The Age this morning published my response to Simon Marginson’s earlier op-ed arguing that OECD comparisons show that we are ‘falling off the pace in education’.

My basic points are that:

* despite cuts to government funding, by the (limited) available output indicators things improved during the period that per student funding was declining; and
* differences in funding levels across the OECD reflect different ways of organising higher education finance, not necessarily better or worse ways.

It is an ‘OECD cringe’ to think that the OECD sets benchmarks that we should follow.

A couple of paragraphs were cut out, so I have copied the original in below the fold. Continue reading “Avoiding the OECD cringe” →