CHRISTIAN TERTIARY EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA

 

1.0   GEOGRAPHICAL CHALLENGES

Australia faces unusual demographic complications, in that it is the size of Europe, but has a population of less than 20 million. In many ways larger regions function almost as if they were separate countries, and this is reflected in the activities of Christian tertiary education. Western Australia and Northern Territory act sometimes autonomously and sometimes as a region, Queensland functions as a separate region, Victoria acts autonomously with an eye to Tasmania, and New South Wales as the most populous state is sometimes described as having forgotten that the other states exist. Responses to regionalism are varied. Some Christian tertiary institutions function largely by distance, and those which have a substantial body of on-campus students tend to serve their surrounding region rather than the nation as a whole due to the large distances between major centres.

 

2.0   RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY

Australia's population is nominally 43% Protestant, 27% Roman Catholic and 3% Eastern Orthodox. About 23% do not profess any religion, and about 4% profess a non-Christian religion. As far as active church involvement is concerned, about 10% of the population attend church on Sundays, reflecting the secularism that is prominent in Australian life. Nearly half are Roman Catholics and 10% are Anglicans. The attendance in the various Presbyterian and Reformed denominations totals about 50,000, while the Lutheran and Seventh-day Adventist bodies each have around 35,000 in attendance.

 

3.0   HISTORY

Significant protestant Christian involvement in education in Australia at primary, secondary and tertiary levels precedes the federation of the various colonies into the nation of Australia.  Churches began Australia's first schools, with state provision occurring decades later. Some of the major denominations set up theological colleges at around the time the first public universities were being established, and sited their premises on or adjoining those university campuses (Moore Theological College, for example, established in 1856 alongside the University of Sydney). Private universities are a new phenomenon in Australia, encompassing Bond University in Queensland (a secular university established in 1989), the Australian Catholic University (1991) and Notre Dame in Perth. At present there is no recognised protestant Christian university in Australia.

 

4.0   TYPES OF INSTITUTION

The Christian tertiary education scene in Australia is largely made up of theological colleges, a small number of multi-faculty colleges, and a number of smaller institutions which gain critical mass through partnership with other groups for accreditation or diversification of offerings (with some institutions falling into more than one of those three categories). This paper will discuss only those groups which offer accredited degrees and/or postgraduate diplomas. There are also many institutions offering non-accredited training including some vocational training which attracts government funding even for private providers.

 

Historically, major denominations established tertiary institutions to educate future clergy. There are more than twenty of these. Many of these have gained their accreditation by using co-operative vehicles such as the Australian College of Theology. Many of those have diversified to a small degree, and offer lay ministry and counselling courses, but most do not offer liberal arts degrees or degrees for other professions. This appears to reflect a prevailing dualistic assumption that there are Christians in "ordinary" jobs and other Christians engaged in "full-time Christian service", and that the job of Christian colleges is primarily to equip people for the latter.

 

Of the larger colleges with several faculties and on-campus students, offering preparation for a range of professions from a largely protestant Christian world view perspective, Christian Heritage College in Brisbane serves Queensland and northern New South Wales, Tabor College has its main campus in Adelaide serving South Australia, with some faculties in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Hobart, Avondale College has two campuses in New South Wales, and Wesley College for Ministry and the Arts is in central Sydney. The College of Christian Higher Education offers postgraduate teacher education by distance mode and through regional residentials (for brief institutional profiles see pages 10 and 11).

 

5.0   CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN AUSTRALIA

By world standards, Australian Christian schools are reasonably well funded, and this has allowed their development of teacher education institutes to serve their needs although admittedly with small budgets. As the vast majority of Christian teachers in Australia have received all of their undergraduate education in secular institutions with secular humanist and/or post-modernist pre-suppositions, it has become a matter of increasing urgency for non-denominational Christian schools and also some protestant denominational schools to direct their teachers to distinctively Christian in-service and postgraduate programs. 

 

Around 30% of Australian students attend non-government schools. The almost  500 multi-denominational Christian, Lutheran and Adventist schools in Australia have around 100,000 students and 7,500 teachers. Australia also has 640,000 students in Catholic schools. The largest number of new schools established in the most populous Australian state (New South Wales) are schools with "Christian" in their name (Grimshaw Report 2002).      

 

 

FURTHER CHALLENGES

 

6.0   FUNDING:

Private tertiary education is largely unfunded by government in Australia, and there is not a culture of private patronage or benefaction. This leaves students at these institutions (and their families) bearing virtually all the costs of their education each year. This compares unfavourably with the costs of attending public institutions substantially subsidised by government, where low-interest government funded loans to students are available. Representations are being made to government by  the  Council of Private Higher Education on behalf of the private sector, for progress towards parity in funding, but political resistance is substantial. 

