Universities Australia calls for an $770m annual reduction in student fees by abolishing the top band of the present Job Ready Graduate funding model. “It would be a serious down payment on a fairer funding system for students, helping open the door to university for more Australians, “ UA president and Griffith U VC Carolyn Evans will tell the National Press Club today.
And she will rebuff Education Minister Jason Clare by calling for the increase in government funding in the “short term.” Mr Clare has consistently said that JRG will be a matter for the yet-to-be-legislated Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC). However, Professor Evans will warn that ATEC's overall review of teaching costs, “is a complex process that will take time.”
Professor Evans will also emphasise the importance of the humanities, which, with law and business, is the discipline group where students starting this year will pay nearly $50,000 for a three-year degree, compared to the $14,000 fee for nursing and teaching students, in the lowest JRG category.
“We need to stop publicly diminishing the humanities and recognise that in an AI age, the critical thinkers, cultural creators and thoughtful philosophers will be needed more than ever,” Professor Evans will say.
“In the rush to focus on defence and hardware in defending Australia’s sovereignty, the roles of the humanities and social sciences cannot be overlooked.”
Professor Evans’ address follows Independent MP Dai Le introducing a Bill in the House of Representatives to move humanities student fees from the top JRG band to the lowest.
“How is it fair that aspiring archaeologists, historians, artists, anthropologists and social scientists are told their ambitions come with a far greater price tag than their peers studying engineering or computer science?" Ms Le said.
“I am not questioning the importance of STEM … what we cannot accept is a system that places a higher monetary value on some degrees over others, effectively creating a two-tiered university system,” she said.
Ms Le described the government’s $16bn reduction in graduate study debt as “a sugar hit” and said her Bill,” is a call for justice, fairness, and equity in our education system — a system that should be an engine of opportunity for all young Australians, no matter their background or postcode.”
Ms Le’s Bill was presented to the last Parliament but was not voted on before the election was called. She made it clear Monday, that “it remains at the very top of my agenda.”
Consistent call from HASS lobbies for cuts to JRG fees have had no political impact to date, in part because business and law academic groups have mainly stayed silent. But these two high profile demands will make it harder for Mr Clare to palm off responsibility for student fees to ATEC. With the Commission not yet formally operating, changes to the student fee mix could not occur before the 2027 academic year, at the earliest.
