By Dr Don Fuller

OPINION: The NT already has a highly performing medical school it should be extremely proud of. This medical school has delivered more than 150 high quality graduates over the past 10 years that have served in Territory hospitals and health facilities.

Importantly, 10 per cent of the graduates have been Indigenous doctors.

The establishment of the NT Clinical School, a precursor of the Flinders University Northern Territory medical program, formalised a closer relationship along the Australian central corridor connecting Adelaide through to Darwin. These linkages should be encouraged and nurtured not only in medicine but to strengthen Charles Darwin University, which is regarded by many commentators and members of the public, to be in an increasingly weak position in teaching and in its ability to attract high quality students across a range of areas.

This was not always the way and the university appeared to have a bright future under one of the earliest vice-chancellors, the effective, well-liked and widely trusted and respected, Malcolm Nairn. Nairn clearly had the Territory as his focus.

However, a series of management failures over the period since the Northern Territory University, which became CDU, was established, have had a major impact on the competitive abilities of the university.

Flinders University in conjunction with the NT Government and now CDU, has developed and delivered health education and research expertise in the Northern Territory for more than 25 years, with local staff and infrastructure based in Darwin, Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.

A record number of 39 medical students are starting at Flinders University in Darwin this year, a 30 per cent total increase in new students when compared to last year.

Because of its success, Flinders University has received extra funding from the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments to expand its medical program further.

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The proposed CDU medical school applied for $21.8 million to operate the new school but only received $2.8 million. This could be regarded as a clear signal from the Commonwealth Government about the worth of attempting to establish a new, and additional, medical school, alongside one that is already performing extremely well.

There is little chance that a medical school set up separately by CDU can compete with the long established and highly regarded NT – Flinders medical school joint program. Students are highly likely to prefer to attend the joint program rather than CDU.

It is probable that CDU will be left, in general, with the lower achieving students as well as continuing difficulties attracting a range of quality teaching and research staff, prepared to remain at CDU.

This can be expected to further damage the reputation of CDU and the Territory as a whole.

It is also going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to attract high quality staff to teach in the NT at the proposed CDU medical school. Such staff are available at Flinders University, and this is one of the main reasons the joint program was established in the first place.

This should be keenly appreciated by those originally involved in establishing the joint program with Flinders University, who are now spruiking the CDU medical school.

It is most unlikely that the Darwin and Alice Springs hospitals will be able to absorb additional students for clinical training, even though hospital administrators may argue this is possible. Such people are not in the front line but often sitting in comfortable well-appointed offices. It is clear to many that these hospitals are already struggling with health delivery in some areas.

This can have a major negative impact on the overall ability of these NT hospitals to respond to increasingly complex health demands.

What planning has been done to evaluate such risks?

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Given these problems and the difficulty of securing funding from the Commonwealth, would it not be far smarter to secure even closer working arrangements with Flinders University?

CDU is already stretched in its ability to achieve quality students and student numbers, across the board and with a large, new city development yet to house any students at all.

Why make things even worse by such a ‘pie in the sky’ project based on no publicly available, serious planning and analysis, with such high financial and reputational risks and damage?

Is it a mistaken view that this will somehow increase the profile of CDU and its senior managers, who are likely to be a long time gone when the real costs of such decisions emerge?

This proposal was first announced in November 2021 but only received teaching curriculum from its main partner Western Sydney University, and its vice-chancellor Professor Barney Glover, a few days ago. However, as mentioned, curriculum needs to be both relevant and well taught. In particular, where are the high quality teachers coming from?

Given the presence of a high quality and highly performing medical school already in position, a more difficult and doomed project cannot be imagined.

Unfortunately, beside wastage of scarce resources, it serves to further distract the management of CDU from their core business of attempting to finally establish a university in the north of Australia committed to Territorians and to Territory issues and concerns.

The current CDU vice-chancellor Professor Scott Bowman worked under Prof Glover at the Western Sydney University. The fact that the two had worked together previously may have had an influence on the decision to continue working together to establish the CDU medical school.

However, Prof Glover is to leave his role with the Western Sydney University this year. One wonders how this will affect any partnership and mentoring relationship with CDU.

It appears slightly ridiculous and wasteful to many, that CDU can imagine itself as an organisation with strong linkages to two medical schools.

What city the size of Darwin and with a population the size of the Territory has two medical schools?

Why would this be necessary when the established medical school is highly performing and offers opportunities for CDU to further strengthen partnership arrangements with it, for the benefit of the Territory and its people?

Dr Don Fuller was involved with the establishment of the first NT clinical school under the leadership of Flinders University vice-chancellor Professor Ian Chubb, 27 years ago. He holds a first class Honours degree and a PhD in economics from the University of Adelaide. Don worked as Professor of Governance and head of the schools of law and business at Charles Darwin University. He grew up in Darwin and attended Darwin High School.