 

7.0   REGULATION:

A key challenge facing tertiary institutions other than universities in New South Wales is the new regulations framework. Until December this year, tertiary institutions have submitted courses to the regulatory body governing their state. Accreditation, which was granted for a five year period for each course, was gained on the basis of the academic integrity of courses, student support services, access to resources and expert staff. From 2003, in addition to this registration, each body needs to seek registration as an institution, under a much more stringent series of regulations - indeed the registrations are more stringent than those under which the universities function. The risk facing these institutions is that their campus, head office or library may be deemed inadequate, and consequently the accreditation of their courses discontinued, even though the courses have been judged as meeting the required standards. Given the newness of the regulations, even the enforcing bodies seem to be a little unsure of how rigidly the guidelines will be applied. This leads to considerable uncertainty in planning.

 

8.0   TERTIARY PARTNERSHIPS

A number of Christian institutions have attempted to develop partnerships with one or more public universities with the intention of allowing students to obtain an accredited degree with some distinctively Christian content. The rationale for these programs is that students can engage with the wider university while at the same time being deeply challenged to ground their thinking and their teaching practice in a radically Christian world view. It also represents what can be done with available funds, including some private funds. Public-private co-operation of this kind is unheard-of in some countries, where it would be seen as contravening an artificial sacred-secular divide between church and state.

 

Macquarie Christian Studies Institute (for example) provides courses on campus at Macquarie University which are included on the students' university degree transcripts. MCSI also runs intensive interdisciplinary courses on other university campuses and in the Sydney Central Business District. Likewise, Luther Seminary offers units in the Teacher Education programs of Flinders University in Adelaide and the Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, while Wesley Institute (Sydney)  offers joint degrees with the University of Western Sydney in Education, Nursing, Law and Arts, and a joint degree with Edith Cowan University in Social Work. Cross-crediting of units is becoming more common among diverse tertiary providers. Some institutions are engaged in a number of concurrent partnerships, in Australia and overseas...

 

9.0   THE IDEA OF A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

A number of groups are discussing the idea of a Christian university for Australia, with a range of models being considered. These include

• the creation of a new completely new institution from scratch (such as the Logos University idea being discussed in Sydney),

• the merger of several existing institutions,

• or the amplification of one existing institution to become a university by the addition of faculties. 

Avondale College is seeking recognition as a university. Avondale has been sponsoring discussions with a range of other Christian tertiary educators, to see whether an alliance could be formed which would see a university created beginning with Avondale and adding to it a range of other institutions to be component colleges of a Christian university, on the Oxbridge model where the university is the sum of a number of largely autonomous component colleges.

 

With any of these university scenarios, difficulties of geography are raised, with both Melbourne and Sydney being logical locations, but vast distances making it difficult for either location to serve the nation as a whole. Australia's small population militates against a proliferation of full-faculty Christian universities. In practice, at present most Australian Christian tertiary institutions aim for niche markets, specialising in faculties where there is a need and available expertise, such as teacher education and/or ministry training. At present the strong prevailing practice of Australian families is to send their young people to secular public universities, even when they have attended Christian schools. Denominational ideologies generally seem to support this practice.

 

A number of Christian groups in diverse locations are energetically engaged in planning and implementing other ventures towards Christian tertiary education than those mentioned above.  Some have a distinctive theological or denominational background, others have a local geographical focus. 

A number are engaged in publications, representation to government instrumentalities or to church congregations, seeking accreditation, registration, financial support or in-principle commitment to their ventures. There is significant communication between these groups, which many seek to increase.

 

 9.1 ASSOCIATION FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP (NZ and Aust)

 The Association for Christian Scholarship (ACS) has history of some thirty years. Growing out of the Foundation for Christian Scholarship in Australia, and the Foundation for Christian Studies in New Zealand, the two organizations merged in 1982. Due to a range of administrative problems ACS has, in effect, been in abeyance for some seven years.

 

Over the past two years, plans have been developing for its reconstitution. These possibilities arise, in part, because of the retirement of a number of more prominent members from the need to earn money.

 

As of 2003, ACS will have small but active regional committees in Wellington and Dunedin in New Zealand, and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. Each of these committees will contribute toward a central administration, and actively pursue policies that try to cooperate with a wide range of other organizations, not the least of which are CITE and NICE.

 

In particular, it is planned to begin the exploratory development of a Study Centre/Institute in Wellington. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand but, interestingly enough, has no history of either a theological college or other kind of venture in higher Christian learning. There are also a significant handful of scholars linked to ACS in various ways resident in Wellington.

 

Our exploratory venture, beginning from February, 2003, will involve two people - Peter Simons and Duncan Roper - working together on two fronts:

 

Scholarship

 

(i) Working together to develop basic matters of biblical studies, worldview and philosophy related to a range of disciplines that we propose to make available for critical interaction on an ACS Website.

(ii) The writing of books and articles of a scholarly nature.

 

Fostering the Fruits of Christian Scholarship

 

(i) In association with other parties, the organization of seminars on a range of topics of public interest and concern.

