THE AGE http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000411/A60923-2000Apr10.html Postgraduate studies `just for the rich' By CAROLYN JONES EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT Tuesday 11 April 2000 The professions are becoming the preserve of rich students due to Federal Government education funding cuts, postgraduate students have warned. The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations says a decline in the funding of postgraduate places is harming research and development and causing skills shortages in several areas. The council's federal budget submission claims the government's plan to cut the number of postgraduate research students it funds from 25,000 to 21,500 next year will stop many talented science and technology graduates from pursuing further study. The cuts will reduce places in science and communications, for example, even though demand for research graduates is predicted to increase rapidly in these areas. Postgraduate students fall into two main categories: those doing higher degrees research by thesis such as PhDs and masters degrees and those undertaking postgraduate coursework programs. Postgraduate coursework programs cover all levels of awards including graduate certificates to professional doctorates. The submission says the reduction in the number of funded postgraduate coursework places from 53,680 places in 1996 to 43,427 this year will make it harder for teachers, nurses and other health workers to upgrade their qualifications. Council president Bradley Smith said the government's policies were harming Australia's innovation capacity. "They are biased against average and low-income students and have caused skill shortages in professions like teaching," he said. "This will also have disastrous consequences for completion rates." Mr Smith said that as a result of the cuts, many postgraduate courses were full fee paying courses ranging from under $4000 for a graduate certificate to $35,000 for a masters program. The submission says the reduction in the number of postgraduate places for Australian students is at odds with the growth in the number of undergraduate students and the projected increased demand for graduates in the emerging knowledge industries. In 1996, the Federal Government funded 3.3 postgraduate coursework places to every fee paying place. By 1999 fee-paying places for postgraduate coursework qualifications exceeded funded places. The council estimates that this year there will be 1.6 fee-paying places for every funded place. "This situation is projected to deteriorate further to a ratio of nearly two fee-paying places to every funded place by 2002," the submission says. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
