In order to ensure that the institutional activity reflects not only national but also the state and regional needs and priorities, to reduce duplication of efforts and to improve better planning and reporting, direct state involvement in compact discussions would be desirable. The Victorian Government will need to carefully balance the provision of regional education with the projected demand - growth or reduction - in order to focus tertiary education provision on local needs rather than maintaining existing university campuses or opening additional campuses. As an intermediate step support should be provided for tertiary education learning and extension centres that draw on a range of providers.