The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP

MEDIA RELEASE

BACKING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE - UNIVERSITIES’ TRANSITION FUNDING

8 July, 2003 MIN 404/03

Using all current available information now provided by universities, the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training has undertaken detailed modelling of institutions’ base funding position under the Government’s $1.5 billion higher education reform package.

The package includes:

an additional $404 million in base funding for universities;
$122 million over four years to support regional campuses;
$121 million in additional funding to support the practical component of teaching and nursing programmes;
approximately 25,000 fully-funded places to replace marginally-funded places;
more than 6,500 new fully-funded places for universities over the next five years, including for medicine, teaching and nursing;
$161 million in scholarships to assist students with their education and accommodation costs;
$188 million to support teaching and learning in universities, including a National Institute for Learning and Teaching;
two new loan schemes to assist those students who choose to pay the full cost of their education, and those wanting to spend a semester or two studying overseas;
$22 million to support a range of equity initiatives, including funding for indigenous students, students with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds;
$27 million per year to support workplace productivity in universities; and
$36 million to support collaboration and structural reform.

This modelling looks at base funding levels under the new Commonwealth Grant Scheme. It assumes universities will not alter HECS fees and excludes any additional money they may generate through other initiatives in the package, through fee-paying students or through research grants and consultancies.

All Australia’s universities will be much better off as more than $10 billion of new Commonwealth funding flows through over the next ten years.

It was always presumed that in developing a modern, equitable funding model there would be some funding ‘static’ as the new money started to flow.

I am committed to seeing that no university will be financially disadvantaged during this relatively short transition stage, after which the greater flexibility and additional funding afforded by the package will see institutions gain.

The $12.6 million transition fund for universities in the package will be increased on the advice of the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training by $26 million over three years to ensure that no university is financially disadvantaged.

As the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee said again today, this legislation must be passed this year to ensure that universities have a full year to prepare for implementation.

Please see explanatory table attached.

For further information:

Dr Nelson’s Office Ross Hampton 0419 484 095

ATTACHMENT

Preliminary Estimated Commonwealth Grant Scheme Calculation
SECTOR SUMMARY - ASSESSMENT BASED ON 2002 DATA
COMMONWEALTH GRANT SCHEME INCLUDING INCREASES
Institution	Estimated operating grant funding in 2005	Estimated projected impact - 2005	Estimated projected impact - 2006	Estimated projected impact - 2007
	$000's	$000's	$000's	$000's
Charles Sturt University	112,675	11,356	13,595	14,715
Macquarie University	99,912	3,167	4,826	5,833
Southern Cross University	55,474	3,015	4,008	4,620
University of New England	81,623	-1,227	174	988
University of New South Wales	201,988	-3,424	648	2,224
University of Newcastle	139,541	4,039	6,956	8,288
University of Sydney	264,843	7,325	13,178	15,253
University of Technology Sydney	146,057	3,305	6,096	7,400
University of Western Sydney	200,248	-4,033	-684	1,492
University of Wollongong	88,479	1,834	3,581	4,360
Deakin University	148,681	5,906	8,657	10,292
La Trobe University	162,710	2,693	5,797	7,356
Monash University	241,475	9,839	15,042	17,142
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology	161,162	10,720	14,452	15,894
Swinburne University of Technology	63,220	248	1,556	2,035
University of Ballarat	35,474	1,976	2,619	3,045
University of Melbourne	228,506	3,948	9,160	10,840
Victoria University of Technology	106,216	-3,817	-2,035	-1,018
Central Queensland University	75,432	1,238	2,638	3,475
Griffith University	177,927	5,056	8,348	10,310
James Cook University	87,888	8,180	10,086	10,935
Queensland University of Technology	215,046	9,738	13,676	15,934
University of Queensland	239,402	12,230	18,054	19,612
University of Southern Queensland	73,875	6,653	8,129	9,008
University of the Sunshine Coast	23,073	4,058	4,625	4,828
Curtin University of Technology	143,213	15,513	19,130	20,264
Edith Cowan University	116,791	8,578	10,660	12,255
Murdoch University	73,004	-1,578	-143	494
University of Western Australia	104,422	12,221	14,950	15,591
Flinders University of South Australia	84,147	2,874	4,602	5,395
University of Adelaide	111,732	2,628	5,317	5,927
University of South Australia	155,572	4,492	7,381	9,205
University of Tasmania	96,697	4,094	5,991	6,993
Northern Territory University	32,781	-192	308	654
University of Canberra	55,239	2,468	3,458	4,124
Australian Catholic University	70,311	918	2,072	3,014
Australian National University	68,260	-3,094	-1,868	-1,305
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education	8,229	-2,827	-2,716	-2,647
Australian Maritime College	11,287	-3,649	-3,373	-3,365
Of the 36 publicly-funded universities, six will require some assistance in 2005. These institutions have traditionally been funded at a higher rate in comparison to other institutions offering the same disciplines. The new arrangements ensure that institutions offering the same discipline are funded on the same basis. It is a fairer, more transparent funding framework, which means that the contribution from the Commonwealth for a student in the same course in Perth, Newcastle and Adelaide is the same. Three other institutions (ANU, AMC and Batchelor) would be treated differently as their funding is currently anomalous with other universities.
Figures include total operating plus marginal funding and workplace reform funding where appropriate. Over enrolment has been proportioned between Cluster 1 to 6.

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