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Plan to slug uni students
By LAUREN MARTIN and ARDYN BERNOTH
A secret Federal Government overhaul of university education proposes
no-limit student fees, the abolition of low-cost HECS student loans in
favour of market rate loans and a voucher system encouraging movement
through both private and public campuses.
The confidential Cabinet submission prepared by the Minister for
Education, Dr Kemp, reveals a timetable which would see the HECS scheme
scrapped in 2001.
Universities would be free to ratchet up fees from 2002.
The quota of fee-paying students universities can accept - now capped at
25 per cent - would be dropped from 2001.
The Government would also provide a "universal tuition subsidy" -
essentially a voucher - which could be used at public or private universities.
The politically risky new funding proposal was revealed in a leaked
document tabled in Parliament yesterday by the Opposition. It provoked
an unsuccessful censure motion against Dr Kemp, who neither confirmed
nor denied the proposals.
The options in the document were attacked by students, universities, the
Opposition and Democrats as a dangerous direction for higher education.
The Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee said thousands of students
would be unable to afford university. "Changes like this mean the
standard of education drops ... and hence our standing in the world,"
the committee's acting head, Professor John Mullarvey, said.
Student protests will begin today. The National Union of Students said
it was a declaration of war on students, with the cost of earning a
degree going up by thousands of dollars - up to $100,000 for a degree
such as law.
"These proposals put a mortgage over the life of a student just for
studying at university," said the union's NSW president, Ms Amanda Tattersall.
The Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, called it an "Americanisation" of
universities which would destroy Australia's future, strike deep in the
bush and be particularly hard on women who break from the workforce to
raise children.
The Opposition education spokesman, Mr Michael Lee, said people would be
forced to choose between an education and a home.
Dr Kemp and Mr Howard ruled out "absolutely" a voucher system - as
proposed in the West inquiry into higher education - before the last
election.
In the Cabinet submission, Dr Kemp outlined options to soften the
controversial package, including retaining government control over
federally funded places, funding a "modest increase" in students at
public universities, or keeping HECS while introducing the new loans scheme.
The submission also seeks aggressive workplace reform. There was a risk
that some institutions would become "unviable" if pay and condition
disputes were not resolved.
"Already eight institutions appear to be operating at a deficit and some
regional campuses are at risk," the paper said.
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