NTEU and CAPA call for release of Green Paper Submissions
5 November 1999
The National Tertiary Education Union and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations have written to Education Minister David Kemp, urging him to publish responses to his Green Paper on the future of University Research, New Knowledge, New Opportunities.
Dr Kemp was quoted in Campus Review Weekly (3-9 November) as claiming ‘ \"almost universal support\" for his proposed reforms to the ARC and portable postgraduate scholarships’. However, he has not released details of who supports the contentious proposal to introduce a `portable’ postgraduate scholarship system which is akin to a voucher-based model for funding student places. Neither has he made public the 168 responses received.
NTEU President Carolyn Allport said that in Kemp’s leaked Cabinet submission, the portable postgraduate scholarship proposal was explicitly linked to undergraduate vouchers, and that the community had shown strong opposition to this proposal.
`The Minister’s credibility has been damaged by the fact that he proposed a voucher-based funding model for undergraduate education to Cabinet, despite denying to the public that it was on the agenda. He now has a public responsibility to ensure that the policy process associated with reforms to university research and research education is open and transparent.’
Dr Allport said that there was very little support for `portable’ postgraduate scholarships at meetings of university staff called to discuss the Green Paper.
`CAPA has organised meetings of postgraduate students and prospective postgraduate students around the country to discuss the Green Paper, and there has been an overwhelming rejection of the so-called `portable scholarship’ model’, said CAPA President Tom Clark. `Students see the Green Paper as an attack on them. If implemented in full, it would cap the number of funded postgraduate places, reduce the flexibility currently available to students and see more areas of study closed down.’
`If the Minister is claiming widespread support to justify introducing these radical changes – a claim that is very hard to believe - he should be honest enough to release his evidence publicly.’
The National Tertiary Education Union and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations have written to Education Minister David Kemp, urging him to publish responses to his Green Paper on the future of University Research, New Knowledge, New Opportunities.
Dr Kemp was quoted in Campus Review Weekly (3-9 November) as claiming ‘ \"almost universal support\" for his proposed reforms to the ARC and portable postgraduate scholarships’. However, he has not released details of who supports the contentious proposal to introduce a `portable’ postgraduate scholarship system which is akin to a voucher-based model for funding student places. Neither has he made public the 168 responses received.
NTEU President Carolyn Allport said that in Kemp’s leaked Cabinet submission, the portable postgraduate scholarship proposal was explicitly linked to undergraduate vouchers, and that the community had shown strong opposition to this proposal.
`The Minister’s credibility has been damaged by the fact that he proposed a voucher-based funding model for undergraduate education to Cabinet, despite denying to the public that it was on the agenda. He now has a public responsibility to ensure that the policy process associated with reforms to university research and research education is open and transparent.’
Dr Allport said that there was very little support for `portable’ postgraduate scholarships at meetings of university staff called to discuss the Green Paper.
`CAPA has organised meetings of postgraduate students and prospective postgraduate students around the country to discuss the Green Paper, and there has been an overwhelming rejection of the so-called `portable scholarship’ model’, said CAPA President Tom Clark. `Students see the Green Paper as an attack on them. If implemented in full, it would cap the number of funded postgraduate places, reduce the flexibility currently available to students and see more areas of study closed down.’
`If the Minister is claiming widespread support to justify introducing these radical changes – a claim that is very hard to believe - he should be honest enough to release his evidence publicly.’