(ii) The writing of articles of more popular interest.

 

The immediate objective of our exploratory venture will be the gaining of the confidence and support of the people of Wellington City for the kind of Study Centre/Institute mentioned in our constitution. This immediate objective is crucial to the functioning of the Centre upon broader front within New Zealand, Australia and beyond.

 

Both Peter and Duncan have done a lot of work preparing them for the possibility of realizing their proposed publication ventures. As few of these ventures are limited to the concerns of Christians in Australia and New Zealand, ACS would greatly appreciate the support and assistance of IAPCHE in the possible publication process.

 

 9.2  CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION

Christian College of Tertiary Education (formed 1988) merged with the Association for Christian Higher Education in Australia Inc. (formed 1995) in 2001. In turn, ACHEA pooled its efforts with those of like mind who had supported Christian higher education as part of their commitment to the Reformed Theological College in Geelong (founded in the early 1950s), and so Christian Institute for Tertiary Education was formed in 2002, and unifies CHE support in Victoria. The Reformed Theological College will now devote its efforts to theological education, and CITE will seek wide support for the foundation of a Christian University on Biblical principles.

 

The CITE constitution is on its web site [http://www.cite.edu.au] and is reformational in thrust.  The aim is public lectures to begin in 2004 to assist students making the transition from secondary to tertiary level education. Summer schools, and student training days will lead to a Christian Studies Centre and ultimately to a Christian university.

 

The Association for Christian Scholarship has a following in Victoria, is supportive of CITE but is particularly concerned with development of Christian scholarship and not so much the establishment of a university.

 

10.0   SPECIALISED INITIATIVES

 

 

10.1  OFF-SHORE DELIVERY OF COURSES

The National Institute for Christian Education provides its accredited teacher education programs to a number of overseas institutions in several countries; these programs can be studied in distance mode, taught face to face by approved local lecturers, or taught in intensive residentials with local and Australian presenters. Consideration is being given to translating a number of units. This can be seen as an international development of NICE's fast-growing week-long intensive residential program, which goes to regional school locations where many or all of a school's staff can engage communally in study towards a Masters degree or Graduate Diploma.

  

10.2   CROSS-CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE TRAINING

The South Pacific Summer Institute of Linguistics offers courses in Bible translation, Literacy, Language and Culture, from short courses to postgraduate degrees. For more information e-mail <Info.SPSIL @sil.org>

 

10.3   CROSS-CULTURAL HEALTH CARE

Intermed. S.A. runs a Summer School in International Health & Development for Christian Health Care Professionals  (12-31 January 2003).

It is designed for people wishing to work overseas or in areas of development such as with Aboriginal communities. Recognised by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners for Continuing Medical Education points.

Email: ajr@health.on.net

  

PROFILES OF MULTI-FACULTY

 

AVONDALE COLLEGE:

Avondale College has campuses at Cooranbong (NSW Central Coast) and Wahroonga (Sydney). The College recently signed a memorandum of understanding with its sister institution in Thailand, Mission College, which has campuses at Bangkok and Muak Lek.

 

Student numbers stand at around 850, with 10% from overseas countries. While the Seventh Day Adventist Church provides an assured student base, 14% of current students are from other faith traditions.

 

Degree programs are offered in Arts and Social Sciences, including International Development Studies, Science, Information Technology, Business, Aviation, Nursing and (teacher) Education with Master's degrees in related fields.

 

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE COLLEGE:

CHC, located in Brisbane, offers  accredited university level diploma and degree courses in Education, Counselling, Humanities, Social Sciences and Business.

Postgraduate programs are available in Education and Counselling. Its teacher education faculty currently teaches around 150 students (FTE). Rate of employment for Education graduates is in the range 90-100%.

 

INSTITUTIONS

 

TABOR COLLEGE:

Established in Adelaide, Tabor College now also has campuses in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and an annexe in Hobart. Some of these are located on properties owned by churches. Tabor offers many of the disciplines common to Bible colleges, such as Theology, Counselling and Ministry.  In addition at its Adelaide campus, Tabor offers Teacher Education (current students 150 FTE)  and Intercultural Studies. 

 

WESLEY INSTITUTE:

Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Arts, Sydney, was established in 1989 as a part of Wesley Mission. Wesley Institute is multi-denominational, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary. Wesley has 200 students studying Music, Drama, Dance, Visual Arts, Expressive Therapies, Arts Education, Theology and Counselling.

Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Degree, Advanced Diploma, Diploma and Certificate courses are available.

 

TEACHER EDUCATION

 

NICE + ICTE = CCHE

The Christian schooling movement in Australia has established two institutes for teacher education, the National Institute for Christian Education and the Institute for Christian Tertiary Education, which use a joint accreditation vehicle, the College of Christian Higher Education.  NICE and ICTE offer postgraduate awards by distance education and intensive residentials across Australia.