April 22, 2015

Principles of the Higher Education and Research Reform Bill 2014 and related matters: IRU Submission

The need for further change in higher education is clear.

Over the past six years Governments of both sides have endorsed the need for all interested Australians to access higher education to meet their needs.

The challenge remains to design the funding and charges regime that ensures universities and other higher education providers can deliver the quality of education outcomes required now and into the future, at a viable level of Government investment.

The Coalition Government’s solution is to reduce the rates of Government funding spreading its support across students at all higher education providers, with universities and other providers raising the additional revenue required through fees. The Government’s package, expressed in the Higher Education and Research Reform Bill 2014 (the Bill), continues to generate considerable opposition targeted at its combination of a 20% cut to funding rate and unconstrained fee deregulation.

Read more in the attached PDF below.