The Education Minister drew audible gasps at the opening of the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building at UTS when he launched a spirited defence of his government's embattled higher education reform.

"The wonderful thing about this building is that it shouts out that the University of Technology Sydney is in the race for higher education - that it is a real competitor and that it is not content to sit back and receive large government support," he said.

The speech, an official engagement at the opening of the Dr Chau Chak Wing by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, prompted murmurings among spectators when he appeared to bring the opening into his campaign to pass university funding changes.