education Minister Tony Buti, who today mounted a vigorous defence of his government's planned merger of three WA universities in the face of strident criticism, saying the current situation was unacceptable.

The government last week announced the establishment of a steering committee to look into the merits of merging the University of Western Australia, Curtin and Murdoch universities.

A stylised map showing the footprint of the UWA campus in Crawley. (ABC News)

But the move has been roundly slammed by both Murdoch and Curtin universities, as well as by students, alumni and unions, while the opposition has seized on a series of errors in an external cost benefit report on the merger, which it branded "AI slop".

Speaking to the ABC, Dr Buti said students were "not receiving a first class education, they're not receiving a good campus experience and the completion rates are not actually what is acceptable".

He said one first-year Curtin student had told him she was being taught at Year 10 level.

"That is not acceptable," he told 102.5 ABC Perth on Tuesday.

"We want our students to have a world-class education and also that we are able to have the capacity to attract greater research dollars than we are currently getting."

Other concerns included that the rate of regional student enrolment in tertiary education was just 12 per cent, less than half of the national average of 30 per cent, that there was duplication in university offerings, completion rates were unacceptably low and university executives were getting paid too much.

He quoted from a National Tertiary Education Union document that found executives had "mismanaged their existing funding with warped spending priorities" leading to "unjustified job cuts, reduced course offerings and vanity projects that hurt our public institutions".

Dr Buti said greater accountability and transparency was needed to divert money from executive salaries and wasteful projects.

But he did not make clear how a university merger would solve all these problems.

Dr Buti told the ABC the government had not committed to a merger, although he supported it.

"We haven't committed. I want to commit to it if the business case stacks up, and then it's a government decision," he said.

"If the business case doesn't stack up, there will be no merger.

Dr Buti says significant reform is needed in the university sector, but other options would have to be considered if the merger did not go ahead. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)

"Obviously I believe that something needs to be done. Maybe something else will have to take its place, some other reform."

Dr Buti said the universities could themselves fund a large part of the cost by tapping into their cash reserves and "surplus land" in their property portfolios.

Speaking on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said it was "very difficult" to identify support for the merger in the community.

"It is very difficult to see a compelling case for what will improve, where the tangible benefits of such an expensive process will be," he said.

Curtin University vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne said last week the merger would be expensive, wasteful and lead to a "loss of choice, jobs and legacy".

She said it would create a mega-university of about 120,000 students "a scale unmatched in Australia and rare internationally".

Murdoch vice-chancellor Andrew Deeks said amalgamation would "absolutely not" give WA students a better education, while UWA has struck a more nuanced tone, with vice-chancellor Amit Chakma praising the "aspiration" of the plan and its desire to improve the sector.

Meanwhile Curtin's student guild president Dylan Storer has raised concerns about a loss of choice and a fear that students would fall through the cracks in a much larger institution.

WA has five universities in total, but the proposed merger excludes both publicly funded Edith Cowan University and the private Notre Dame University.

Students and staff are expected to rally at Parliament House tomorrow in opposition to the merger.