The most fervent opponents of the creation of teaching-only universities in Australia are the most enthusiastic recruiters of teaching-only academics, submissions to a landmark review suggest.

The Review of Provider Category Standards has exposed paradoxical views about the teaching-research nexus, with commentators adamant that the title ¡°university¡± be reserved for institutions active in research, despite widespread scepticism that research activity enhances teaching quality.

The review has been established to tackle a lopsided Australian hierarchy, where three-quarters of the 175 degree-conferring institutions are corralled into the catch-all category of ¡°higher education provider¡±, with the remainder dispersed across five university categories.

Most of these are concentrated in the ¡°Australian university¡± grouping, with two institutions defined as ¡°overseas university¡± and one ¡°Australian university of specialisation¡±. Another two categories ¨C ¡°Australian university college¡± and ¡°overseas university of specialisation¡± ¨C are vacant.

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The review is also courting suggestions on how to encourage diversity within Australia¡¯s coterie of lookalike universities, amid an escalating view that the sector?must specialise?to survive, let alone thrive. A key question is whether to discard the requirement that institutions which call themselves universities must conduct research.

Of 66 published submissions to the review, just nine ¨C and none from the 29 individual universities or 12 representative bodies that provided formal feedback ¨C support this proposition.

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But the review is being conducted against a backdrop of change in the university workforce, with teaching-only academics constituting a small but rapidly growing proportion of staff. Last year former University of Melbourne deputy vice-chancellor Frank Larkins?found?that their numbers had doubled since 2013, while the ranks of research-active academics had declined.

The universities that explicitly reject the notion of teaching-only universities include Curtin and Central Queensland universities, both of which have more teaching-only academics than any other universities in their respective states, according to the education department¡¯s latest?.

Australia¡¯s biggest employer of teaching-only academics, Victoria¡¯s Deakin University, says ¡°research should continue to be synonymous with the category of university¡±. The next biggest employer, the Australian Catholic University, says the nexus between teaching, research and scholarship is ¡°inviolable¡±.

¡°Australia must not regress to a two-tier higher education system, where only some universities teach and research while others are teaching-only,¡± its submission insists.

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Meanwhile, staffing statistics show that Avondale College ¨C one of seven non-university institutions that oppose the research requirement ¨C has just one teaching-only academic, in full-time equivalent terms.

Sydney mathematician John Loxton, a veteran of both the university and independent higher education sectors, said the insistence on research activity overlooked ¡°considerable variation in research culture¡±.

¡°Our current universities¡­may include ¡®teaching-only¡¯ units and ¡®teaching-only¡¯ staff,¡± his submission says. ¡°Research institutes are often separate from teaching units. The criteria for university status seem to boil down to sentiment.¡±

But Queensland University of Technology said the ¡°settled meaning¡± of the university title in Australia, and the ¡°perception of quality in the international marketplace¡±, militated against any relaxation of research requirements.

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The university¡¯s submission says arguments about the teaching-research nexus have persisted for decades and are unlikely to be resolved ¡°any time soon¡±, but their relevance to the review is ¡°negligible¡±.

It says the provider category standards require scholarship to underwrite taught courses, and research to demonstrate ¡°competence to supervise research training¡±. The standards framework ¡°does not rely upon a putative teaching-research nexus¡±, the university insists.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com