A mean and sneaky Budget for higher education...and the student pay
22 May 2001
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), representing staff in Australian universities, has expressed disappointment and anger at the lack of funding for higher education in the Federal Budget.
NTEU President Carolyn Allport described it as a \'mean and sneaky\' budget, insofar as it did nothing to address the funding problems within universities. It simply re-packages initiatives already announced in the Government\'s \'Backing Australia\'s Ability\' statement announced in January, and shifts more of the costs of higher education to students.
\'Cuts to operating grants and the fact that the Government no longer funds staff salary increases mean that university cost structures have increased by around 20% since 1996,\' said Dr Allport. \'During the same period, public funding per student has fallen by around $250 per head. Substantial public investment is the only way to arrest the decline in quality which is the result of inadequate funding.\'
\'This sort of Budget in an election year shows that the Government has only one strategy for Australian universities - to make the students pay, and pay more,\' she said.
\'The Minister is claiming that the Government will provide $995m to fund a postgraduate loans scheme, but in fact this scheme delivers a net gain to the Government\'s bottom line of $36m over five years. It is really about entrenching a culture of full-fee-paying in Australian universities.\'
\'The same applies to a Budget initiative which will see the Government shift the costs of some bridging courses from Government to the students. Instead of being able to access a publicly subsidised place, students will pay the full cost of their course, with access to a loans scheme.\'
Dr Allport welcomed the increase in 670 places in regional Australia, but questioned whether it would help increase regional participation or simply provide the Minister with a pretext for some pre-election pork-barrelling in marginal seats.
\'Research shows that cost is a major disincentive to university participation in regional Australia. This shows up also in the big drop in Indigenous participation: the number of Indigenous commencing students fell by a staggering 15.2% last year, and participation rates have been falling since 1996,\' she said. \'For many people, higher education is simply becoming too expensive.\'