Crossroads Reforms Could Increase Divide between Rich and Poor Universities
12 May 2003
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) believes Tuesday’s Federal Budget could further increase the divide between Australia’s rich and poor universities.
“Instead of delivering significant increases in genuinely new funding for higher education, NTEU fears that the Budget will only change the way the present funding is divided up, with significant impacts on Australia’s 38 public universities,” said Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU National President.
“The higher education reform package is likely to include measures such as deregulation of HECS, changes to the allocation of research funds, and some additional assistance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as Indigenous and rural students.”
“While regional universities may benefit from any additional funds to disadvantaged students, they will be significantly disadvantaged by increases in student fees and any move to introduce a more competitive research funding policy.”
“Australia’s university system is already extraordinarily diverse, including institutions such as Charles Sturt University in NSW which in 2001 had a total annual income of less than $10,000 per student, while the Australian National University had an income of almost $57,000 per student.”
“The real danger of the higher education reform package is that gains made by some universities will be at the expense of others,” said Dr Allport. “This could result in a highly stratified higher education sector of rich and poor universities along the lines of the United States’ model but without the US level of public funding.”
“The Australian public needs to consider whether it wants a tertiary education sector comprised of universities that provide all students with the quality of education expected from higher education institutions or a sector made up of a handful of elite universities accessible only by a wealthy few.”
An NTEU briefing paper released on Monday, How Diverse and Specialised do Australian Universities Need to Be? examines the high degree of diversity within the university system and the potential impacts of the higher education reform package. The paper is available from the NTEU website http://www.nteu.org.au//policy/crossroads/briefing/diverse
For information and comment:
Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU President: 0419 349 064
Andrew Nette, Policy and Research Coordinator: 0438 026277
The NTEU, the National Union of Students and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations will be holding a briefing for members of the media on the higher education reforms to be introduced at part of the Federal Budget.
When: Monday, May 12, 11am
Where: Parliament House, Room SG 114