Government faces voter backlash on university spending
3 November 1997
The National Tertiary Education Union warned the Federal Government that it faces significant voter opposition to its cuts to higher education funding. The warning, which comes on the eve of the release of the Report of the West Review of Higher Education, is backed up by an ACNielsen poll which shows significant community concern about the impact of spending cuts and user-pays policies in universities.
`This research shows that people understand and value the work done by universities, and they want more, not less, Government funding,\' said NTEU President Carolyn Allport. `They also understand the damage being done by the government’s current policies.’
Dr Allport said that it was particularly significant that 65% of respondents wanted spending on higher education to increase, and that 40% said that it should be increased by `a lot’.
`So much for the Government’s rhetoric about university funding cuts being \"just a nick\",’ said Dr Allport. `A year down the track, the community can see for itself the stress which is being placed on the university system, and is feeling the burden of increased student charges.’
`The majority of those surveyed wanted increases to come from Government or industry, rather than through student charges,’ she said. `Additional student contributions in the form of up-front fees met with almost universal opposition. This is proof that the wider community shares the concerns of the 80% of voters in the recent RMIT referendum who declared their opposition to up-front undergraduate fees.’
Dr Allport said that the Government should also reconsider its refusal to supplement university salary increases.
`Asking staff and university management to negotiate payrises in a climate of shrinking public funding simply isn’t sustainable in the long term’, said Dr Allport. `85% of the people surveyed in this poll said that they wanted more Government funding for university teaching and research. Contrast this view with an environment in which jobs are being shed and salary increases have to be paid for from existing funding.’
Dr Allport congratulated the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee for commissioning and publishing the research, and said that the NTEU would continue its campaign for improved levels of public funding for the sector.
`The West Review Committee has a unique opportunity to articulate a vision for higher education which captures the concerns of the community and delineates a useful path for Government. I hope that they’ve made the most of that opportunity, and have not succumbed to the kind of corporatist agenda which is so unpopular among Australians who understand and value the work of our universities,’ she said.