Students plan protests as universities lament cuts

National Union of Students Australia

The quality of university education will be the worst casualty of tertiary funding cuts, a leading education analyst says. Grattan Institute higher education program director Andrew Norton said previous federal government cuts to universities were usually accompanied by increased contributions from students.

”This is actually a cut to the total funding rate, not just the public funding rate,” he said.

The National Union of Students is planning a series of protests against the cuts this week. President Jade Tyrrell said staff job losses and course cancellations were among major concerns. Mr Norton said the changes would put greater pressure on universities that are negotiating new agreements with the National Tertiary Education Union.

”We can expect more strikes than we would otherwise see. Now universities have lost some of their room to pay higher wages.”

He said courses with low student numbers were at greatest risk. ”When you get less student revenue those courses are under more pressure.”

University leaders across the country have condemned the funding changes. La Trobe University vice-chancellor John Dewar warned that the cuts could weaken the sector, which is Victoria’s major export industry. He said La Trobe was in a good financial position but the cuts presented a big challenge. La Trobe would lose $19 million over the next two years, according to state government estimates.

”I recognise that the federal government needs to find money for its school plan, but I do not think it is sensible to take the money from universities,” he said.

The federal funding changes mean the university sector will lose $2.8 billion in total. Students previously eligible for Student Start-up Scholarships will have to repay the money once their income reaches a threshold. Tertiary union president Jeannie Rea urged universities to review projects such as new buildings before cutting staff numbers.

But she feared universities would cancel subjects with low enrolments such as languages even though many employers were looking for multilingual staff. In total, Victorian universities will lose almost $200 million over two years, according to the state government.

The estimates show Melbourne University stands to lose about $52 million. Vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said universities would generally look first at administrative savings. (The Age)