Originally released last October, the BCA then invited views from the education sector in a series of consultations held around the country over the past seven months.

However the revised report, released today, does not sufficiently address the concerns held by universities about its potential to undermine our world-class university system.

Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said the university sector remained eager to work productively with the business sector to ensure any proposals for change were informed by the best evidence.

“The BCA has not established a rationale for a radical overhaul of the policy and funding settings that deliver a world-class university system,” Ms Jackson said.

“This poses significant risk to our globally competitive university sector and to national prosperity,” she said.

“Universities share the BCA’s concern about the damage done to the nation’s vocational education system by successive funding cuts and policy mis-steps over the past decade – which should be a cautionary tale.”

“We need a flourishing post-school education system, with both universities and vocational education doing their distinct but complementary jobs at their best.”

Australia’s high-quality university system is the backbone of the nation’s third largest export sector – international education – which brings $31 billion a year into Australia’s economy and supports 130,000 Australian jobs.

“Australian universities deliver a smart and skilled workforce for the nation’s employers and vast research benefits to Australian communities and industry,” Ms Jackson said.