The Australian | 1 July 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Universities have been warned their funding will be cut by 20% almost immediately, an average of $32 million a university, if the government can get its higher education reform package through the Senate by the end of the year. The legislation, rejected by the Senate in March, was due to be reintroduced during the budget sittings of Parliament but has been left to "lie fallow" as education minister Christopher Pyne presumably cultivates the Senate crossbenchers. Most informed commentary is that the legislation has little prospects of passing in its present form. So will the government amend the bill? … [Read more...]
The Scan #167 16 April 2015
16/04/2015 by
Student debt growing rapidly as compliance declines 16 April 2015 | With student debt ballooning, reform of the FEE-HELP system (HECS) is now a pressing budget issue with the nation’s second biggest financial asset, after the Future Fund, being eroded as one in five debtors renege on their loans. That figure is expected to rise to 25% by 2017. The government will have more than $70 billion in unpaid university student loans on its books in another two years, double the figure owed in 2013-14. According to researchers Richard Highfield and Neil Warren, the loans system is being compromised by successive governments’ commitment to increasing participation in tertiary education while not … [Read more...]
Mistakes were made
16/04/2015 by
16 April 2015 Failure of the deregulation package and the way ahead ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The failure of the government to carry the Senate on its proposed higher education reforms can be put down to the government’s arrogance and heavy-handedness and what would politely be called its disingenuousness. Parts of the package were not without considerable merit – for example, extending public subsidies to the students of non-university higher education providers is a long overdue fairness measure and extending them generally to sub-degree programs could considerably improve retention rates. But overall, the package was seen to be poorly conceived and fundamentally … [Read more...]
The social costs of high university charges
15/04/2015 by
15 April 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… This is an extract from Bruce Chapman's submission to a Senate Committee inquiry into higher education fee deregulation (February 2015) in which he proposes a "progressive tax" on university funding as a means of constraining fees. He suggest sthe question of what the “right” price to charge students for public sector university teaching services "is not an argument that can be made easily with reference to economic theory or compelling evidence related to allocative efficiency. It is instead basically an ethical issue." ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… It needs to be asked: Does it matter that … [Read more...]
ACPET National Monday Update Edition 599, 13 April 2015
14/04/2015 by
In Focus Private VET sector not broken Australia has fantastic private VET colleges delivering high quality support to students and great outcomes. However, we also have a more negative side that the media is shining the spotlight on. I must ask myself at times like these, is the VET sector actually broken, or does the private sector play a legitimate role? Let’s go to the data: Private tertiary education injects $5.8 billion per year to the national economy, employ almost 100,000 people and educate 1.4 million students. 1670 of the 4500 private RTOs received government funding in 2013 and enrolled 28% of students. In a sign quality … [Read more...]
ACPET National Monday Update 23 March 1015
24/03/2015 by
In Focus The week that was... Edition 596, 23 Mar The Higher Education reforms did not pass the Senate. Not a surprise, however it was certainly disappointing for the industry and students studying in non-University Higher Education Providers. Because a new model for higher education funding is so necessary, more effort is required. It is time for us all to work together the find a solution to the current impasse that is creating uncertainty and risking the quality of Australia’s higher education system. There are actually many areas of common ground. The reforms are too important to let wither on the vine. The future of our sector and that of current and future … [Read more...]
How to break the higher education impasse
12/02/2015 by
The Conversation | 9 February 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The fragile consensus within Universities Australia around support for the government’s fee deregulation package has begun to fracture (it was always chimerical), with Victoria University vice-chancellor Peter Dawkins proposing a “third way” between a high degree of regulation and unfettered regulation that combines managed deregulation with a stronger equity package and oversight. Canberra’s Stephen Parker has opposed the package from the get-go, with a number of other vice-chancellors having expressed reservations, including Swinburne vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson (Swinburne), Jane den Hollander … [Read more...]
