A coalition of Vice-Chancellors has sued for terms following the House of Representatives passing the ATEC legislation on Tuesday, ahead of tomorrow’s Senate committee hearing to consider it.
“We want the Bill to pass and will engage proactively to ensure that the legislation is as strong as possible,” the 12 Vice-Chancellors announce, in a statement released this morning.
“We support the establishment of the ATEC and believe it can play a valuable role in improving collaboration in pursuit of shared goals, for the benefit of current and future students, universities and the communities they serve.”
However, they ask for two changes, both widely canvassed in submissions to the Senate inquiry:
- ATEC commissioning research and advising government on its own initiative
- The commission having the authority to report on the cost of courses paid by students. While there is no mention of the Job Ready Graduates funding model, this is a reference to the common demand in submissions to abolish the top of the three-band student fee model, especially for HASS courses, now costing $20,000 plus a year.
“ATEC … can play a valuable role in improving collaboration in pursuit of shared goals, for the benefit of current and future students, universities and the communities they serve,” they write.
The signatories include the Innovative Research Universities lobby, plus most of the Regional Universities Network.
The two changes requested surrender on most of the 22 comprehensive and complex recommendations for revision of the main Bill set out in the IRU’s submission to the Senate committee.
The statement follows a similar endorsement of ATEC by Charles Sturt U VC Renée Leon, who made the case for a stronger regional focus on Tuesday. University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor Alex Zelinsky has also thrown his support behind the ATEC, in an opinion piece for Future Campus today.
They are both last-ditch attempts to save ATEC as proposed in the Universities Accord report and are unlikely to sway Education Minister Jason Clare, who is lobbying for the Bills but is yet to make any public concessions.
Any sign that he is for turning may appear in the report of the government members of the Senate inquiry, scheduled for 26 February.
Mr Clare is ten Senate votes short, which could all come from the Greens, although this could require a commitment to amend the JRG model. Otherwise, the Minister would need deals with One Nation (four) and the six cross-benchers.
The VCs signing the IRU letter are:
- Duncan Bentley, Federation U
- Simon Biggs, James Cook U
- Andrew Deeks, Murdoch U
- Carolyn Evans, Griffith U
- Theo Farrell, La Trobe U
- Nick Klomp, CQ U
- Chris Moran, UNE
- Glen Coleman (acting) Uni Southern Queensland
- Clare Pollock Edith Cowan U
- Bill Shorten Uni Canberra
- Colin Stirling Flinders U
- George Williams, Western Sydney U