Birmingham's door open for uni talks

New federal education minister Simon Birmingham isn't ready to declare university deregulation dead but he is going back to talk with the sector to work out what is possible.

Senator Birmingham is taking an open-door approach, asking academics, university vice-chancellors, business leaders and Senate crossbenchers for their views on the future of higher education after parliament twice rejected a package including fee deregulation.

But he told ABC television on Tuesday existing government policy would "form a benchmark for conversations" until he had enough information to ask cabinet to endorse a new approach.