I support Australian universities being able to offer higher quality education, better research and more student places. To achieve this Australian universities require access to more funding. Our high achieving research intensive universities are the Group of Eight. The Group of Eight need access to more funding to ensure they can be among the best in the world at teaching and research. Fee deregulation would allow the Group of Eight universities to restrict student numbers and increase student fees in an aim to strive for worlds best standards. If the Group of Eight universities are not allowed to increase their fees then education standards across the university sector will tend to be average. Other universities can focus more on increasing their funding by attracting more students. There need not be an increase in course fees. Instead better teaching and course design can allow them to attract students who would have otherwise gone to a Group of Eight university or not gone to university at all. Claims that higher fees disadvantages students from lower income backgrounds are without foundation. Provided students are able to defer payment of their course fees through the Higher Education Loan Program (FEE-HELP) students are only required to pay back their student debt if and when their income is above $50,000pa (under the 2014-15 budget).
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 07:39:05 +0000