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I fear @latrobe is just the beginning. The next 6-12 months are going to be nail-biting times for those of us who care about the survival of Indonesian language programs at Australian universities. https://twitter.com/RossTapsell/status/1326663168840495104
As of 2020, Indonesian is being taught at 14 of Australia's 42 universities. This is down from a historical high point in 1992 when 22 Australian universities taught Indonesian.
After two decades of declining student enrolments (see http://asaa.asn.au/the-state-of-indonesian-language-in-australian-universities-the-past-20-years/ for details)
After two decades of declining student enrolments (see http://asaa.asn.au/the-state-of-indonesian-language-in-australian-universities-the-past-20-years/ for details)
...many of the Indonesian language departments at these 14 Australian universities were already teetering on the edge of financial viability pre-pandemic - or (worse) were already underwater and dependent on cross-subsidisation by other disciplines for their survival.
This makes these Indonesian language departments EXTREMELY vulnerable to the kind of discipline-by-discipline rationalisation described by La Trobe VC @johnnodvc in the @theage article.
With @uniaus estimating $16 billion in COVID-related losses to the Australian higher education sector btwn 2020-2023, and most of the resultant structural pain still to come...
...niche or marginal disciplines like Indonesian not "paying their way" are going to be v. lucky to survive into 2021 and 2022. And those universities teaching Indonesian despite a lack of financial viability are going to have their commitment to the mission seriously tested.
The sad irony is, IF they can survive the pandemic-related cull, the Australian Goverment's recently passed "Job-ready Graduates Package" higher ed funding reform bill, might have just provided Indonesian language departments around the country...
...with their best shot at "paying their way" in decades. Specifically, the new higher ed funding package heavily discounts the price a student pays for completing a language major within their Arts degree ($3.9k) - relative to most other Arts & Humanities majors ($14.5k)...
...while preserving the amount of revenue (~$20k) that a university receives for teaching that language major to a domestic Australian undergrad student.
It's a pretty bold attempt by the Australian Government to use v. stark price-signalling to encourage students to enrol in disciplines (like Indonesian) deemed to be of national priority, but that to date have struggled to attract large numbers of students.
While there is much doubt that this price-signalling will sway students' choices (see @andrewjnorton's blog for best analysis: https://andrewnorton.net.au/ )...
..."Study Indonesian and knock $10k off your $40k Arts degree" might be just the kind of simple, compelling message that sees Indonesian language enrolments tick up nationally over the next few years.
But we won't get to test the efficacy of the new policy setting if Indonesian language departments fail to survive COVID-19.
