HELP is in need of help

07/08/2014 by
Timothy Higgins

The Conversation     |     1 August 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… An important issue for Australian university funding concerns the rate of interest applied to Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt. For the last 25 years the debts have been adjusted to inflation; this has ensured that the loan carries a zero real rate of interest for all debtors. Times have changed. The 2014/15 budget proposes that the debt be adjusted to the long-term government bond rate, which would lead to significant inequities in the system. Bruce Chapman and Timothy Higgins (ANU) recently conducted some research on this issue, and found there are alternative indexation arrangements worth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Budget, Commonwealth policies, Higher education policy, The Scan, University budgets, University reform Tagged With: , , , ,

Go8 leader urges senators to enable fee deregulation but ease up on interest rates

01/08/2014 by
PROF IAN YOUNG PRESS CLUB

The Conversation   |   30 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ANU vice-chancellor and chair of the Group of Eight Ian Young has urged the Senate to pass fee deregulation, proposed in May’s budget, but stopped short of supporting the government’s plans to impose an interest rate on HECS. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…     ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young has urged the Senate to pass fee deregulation, proposed in May’s budget, but stopped short of supporting the government’s plans to impose an interest rate on HECS. In a speech at the Press Club in Canberra today, Young, who is also Chair of the Group of Eight, said Australia had no outstanding … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Budget, Commonwealth policies, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, The Scan Tagged With: , , ,

Imagining an Australia built on the brilliance of our people: address to National Press Club

01/08/2014 by

Group of Eight   |   30 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… When our Senate considers the government’s higher education reforms it needs to find some sensible compromises. It needs to see thatderegulation is critical to this nation’s future. It needs to consider what magnitude of funding cuts is sustainable for universities in a constrained public budget. It needs to find a compromise option which maintains the brilliance of the HECS system, allows it to be sustainable for the nation and affordable for students. It also must not forget that world class research is essential if we are to be a wealthy nation in 50 years. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… Higher … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Budget, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Rankings, Research, The Scan, universities, University budgets, University reform Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Govt likely to modify HECS repayment proposal

01/08/2014 by
Photo: Andrew Taylor

The Age    |   1 August 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The federal government is expected to ditch one of its most controversial budget measures - the plan to apply real interest rates to student debts - following advice from the architect of the HECS repayment scheme that it is unfair to poor graduates. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… Modelling by education economist Bruce Chapman and Timothy Higgins  has found poor graduates could pay 30% more for a degree than their high-income counterparts if the government indexes student debts at the government bond rate rather than inflation. Women who take time off work to have children would be among the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Budget, Government, Higher education policy, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia Tagged With: , ,

The Scan | Edition # 158

30/07/2014 by

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Skills reform a "shemozzle of a dog's breakfast"... 24 July 2014    |    Skills reform in Australia is an “absolute shemozzle” and is jeopardising a world-class vocational education and training system, says Jeff Gunningham, recently retired chief executive of TAFE South Australia.  But the apparent troubles besetting TAFE are the invention of a “misinformed media”, according to the Victorian minister.  Gunningham told the Victorian TAFE Association conference that bureaucratic bungling and an obsession with the bottom line is degrading … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Commonwealth policies, Group of 8, Navitas, Notices, TAFE, The Scan, University reform, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Universities should be able to charge students what they want

27/04/2014 by
young & evans2

The Conversation     |     27 April 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Top universities should be free to charge domestic students whatever they deem appropriate, according to the Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor of the Australian National University. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... Top universities should be free to charge domestic students whatever they deem appropriate, according to the Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor of the Australian National University. In an opinion piece calling for an end to the current cap on fees, ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young, also chair of the Group of Eight, and ANU Chancellor Gareth Evans, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Commonwealth policies, Deakin, Group of 8, Higher education policy, The Scan Tagged With: , ,

Split on extending CSPs to private providers – and fees

23/04/2014 by

22 April 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Kemp-Norton review’s recommended extension of Commonwealth subsidies to students attending private for-profit higher education providers has split the public university sector.  ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... Universities Australia (UA) says such an extension is a policy high wire act which, if not properly controlled, could endanger the hard won reputation of the Australian higher education sector and called for a cautious approach. UA chief Belinda Robinson says universities are not opposed to even more competition but such a move would “represent a radical change to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Budget, Commonwealth-State relations, Group of 8, Higher education policy, The Scan, Universities Australia, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Australian unis fall in ranking

06/03/2014 by
THE 2014

The Australian    |     6 March 2014                                 The Guardian     |    6 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Australia’s leading universities have tumbled in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… All Australian universities lost ground in 2014, with Melbourne now the only institution in the top 50 after the Australian National University and Sydney University both tumbled into the 61-70 bracket (from 42 and 49 respectively). Queensland University is now in the 81-90 bracket, while the University of New South Wales is in the 91-100 grouping.  Monash dropped out of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Commonwealth policies, Rankings, Universities Australia, University budgets, University of Melbourne, University of NSW, University of Queensland, University of Sydney Tagged With: , , ,

Big six dominate rankings

27/02/2014 by
Rankings 2014

The Australian | 26 February 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Six universities have so dominated the latest international ranking of performance across 30 subject areas they have taken out 141 of the available 150 top five places nationally. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Melbourne was once again named Australia’s best performing university in the QS World University Ranking by Subject being placed first nationally in 12 of the 30 disciplines. Its best performance was in education, where it was named the second best faculty in the world, behind the University of London’s Institute of Education, up from third last year. Melbourne also took the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Monash, Rankings, Research, The Scan, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, UNSW Tagged With: ,

Young to head Go8

05/12/2013 by
IanYounglowres.124855

Group of Eight News    |      December 2013 The Group of Eight (Go8) Board of Directors have  elected Professor Ian Young AO, vice-chancellor and president of The Australian National University (ANU), to serve as its next chair from January 2014. Young will replace Professor Fred Hilmer AO, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of New South Wales, who has chaired the Go8 over the last two years. Young was appointed Vice-Chancellor of ANU in March 2011. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology from 2003 to 2011. He was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide from 1999 to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANU, Group of 8, Higher education policy Tagged With: , ,
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