Western Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Peter Klinken has been quoted as saying the state’s universities have been in constant decline for 20 years, and that there is ferocious warfare between universities – “the academic equivalent of the Hunger Games”.

He suggested this could be solved by merging WA’s four public universities into a single institution, with different subjects taught on different campuses, and asserted doing this would mean WA would climb up the global rankings and in turn attract more international students and increase revenue.

Murdoch University Vice Chancellor Andrew Deeks.

This all sounds very dramatic and as if there is an easy fix, but perhaps we should look at the evidence. The assertion of “constant decline” is based on market share of domestic students, international students, and national research grants.

The number of WA students attending local universities has increased over the past 20 years, but it hasn’t increased as quickly as student numbers in other states. WA universities are educating more students, but we are apparently in decline.