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MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Sunday 21 June 2020
Government's university reform has one big difference to past failures.
In his opening remarks at the National Press Club on Friday, the Education Minister insisted he was not returning to one of the most unpopular and ultimately unsuccessful policy proposals of the Abbott Government's tough 2014 Budget.
"Let me be very clear," Tehan said. "This does not mean fee deregulation. This does not mean $100,000 degrees".
Six years on from the ill-fated university deregulation push, it's clearly still a sore point.
After two years of trying under two ministers (Christopher Pyne and Simon Birmingham), and two rejections from the Senate, the plan to allow universities to charge higher fees for in-demand courses was unceremoniously dropped.
Labor prevailed in that fight with its relentless campaign about "$100,000 degrees".
The Morrison Government isn't returning to deregulation, but there are a couple of similarities in the latest approach laid out by Tehan this week.
Once again, the government hopes to squeeze more out of the higher education sector without spending more taxpayers' money. Well, not beyond inflation-pegged increases anyway.
It expects the number of students to grow by 100,000 over the next decade, which universities will have to accommodate by cutting their cloth.
The good news, the great news — and the terrible
The other similarity to the earlier deregulation push is an attempt to better match graduates to the needs of business.
The difference under this model is the carrot-and-stick approach of the government using a price signal to drive students into the courses it believes the economy needs.
For those wanting to take up teaching, nursing or a STEM degree, this is good news. For those wanting to study maths or agriculture, this is great news. Course fees would drop by more than 60 per cent.
For those keen on studying law or commerce, it's not such great news. For those embarking on humanities, this is terrible. Course fees would more than double.
There's no doubt Australia needs more nursing, teaching, maths and science graduates. No one will argue against offering them a cheaper university degree.
It's far more difficult to mount the argument that arts degrees should cost twice as much because they're not as useful. Particularly for an Education Minister who, you guessed it, studied an arts degree (full disclosure, I did too).
It's easy to make fun of humanities graduates, but they do seem to find their way into all sorts of in-demand sectors.
As the Australian Academy of the Humanities points out, the government's own projections show the top-five destinations for humanities graduates are education and training, public administration, professional, scientific and technical services, health care and arts and recreation.
The Academy is deeply worried about the government's proposed changes, calling them "potentially the greatest hit to Australia's humanities sector in a century." Nor can it understand anomalies like charging more for a history course but less for librarianship.
This is quite the intervention
There is one great difference to the deregulation push of 2014.
Back then, Pyne argued his plan would still ensure there were "no financial barriers to participating in higher education." That was based on the fact students could still borrow the lot (even $100,000) and repay the loan once in the workforce.
Under the new "price signal" proposal, students can still borrow the lot, but the government can no longer argue there is "no financial barrier".
Students who do an Arts degree will face a debt burden of $45,000. Those who study nursing can do so for just $11,000.(ABC News: Giulio Saggin)
Indeed, it wants that barrier to act as a clear disincentive. Study an arts degree and face a debt burden of $45,000. Study nursing for the discount price of $11,000.
The government makes no secret of wanting those studying humanities, communications, management and commerce to effectively subsidise cheaper courses for nursing, teaching and STEM students.
This is no deregulation. In fact, it's quite the government intervention, aimed at re-shaping the university sector, aligning it with "industry needs" and accommodating an influx of 100,000 additional students at no extra cost.
It will be up to the many arts graduates in the Senate to decide if this is a necessary step in pulling the economy out of recession — and the government out of so much debt.
David Speers is the host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
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