Opinion
The sound of silence was the Budget message for university leaders and lobbies last night.
The Government calculates HE education is electorally irrelevant, at least compared to health and aged care and that it has nothing to contribute to productivity. Certainly, there are pitches to young people in the Budget, but they appeal to their hopes of buying a home, not aspirations for an education.
And there is nothing, nothing for universities that is positive. The Department of Education budget statement reminds us of cuts already announced and new charges to come.
The higher education establishment has argued until it is blue in the face that the Job Ready Graduates funding model is unjust, that more money for research will expand the economy and the only outcome is woad all over their mugs.
Certainly, there are some research funding increases but they are all for public service agencies and the promise of more money over time from the Medical Research Future Fund will not placate its users; then again, nothing ever does.
And universities face the prospect of more government control of research, with the creation of the National Resilience and Science Council, “to better coordinate and align public innovation investments with Australia’s economic objectives.”
Last night Universities Australia summed up its members’ concerns by repeating what it has said for years.
“We understand the fiscal pressures facing the government and the need for budget restraint, but investing in universities is not spending for spending’s sake. Investing in Australia’s universities is investing in productivity, economic growth, better jobs, stronger industries and higher living standards for Australians.
“These are all returns on investment every Australian expects from the federal budget and this budget shows there is more work to do.”
It was more woad all round, a message the government has and will ignore, because it assumes the electorate is not interested.
The higher education sector has a case to make – it needs to make it way, way, better.