Candidates Debate Ballarat’s Education Future
30 October 2001
Candidates for the Senate and the seat of Ballarat will debate the future of higher education in at a community forum on Wednesday. The forum will follow today’s release of data by the NTEU, showing that funding cuts to the University of Ballarat since 1996 have removed over $3 million from the local economy.
NTEU Branch President Dr Jeremy Smith said that the cuts in funding had increased student : staff ratios by 19%, and they are now higher than the national average.
“The funding cuts mean that the University has lost almost 30% of its academic staff since 1996, and almost 6% of general staff. Student numbers have increased by 10.3%, which is why staff are now feeling the squeeze. A recent study of health among university staff found that we are twice as likely as the general population to suffer health effects associated with stress, and three times as likely as the general population to suffer severe health effects. So far we’ve managed to maintain teaching quality, but it’s coming at a cost - our health!”
“The community should be concerned that the excellent work done by our University is being undermined by government policy. We have organised this forum so that voters in Ballarat are able to hear from the candidates first hand, and challenge them about what they will do for regional universities including Ballarat”
“Students from outside the major cities are under-represented in higher education. This means that an area like Ballarat has just over half of the national average of people with university qualifications, and the median weekly income is almost 20% less than the national average. Regional Australia deserves the same opportunities as the cities, and politicians need to hear this.”
Dr. Smith concluded by calling on the candidates to commit to increased funding for higher education.
“All universities need a 20% increase in operating grant funding to repair the damage done by 5 years of budget cuts. The quality of higher education and its contribution to our region depends on it.” Dr. Smith concluded.