Equal Opportunity Units: Change Agencies

Should equity programs be centralised or ‘mainstreamed’? Drawing on experience in universities, and on a 1990 report for the Affirmative Action Agency, this contribution argues for recognition of important preconditions before devolution of equity responsibilities. The author has worked in the area of equal opportunity at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and its predecessor institution, Kuringai College of Advanced Education, since 1988. During that time, universities have undergone a transformation, with the integration of the Colleges of Advanced Education and the Institutes of Technology into the ‘unified national system’ of higher education. There has been an increased emphasis, at least partly driven by financial constraints, on the efficiency and effectiveness of management within universities.