MEDIA RELEASE
OUR UNIVERSITIES: BACKING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE
13 May 2003 MINBUD 2/03
I am pleased to announce a comprehensive ten year plan that will
create a more diverse, equitable and high quality higher education
sector for Australia’s future.
The case for reform rests on two facts which cannot be denied.
The first is that Australian universities need longer term access to
more resources. The second is that money is only half the problem.
These reforms will establish a transparent and consistent policy
framework in which universities are able to pursue their own
strategic mission, capitalise on their strengths and further engage
regional communities.
Students will have increased opportunities and greater choice
through more equitable financing arrangements and a renewed emphasis
on teaching and learning outcomes.
Laying the foundation for this ten year vision, approximately
$1.5 billion in additional funding will be invested in higher
education over the next four years, with more than $660 million in
additional funding per year from 2007. Over the next ten years, the
Commonwealth will provide more than $10 billion in new support for
higher education, including an estimated $6.9 billion in additional
funding to the sector and approximately $3.7 billion in financial
assistance to students through new student loans.
Base funding for institutions
The reforms will establish a partially deregulated system of
higher education, in which individual universities are able to
capitalise on their particular strengths and better respond to
demand for their course offerings (see Table A).
Each university will set its own student contribution levels
within a range from $0 to a maximum set by the Commonwealth.
Restrictions on the small number of domestic fee paying places
will be eased slightly enabling institutions that choose to do so to
generate additional income through an increase to the proportion of
fee-paying places in any undergraduate course (from 25% to 50%).
There are currently 9,400 Australian students in full fee paying
places, representing 2% of the domestic undergraduate student
population of 531,000.
Each institution will enter into a Funding Agreement with the
Commonwealth under the new Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS), which
replaces the existing block funding grants. Total increased funding
under the CGS will be $775.4 million over four years. Commonwealth
course contributions to institutions under the Scheme will increase
by $404.3 million (7.5%) by 2007. This increase in funding will be
conditional on institutions adhering to new national governance
protocols and complying with the Commonwealth’s workplace relations
policies.
Increased support for students
New Commonwealth Learning Scholarships will be introduced in 2004
to further assist rural and regional, low-income and Indigenous
students with the costs associated with higher education.
By 2007, 5,075 scholarships per year will be provided at $2,000
each to help students cover their educational costs, commencing with
2,500 in 2004. Another 2,030 new scholarships per year valued at
$4,000 each will be offered by 2007 to assist rural and regional
students who move away from home with their accommodation costs.
These will commence in 2004 with an initial 1,500 scholarships
awarded.
Additionally, the new Endeavour Programme will enable
high-performing students from around the world to study in
Australia, with the Government committing an extra $7.9 million over
four years for 30 new scholarships.
Students will also benefit under the package from changes to HECS.
From 2005, existing and new students will not be required to repay
their debt until their income reaches the minimum threshold of
$30,000 (currently $24,365). This will improve the financial
position of many graduates on lower incomes. HECS will continue to
remain indexed to the CPI.
Two new loan schemes will also be created to assist students
through their study.
Commencing from 2005, the new Fee-Paying HELP (FEE-HELP) scheme
will offer students an income contingent loan facility to pay their
undergraduate or postgraduate fees in full fee paying (non-HECS)
courses in public or eligible private institutions.
Overseas Study HELP (OS-HELP) will assist students to study
abroad for one or two semesters of their degree programme. In 2005,
a total of 2,500 OS-HELP loans of up to $10,000 each will be
available, increasing to a total of 10,000 loans per year by 2008.
Debts accrued under FEE-HELP and OS-HELP will be indexed to the
Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3½ percentage points each year for a
maximum of 10 years, before reverting to indexation by the CPI.
Additional support for regional institutions and campuses
From 2004, the Commonwealth will provide an additional $122.6
million over four years to incorporate a regional loading into the
Commonwealth Grant Scheme for students enrolled at regional campuses
of public higher education institutions.
This measure will financially recognise the significant and
unique contribution made by regional higher education institutions
and campuses to their local communities and to students from
regional and rural areas.
Creating diversity through performance-based funding
Additional funding will be available to encourage universities to
differentiate their missions and to achieve improvements and reform
in a range of areas, including teaching and workplace productivity.
A Learning and Teaching Performance Fund worth $83.8 million in
2006-07 will be established to reward those institutions that
achieve excellence in learning and teaching. Commencing in 2006 with
an initial $54.7 million, the Fund highlights the Howard
Government’s commitment to teaching and learning and will help to
ensure the ongoing high quality of the Australian higher education
sector.
In 2004 a new National Institute for Learning and Teaching in
Higher Education will be established as a national focus for the
enhancement of learning and teaching in Australian higher education.
The Australian Awards for University Teaching will also be enhanced
to further heighten the status of teaching.
The Commonwealth will provide seed funding of $35.5 million for
four international centres of excellence in Asia Pacific Studies and
Diplomacy, Mathematics Education, Water Resources Management, Sports
Science and Administration, and support for the existing Cooperative
Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism. Funding will also be
provided to support a National Language Centre.
