DEMOCRATS' HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY PLUGS UNIVERSITY MAINTENANCE FUNDING HOLE
October 25, 2007
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) believes that the higher education policy released today by the Australian Democrats is to be applauded for identifying and committing to take action to plug the massive infrastructure funding hole hampering the operation of Australian universities.
Dr Greg McCarthy, NTEU National Vice President said:
“Today’s commitment by the Democrats to provide a one-off $2 billion grant over 4 years to address the issue of deferred maintenance at Australia’s universities is a welcome and long overdue initiative that will help reverse the impacts of over a decade of Commonwealth under funding.”
“In 2005, the Federal Government estimated the deferred maintenance bill, which is essentially maintenance that has been held off due to insufficient funds, to be around $1.5 billion.”
“We believe this is a conservative estimate, however, and the real cost is likely to be much higher. More recently, the Group of Eight universities estimated their bill alone to be close to $1.56 billion.”
“While the Higher Education Endowment Fund announced in this year’s federal budget will see funding grants allocated to specific research infrastructure projects, it is not designed to deal with the ongoing maintenance of libraries, lecture theatres and laboratories at universities.”
“While we agrees that it is important to aspire to build state of the art facilities that attempt to push Australian universities onto the world stage, this must not be at the cost of maintaining existing facilities across the sector.”
“Without this sector wide commitment to funding is vital to guaranteeing the quality of teaching and research carried out by our universities.”
“The Democrats are the first party to offer a substantial policy that addresses this gaping hole in university funding.”
“Accordingly, we also welcome the Democrats plan to link the indexation of university funding directly and solely to the Consumer Price Index.”
“We are pleased that the Democrats’ policy also commits removing full fee places for domestic undergraduate students, repealing the Federal Government’s anti-student union legislation, increasing the repayment threshold for HECS and improving student income support levels and access.”
“The Democrats’ higher education policy lays down a challenge to the other parties in this election, and we call on the other parties, particularly Labor, to outline their vision for the future of our universities.”
For information and comment:
Dr Greg McCarthy, NTEU National Vice President: (08) 8201 2656