Budget – The Scan

The Scan 28 June 2016 #181

28/06/2016 by intermediatescan

Apprentice numbers slump 28 June 2016 | The number of apprentices across Australia has plunged since the Coalition took office, government figures show, with some of the steepest falls occurring in high-unemployment marginal seats still up for grabs at Saturday's election. Western Sydney has lost 10,642 apprentices and western Melbourne 4782, while the national total fell 28 per cent from 383,562 to 278,583, between December 2013 and December last year, documents obtained under Freedom of Information and NCVER data reveal. Labor claims the falling take up of apprenticeships is a direct result of the $1 billion stripped from trades support programs since the change of government, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACPET, AiG, ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, Education policy, Greens, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Regional, Schools, TAFE, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, University budgets, University reform, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: apprenticeship commencements, Election 2016, Fee deregulation, Gonski Review, Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, Higher education fees, Schools funding, TAFE appointments, TAFE funding, University budgets, University funding, VET, VET FEE-HELP, VET funding

Higher education gets short shrift in the election campaign

28/06/2016 by intermediatescan

28 June 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Stephen Parker, the soon to retire vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, was an implacable opponent of the Coalition's university deregulation package. But from being a red hot issue during most of the last term of Parliament, higher education has hardly figured in the election campaign. The Coalition has slipped the electorate a mogadon and seemingly gotten away with it. The mogadon will wear of after the election, should the Coalition returned. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Higher education policy during the Abbott government was highly controversial and probably a component of Tony Abbott’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Coalition policies, Higher education policy, universities, Universities Australia, University budgets Tagged With: Election 2016, Equity, Fee deregulation, Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014

Private schools “arms race”

27/06/2016 by intermediatescan

Fairfax Media | 26 June 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Private schools are outspending Victorian public schools by four to one, splurging on rowing tanks, pilates studios, sky decks and imaginariums. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Some top private schools have spent up to $70 million on capital projects over the past few years as part of a facilities "arms race" to lure students. The state's biggest spender, Carey Baptist Grammar School, shelled out about $11.4 million in 2014 on a new "learning and innovation" centre at its Kew campus. The $23 million building features an "audiovisual Imaginarium" with 3D technology and a "United Nations Room" with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Education policy, Schools Tagged With: Election 2016, Equity, Gonski Review, Schools funding

Liberal Party Tertiary Education Policy

27/06/2016 by intermediatescan

Higher Education Reform The Coalition has pushed consideration of proposed university reforms, including a 20% cut in funding, out beyond the election, until 1 January 2018, but it has ruled out full fee deregulation. It has released an options paper, to guide a consultation process, canvassing a range of alternative fee measures. That's it. Redesigning VET FEE-HELP The Coalition has proposed a set of tougher measures to fix the VET FEE-HELP blow-out in a discussion paper released on 29 April. The present minister for vocational education and skills senator Scott Ryan said the paper will pave the way for a full redesign of the scheme. PaTH Announced in the 2016 Budget, to come into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Coalition policies, Higher education policy, universities Tagged With: Election 2016

Labor’s Policies on Tertiary Education

27/06/2016 by intermediatescan

Higher Education Student Funding Guarantee Labor has committed to supporting the demand driven system which has seen an additional 190,000 students enrolled at university since 2009. A Labor government will introduce a new Student Funding Guarantee to provide certainty to universities and remove the need for higher fees. Under a Labor Government, average funding per undergraduate student in 2018 will be more than $11,800, which it says would be $2,500 than under a Coalition government. Funding for the guarantee will be indexed. Restoration of research block grant funding Labor proposes to restore $370m in funding cut from research grants by the Abbott-Turnbull governments since … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Commonwealth policies, Higher education policy, Public funding, Regional, Research, TEQSA, universities, University budgets, University of Tasmania Tagged With: Demand driven system, Election 2016, Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, Innovation, Regional universities, STEM, University funding

ACPET – Election 2016 – Statements

26/06/2016 by intermediatescan

Private education and training is the preferred choice of more than 50 per cent of students across Australia. It is highly innovative and responsive to the needs of industry. More than 2.2 million students choose to complete study or training with private providers in Australia. The Student Choice Counts campaign is mobilising the community of students, employees and supporters of the private education and training sector against any policy change to limit student choice and undermine the viability of an important and competitive industry. The risks: Liberal and National parties and the ALP have announced major reviews and consultations into training and higher education. ACPET … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACPET, ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, Higher education policy, Regional, TAFE, The Scan, VET, VET FEE-HELP, Vocational education & training Tagged With: Apprenticeships, Election 2016, VET FEE-HELP, VET quality, VET regulatory standards, VET students

Envy vs Equity

05/05/2016 by intermediatescan

4 May 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… As we draw nearer the election, the findings of a recent ANU opinion poll ought to resonate with the politicians, as ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt observes – particularly those given to characterising the “politics of equity” as the “politics of envy” (that being our observation, not Schmidt’s). It is unlikey to though: with the political class, only two polls count – Newspoll and the actual poll on 2 July. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The ANU School of Politics & International Relations regularly conducts national telephone opinion polls on issues of political and social significance. The latest, the 21st in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Society Tagged With: Budget 2016, Election 2016

The Scan #179 5 May 2016

05/05/2016 by intermediatescan

A few cuts, no frills 4 May 2016 | The government has pushed consideration of proposed university reforms, including a 20% cut in funding, out beyond the election, until 1 January 2018. While it has ruled out full fee deregulation, it has released an options paper, to guide a consultation process, canvassing a range of alternative fee measures which would still see substantial fee rises. The 2016 Budget also sees an efficiency dividend of $1.2 billion on legislated dropped but the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program has been cut by $152 million to $553 million over four years. The Office of Learning and Teaching has been abolished, with the resulting $18 million in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACCC, ALP policies, ANU, Budget, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Grattan Institute, Higher education policy, International, International students, IRU, Regional Universities Network, Swinburne University, TAFE, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, University reform, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: Budget 2016, Budget cuts, Equity, Fee deregulation, FEE-HELP, Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, International, Rorting, Tertiary education news, University budgets, University cuts, University funding, VET FEE-HELP

Running, jumping, standing still

04/05/2016 by intermediatescan

The Conversation | 4 May 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… What now? asks Gavin Moodie (RMIT) in The Conversation. While across-the-board full fee deregulation has now been dumped by the Coalition, fee deregulation of so-called "flagship courses", first mooted in the Review of Base Funding in 2011 (with the significant qualification that such fees be capped at plus 50% above what they would otherwise be), looks a hot prospect for a re-elected Coalition government (as does a raising of the cap on other courses by some percentage). That is, of course, still moot: an incoming Labor government would be ostensibly committed to additional public investment in higher … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, Higher education policy, Public funding, Research, universities, University budgets Tagged With: Budget 2016, Election 2016, Equity, FEE-HELP, Higher education reform package, Tertiary education news, Tertiary participation, VET FEE-HELP

Redesigning VET FEE-HELP

04/05/2016 by intermediatescan

4 May 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The federal government has proposed a set of tougher measures to fix the VET FEE-HELP blow-out in a discussion paper released on 29 April. The minister for vocational education and skills senator Scott Ryan said the paper will pave the way for a full redesign of the scheme. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The discussion paper catalogues the scale of malpractice by some providers, such as the targeting of low socio-economic status and vulnerable people with inducements to enroll and misleading potential students about their repayment commitments. The paper reveals that a small number of VET FEE-HELP providers dominate the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, TAFE, The Scan, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: Rorting, Tertiary education news, VET FEE-HELP, VET regulation