What it does
The Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989 is a machinery statute that gave effect to a major restructure of the New South Wales higher education sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Its central purpose is to abolish specified former higher education institutions and transfer their property, staff, students, rights, liabilities, and obligations to designated universities known as "corresponding institutions". The Act operates institution by institution under separate Parts, each dealing with a particular former institution or group of institutions. Part 2 abolishes the Armidale College of Advanced Education and vests its property in the University of New England (s 4). Part 3 abolishes the Conservatorium of Music as a whole (s 6) but then splits its Sydney branch to the University of Sydney (s 7) and its Newcastle branch to the University of Newcastle (s 8). Part 4 abolishes the Cumberland College of Health Sciences, with its property vesting in the University of Sydney (s 10). Part 5 abolishes the Hunter Institute of Higher Education in favour of the University of Newcastle (s 11). Part 6 abolishes the Institute of the Arts (s 12), dividing its Sydney College of the Arts component to the University of Sydney (s 13) and its City Art Institute component to the University of New South Wales (s 14). Part 7 abolishes the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education, vesting its property in the University of Technology, Sydney (s 16). Part 8 abolishes the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education in favour of the University of New England (s 17). Part 9 abolishes the Sydney College of Advanced Education (s 18) and distributes its constituent institutes: the Sydney Institute of Education, the Institute of Nursing Studies, and the Guild Centre go to the University of Sydney (ss 19-21), the St George Institute of Education goes to the University of New South Wales (s 22), the Institute of Early Childhood Studies goes to Macquarie University (s 23), and the Institute of Technical and Adult Teacher Education goes to the University of Technology, Sydney (s 24). Beyond property and institutional dissolution, the Act provides for the automatic transfer of staff (Part 10), the continuation of students in substantially the same courses (s 38), the saving of delegations (s 39), stamp duty exemptions for instruments executed to give effect to the transfers (s 40), and a general transfer of all assets, rights, liabilities, and obligations (s 36). The Act also gives the Minister power to determine any question about which institution particular property, land, assets, staff, or liabilities belong to (s 37) and empowers the Governor to make savings and transitional regulations with potential retrospective effect (s 44).