HIGHER EDUCATION PACKAGE RETAINS FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS
Wed 17 Sept 2003
The modifications announced today by the Government to Backing Australia’s Future does not alter the fact that the package retains a number of fundamental flaws and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) will continue to urge the Senate to amend or reject these flaws.
“Although the Union welcomes some of the changes announced by Dr Nelson, especially the decision to exclude fee-exempt scholarships for low income students from the social security income test, overall today’s announcement will do little if anything to alter the problems in the package,” said Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU President.
“Backing Australia’s Future contains only a short-term injection of public funding for the sector. A substantial component of this is tied to contentious workplace relations changes the details of which university staff are yet to see. It also contains far reaching proposals to deregulate fees and charges for students and their families.”
“While the Minister is now proposing to allow universities to waive HECS fees for some disadvantaged students, it is important to stress no additional funding appears available to universities to undertake this.”
“If universities want to waive fees they will have pay for it themselves and in all likelihood charge the maximum 30% additional HECS to cross subsidise the effort. While the Union recognises that the Minister’s latest proposal might shelter some of the most disadvantaged from the fee increases, the likely outcome for the vast majority of other students will still be increased costs.”
“Under Backing Australia’s Future students and their families will pay an average of 44% towards the cost of their education. A 30% increase in HECS would see the average contribution rise to 57%, meaning that Australian students could be paying some of the highest fees in the world.”
“The NTEU would urge the Senate to carefully consider whether it wants Australia to be a world leader in this respect,” said Dr Allport.
“And while there is merit in the Minister’s decision to change the regional loading to include distance education students, without a corresponding plan to increase the overall amount of money available for the loading it will simply result in funding being redistributed to those regional institutions that specialise in distance education.”
“Some universities will still lose out, and at the end of the day we are still left without a comprehensive policy response to the challenge of providing a quality higher education system in regional Australia.”
For information and comment contact:
Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU President:
03 9254 1910 or 0419 349 064
Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator:
03 9254 1910 or 0438026277