Coalition's `Higher Education Policy' contains no new money
31 October 2001
Dr Kemp's version of the 3 Rs…Reuse, Recycle, Regurgitate!
The National Tertiary Education Union is disappointed that the Coalition's higher education policy contains no new money for higher education. The money announced in this package has already been matched by the Opposition, which announced an additional one billion dollar package for universities today.
`It is clear that the Coalition is resting on its record, by re-packaging old initiatives as if they were new money. The reality is, there is nothing new to offer the sector, and no agenda for a third term except deregulation and cost-cutting.' said NTEU President Carolyn Allport.
The research initiatives announced in this policy are already contained in Backing Australia's Ability, the funding package announced by the Government last January.
The `28,000 places' were already allocated in January under the Backing Australia's Ability package, and in the May Federal Budget. The places comprise 2,000 new places in science, maths and technology-related areas each year for five years and 670 new places for regional universities and campuses each year over the same period. The figure of 28,000 is a cumulative figure that shows the increased total each year - so it counts some students several times over.
The 30,000 new places the Coalition says will be created by the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme are a fiction. PELS creates no new places - what it does do is provide a loan for full fee-paying students. Therefore, the Coalition estimates 30,000 more students will be able to afford full fee-paying places - a very different proposition from actually creating places.
`This is a measure of the Government's desperation,' said Dr Allport. `They still have a week and a half to come up with a real policy, and I encourage them to do so.'