Australia is about to switch over to its long-awaited new HE student funding model, with legislation embedding Needs-Based and Managed Growth funding introduced to Parliament yesterday.
It is required because “the higher education system needs a reset to alleviate the issues and challenges created by policy changes in recent years,” Education Minister Jason Clare said.
Mr Clare visited HE land this week to introduce his $3.6bn Bill funding demand-driven university enrolments for students “from disadvantaged backgrounds and from the regions and from the bush,” as well as a proscribed number of domestic places for students who don’t fit the under-represented criteria.
The legislation also empowers him to decide what courses qualify for targeted places, “to” (as the Explanatory Memorandum states), “respond to emerging Government priorities as they arise.” Examples provided are nursing and education.
Mr Clare emphasises the equity aspects of the Bill, to extend access for Indigenous students and to provide needs-based support for undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds during their studies. “The evidence tells us that students from low SES backgrounds and students from the regions and the bush are not just less likely to start a university degree. They are also less likely to finish it,” he told Parliament. It is, he said, “Gonski for universities.”
“Like needs-based funding for schools, this will be demand driven. The more students a university has that meet the criteria, the more funding they will receive. The more students there are at a regional campus, the more funding that university will receive as well.”
Early reaction from the lobbies was positive on the enrolment intent. “This legislation brings significant change for the university system, which will be good for students and communities right across Australia,” Chair of the 250 Alliance, George Williams (Western Sydney U VC ) said.
“We agree with Minister Clare that more Australians will need a university education to prepare them for the future and that we should carefully manage this growth to make sure public funding is targeted to where the need is greatest.”
Peak body Universities Australia welcomed the legislation, “aimed at opening the doors to university for more Australians, from more backgrounds and more parts of the country.”
However, Chief Executive Luke Sheehy repeated UA’s caution, expressed in the debate over creating the Australian Tertiary Education Commission , which will administer the new Bill,
“Changes of this scale need to be scrutinised closely to make sure we get them right for students, universities and the nation,” he said.
The qualification may have related to the detail in the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum, on how ATEC will allocate both domestic and international student places.
ATEC will drive domestic student allocations through “enhanced” mission-based negotiations, already underway for the 2027 funding year, including:
- current-year domestic student profiles, and “indicative figures” for the following three
- over-enrolment buffers
- agreed performance targets/metrics for accountability
- allocation of international student places from the “envelope” set by government and in the context of “different matters” the minister may specify.
Providers will have to supply:
- detailed and accurate CSP load estimates
- performance indicators that justify additional places
- applications for more equity places to meet in-catchment demand
In addition to supplying information, and lots of it, there will be a test. At “annual check-in meetings, the ATEC and providers will discuss their progress in achieving their performance targets, their allocation utilisation, and would begin negotiating allocation and performance targets for the following year.”
But whatever concerns universities have, the Government is not for turning, with this Bill, the last of seven arising from the Universities Accord.
“Without changes to the current Commonwealth funding framework for CSPs, the Australian higher education system will be unable to produce the number of graduates needed to meet the skills needs of Australia’s future economy. This would have a significant negative impact on Australia’s economy, industry and individuals,” the Memorandum states.