The Commonwealth will provide $55.2 million from 2006 to 2007 for
a new Workplace Productivity Programme to encourage institutions to
pursue a broader workplace reform agenda, with institutions
encouraged to implement flexible working arrangements and focus on
direct relationships with employees and improved productivity and
performance.
Additional student places
The Government will provide institutions with additional student
places to sustain growth and better equip institutions to respond to
demand:
- increased funding of $347.6 million over four years will fully
support approximately 25,000 new Commonwealth funded places. These
will replace marginally-funded places which are potentially
undermining quality and contributing to overcrowding;
- $17.1 million will be provided for 210 nursing places in 2004
(rising to 574 by 2007) to assist in addressing the current
nursing shortages, specifically in regional areas;
- 1,400 places will be set aside for allocation to eligible
private higher education institutions in areas of teaching and
nursing and for Indigenous students; and
- 1,400 new university places will be provided from 2007 to meet
population growth, at a cost of $10.9 million.
Collaboration
An additional $20 million over three years will be provided for a
Collaboration and Structural Reform Fund from 2005 to provide
competitive funds to foster innovation and collaboration between
universities and other education providers, business, industry,
professional associations, and community groups.
A renewed focus on equity
The Higher Education Equity Programme will be increased by $2.3
million per year from 2005 to further improve outcomes for equity
groups.
The Students with Disabilities Programme will also be increased
by $1.1 million each year from 2005 to increase institutions’
capacity to provide access to education for people with
disabilities.
The reform package includes a range of measures to improve
participation and outcomes for Indigenous people in higher
education, including an increase of $10.4 million over three years
for the Indigenous Support Fund, new Indigenous Staff Scholarships
to enable staff to take leave from their employment to undertake
full-time higher education study, and the establishment of an
Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council to provide expert
advice to the Government.
Teaching and Nursing - National Priorities
Additional support will be provided for areas identified by the
Commonwealth as National Priorities. These areas will initially be
in teaching and nursing to help ensure an adequate supply of high
quality graduates for Australia’s schools and hospitals.
Fees for students in funded places in the areas of teaching and
nursing will not increase under the new arrangements and may in fact
go down at some institutions. The maximum fee students could pay in
these areas will be set as if the current HECS schedule continued to
apply to these disciplines.
The Commonwealth will provide an increased contribution which
will be directed towards the costs associated with the clinical
practice in nursing and the teaching practicum. Additional funding
of $40.4 million over four years will be provided for nursing from
2004 and $81.4 million for teaching over three years from 2005.
Research
The reform package focuses on evaluating and streamlining current
arrangements in research and research training, including a number
of new initiatives:
- development of a national strategy on research infrastructure;
- establishment of a high level taskforce to examine scope for
much closer collaboration between universities and major publicly
funded research agencies;
- formal affiliation between the Australian Institute of Marine
Science and James Cook University to create a world class centre
for marine science, research and teaching; and
- a comprehensive evaluation of the 1999 Knowledge and
Innovation reforms to ensure that the policy framework for
Australia’s competitive research funding is effective.
The Prime Minister has indicated that science and innovation are
one of the Government’s top priorities. As part of this commitment,
the Government is undertaking a major mapping exercise of science
and innovation activities across the public and private sectors.
Given the relatively recent changes to research funding (through
the Knowledge and Innovation reforms), and significant
funding boosts (through the Government’s $3 billion Backing
Australia’s Ability initiative), the Government believes it is
appropriate to allow time for the changes to be implemented and
their effectiveness assessed. The Government will evaluate the
Backing Australia’s Ability package over the coming year.
University governance arrangements
Universities are not businesses but nevertheless manage
multi-million dollar budgets and need to be run in a business-like
fashion. Anachronistic governance arrangements, in which
universities can have up to 35 council members with an average of
21, are often not conducive to sound decision making.
The Commonwealth has developed a set of National Governance
Protocols to strengthen university governance by increasing the
responsibilities of university councils in overseeing commercial
activities, requiring councils to discharge these responsibilities
in a transparent way and ensuring the protection of the public
interest.
I will be discussing governance arrangements with the States and
Territories and the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee over the
coming months.
New Information Management System
The Commonwealth will provide students with a new Student Support
Number which will stay with the student throughout their academic
life.
The new management system will, among a range of things, provide
students and parents with timely, accessible and accurate
information about course offerings, course costs, and institutional
performance; as well as enable institutions to view timely,
accessible and accurate information about their performance,
payments and competitive funding initiatives.
I remain committed to streamlining university reporting
requirements with a focus on minimising duplication between
jurisdictions and easing the administrative burden on institutions.
Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future is a
comprehensive package of measures that will ensure a strong and high
quality higher education sector supporting future generations of
Australians.
The reforms are the result of significant consultations over the
past year. I hope that stakeholders and all Australians will seize
this unique opportunity to achieve real reform – reform that will
significantly drive the future social and economic success of this
country.
The policy statement, Our Universities: Backing Australia’s
Future, and detailed Fact Sheets are available on the website at:
www.backingaustraliasfuture.gov.au
For further information:
Dr Nelson’s Office Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept. of Education, Science & Training Jane Smith 02 6240 9531
Department of Education,
Science and Training Budget at a Glance - Higher Education
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