Ongoing reform

Recent proposed reforms have focused on fee deregulation for Commonwealth-supported students (to date resisted politically); reduction in the level of funding per student enrolment (with further reductions proposed in the 2017-18 Federal Budget); and the extension of government-subsidised places to private providers and sub-Bachelor awards (Marginson, 2013).

These reforms were first proposed in 2014, but were not endorsed by the Senate, and have been modified. You can read the latest in the May 2017 government report The Higher Education Reform Package Links to an external site. and in an update for 2018 Links to an external site. which provides the latest budget details.

The Government's revised proposals include the following:

• an increase in the student contribution toward the cost of the degree to, on average, 46% for Australian students (currently they pay on average 42%);
• the HECS-HELP threshold would change to $42,000 (students currently start paying it at $54,869);
• a 2.5% funding cut (the government calls it an efficiency dividend), which amounts to around $380 million in 2019; and
• the removal of Commonwealth-supported places for Australian permanent residents and New Zealand citizens, making them full fee-paying students with access to the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP).

Further reviews are foreshadowed, including a review of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and of the Criteria for Higher Education Providers.

Those supporting these reforms argue that they are necessary for expanding student participation and to improve resourcing to universities, allowing them to maintain funding for research, research training and infrastructure while improving quality and efficiency. They believe that competition between universities will result in more choice for students, and that price deregulation and greater competition will lead to a genuinely demand-driven system which balances quality, access and funding sustainability (Group of Eight, 2015; Universities Australia, 2015). Others are less convinced of the benefits of the proposed reforms; the main concern being the effect on students of increased fees.

In December 2017, Education Minister Simon Birmingham announced that universities can “no longer write their own cheques”. Read the press release Links to an external site. here. In Campus Morning Mail Links to an external site., Stephen Matchett summarised it:

“The Turnbull Government has all-but abolished the demand driven system, introducing a cap on public funding for undergraduate student places … From 2020 universities must meet unspecified performance targets to qualify for an increase in public funded places. The base for any increase will be 2017 actual enrolments, with growth set at the per centage increase of the working aged population. The new cap on funding for places returns the university system to the ad hockery prevailing before demand driven funding, when universities could “over-enrol” as many students as they chose but only receive discounted Canberra cash per head.  Under the new arrangement universities will be able to enrol as many extra students as they choose but the government will only pay them the student contribution to the cost of the place.”

Watch the Government’s 2014 television advertisement Links to an external site. about proposed changes to higher education.

Recently the ABC fact checked Links to an external site. the claim that the government subsidises half the cost of degrees. Read the ongoing discussion about reform, both for and against, in The Conversation Links to an external site. (useful search terms include: ‘higher education reform’ and ‘fee deregulation’).

 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_Senate_-_Parliament_of_Australia.jpg