Coalition attacks university funding as multimillion-dollar cuts expected in budget

Extract from The Guardian

Turnbull government’s budget expected to significantly increase university fees and force graduates to repay loans faster

Students at Sydney University. Universities Australia says the sector has already done ‘more than their fair share’ to repair the federal budget. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Gareth Hutchens

Monday 1 May 2017 11.09 AEST 

The Turnbull government is preparing the ground for multimillion-dollar funding cuts to universities in next week’s budget.
It is also expected to increase university fees significantly and force university graduates to pay back their loans faster, in a bid to reduce funding pressures on the commonwealth, according to reports.
The education minister, Simon Birmingham, has released a new report from Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by the government, showing universities are already getting enough funding to cover the cost of teaching most degrees.

The report, Cost Delivery of Higher Education, looks at 17 universities and shows that, between 2010 and 2015, the average cost of delivery per student increased by 9.5%, while per student funding grew by 15% (including student contributions and commonwealth grant scheme funding).
It suggests the cost of delivering higher education teaching and scholarship indicates that universities have achieved economies of scale as they have experienced dramatic growth.

It contradicts the claim by Universities Australia last week that universities do not have capacity to absorb further cuts.
“This independent analysis speaks for itself: funding for our universities is at record levels but it has grown above and beyond the costs of their operations,” Birmingham said.
“Australian taxpayers gave universities around $16.7bn in 2016 alone or around $19,000 per student, which is more than ever before. In the context of a tight national budget, the Turnbull government is focused on getting the best return for every taxpayer dollar invested.
“Universities have a vital role to play in Australia but many mums and dads are feeling the pinch of tighter budgets at home and want to know their tax dollars are being used effectively and efficiently.”
Birmingham will speak to university and business leaders on Monday evening and is expected to unveil his reform package in coming days. He will also speak to the National Press Club on Thursday, booked at his request.

Simon Birmingham and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Under the government’s higher education plan, universities can expect to be hit with a new efficiency dividend of between 2% and 3% to be phased in over several years, according to Fairfax Media. Students may also see a rise in course fees and a lowering of the Hecs repayment threshold from the current $52,000.
But the government says there is a clear case for providing some additional funding for dentistry and veterinary studies.
The Deloitte report shows veterinary studies have the highest mean cost of bachelor provision, at about $49,000 per student, and dental studies have the second highest, at $46,000. Education studies are at the lower end of the cost range, at $12,000-15,000 per student on average.
The government has pointed to reports that vice-chancellors are paid more than the prime minister and most senior public servants.
According to publicly available annual reports, nine vice-chancellors have pay packets worth more than $1m a year and only three earn less than $600,000.
The average remuneration package paid to a vice-chancellor in 2015 was $873,571, up $30,000 on 2014, with Sydney University’s vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, paid the highest in Australia, at $1,385,000, up $220,000 from 2014.
Labor has slammed the government’s decision to cut university funding, saying company profits soared 65% last year but Malcolm Turnbull wants uni students to pay for a $50bn tax cut for big business and the banks.
“It shows just how out of touch the Liberals are that they think it’s fair to jack up student fees and cut university funding at the same time as giving big business a $50bn tax handout,” the shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, said.

“Australian students are already the sixth-highest contributors to the cost of their own university education in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.”
Universities Australia last week said universities and their students had already contributed $3.9bn to rein in the federal budget deficit since 2011.
“Enough is enough. Universities and their students have already done more than their fair share of budget repair,” its chief executive, Belinda Robinson, said. “In this context, it is difficult to justify further cuts that would affect student affordability and put at risk the quality of education and research on which Australia’s prosperity depends.”