ATN News | 13 April 2013
Multi-billion dollar funding cuts announced today by the Federal Government will have a serious long-term impact on Australia’s educational system and future productivity.
Federal Tertiary Education Minister, Dr Craig Emerson has announced the $2.3 billion cuts from universities will contribute to the funding of school education to “ensure that all Australian school children get a flying start in life.”
ATN Executive Director Vicki Thomson, said the cuts begged the question – a flying start to where?
“The reality is that those very same school students who choose to go to university will face a crash landing when they arrive at what may be an underfunded Australian university. The two sectors are intrinsically linked – taking from universities to fund schools ignores this fact. We need well-funded school education together with a well-funded university sector – it must not be either or.
“To add insult to injury- these cuts come on top of $1 billion in cuts less than 6 month ago in the mid-year economic review process.
“These cuts are not sustainable – universities will need to make tough choices as their bottom line continues to be eroded through a reduction in funding.
“Whilst we breathe a sigh of relief to see that indexation remains untouched, it is simply not reasonable to grow a system whereby we have 146,000 extra student places in 2014 and not support that growth with sustainable funding,” Ms Thomson said.
