The IRU and the The Job-Ready Graduates package (JRG)

The package promised to increase funding for universities, add more university places and offer more support for students in regional and remote Australia.

It also changed the fee structure for students, significantly increasing the contributions students studying arts, business and law and reducing them for students in STEM, education and health.

JRG also introduced a requirement for students to pass 50% of their units to remain eligible for Commonwealth supported places and Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) loans, which has since been removed.

All media statements and policy documents published by IRU in regard to the JRG are available for download on this page.

IRU Analysis

IRU discussion paper – Reforming JRG funding rates

September 2024

The IRU recommends urgent action to reform the JRG package, to support students and increase participation and equity. The Government’s recent changes to HECS-HELP indexation to address student debt and cost of living pressures are welcome, but they are only one part of the picture. Download discussion paper (PDF).

Job-Ready Graduates: principles and options for reform – IRU Discussion Paper

September 2022

The Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) policy package has made the system for funding student places in Australian higher education more complex. While it has helped to align base funding with the cost of teaching, it has also cut overall public funding, embedded inequalities in student contributions and lacks a clear evidence base for intended outcomes. Download discussion paper (PDF).

IRU supplementary paper: Job-Ready Graduates — options for reform (September 2022; PDF download).

IRU response to national priorities and industry linkage fund consultation paper

30 October 2020

The National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) will be resourced by funds moved from the annual Commonwealth Grant Scheme payment per student. NPILF needs an effective means to bring employers into active engagement with universities, with sufficient time to test out and identify the better practices that all can consider.

Read more about this in the detailed IRU response (PDF document).

IRU Brief: Universities are required to do more than teach

11 September 2020

Late in 2019, the Government endorsed that an Australian university must combine teaching and research, with industry engagement, civic leadership, and community engagement. This decision raised the threshold of research required of a university and made the broader community impact of the university an explicit task. The Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) changes make it harder for universities to achieve all three outcomes. Download the full brief (PDF).

The needless burden of new university accountability measures (Brief for Parliament)

31 August 2020

The IRU recommends that Schedule 4 Higher Education Support Act (Job-Ready Graduates and supporting regional and remote students) Bill 2020 should be stripped back. Schedule 4 focuses on ‘student protection’ measures. It is an extension to universities of micro regulation for private providers which is contrary to the Government’s commitment to reduce red tape.

Read more about this in the IRU’s Brief for Parliament (PDF download).

The National Priorities Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF)

28 August 2020

As part of the Federal Government’s Job-Ready Graduates package, the National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) will have a strong focus on STEM jobs, and the Government aims to increase the number and quality of work-integrated learning opportunities for students. In this briefing, the IRU lays out if this new fund is needed, which industry partnerships already exist and the importance of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) projects.

Read more about this in the PDF download.

Discussing student charges: More paying more: the rise and rise of student charges

August 2020

This IRU briefing compares how much current students would pay for university under the rates for the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) from its beginning in 1989 through to the proposed charges for 2021.

Read the full briefing here (PDF download).

More paying more: the rise and rise of student charges – Supplementary material (PDF download).

How Job Ready Graduates student charges impact different groups of students

28 August 2020

This IRU briefing compares the student charges under the current system with those the Government proposes to apply from 2021 for different sets of students: for Indigenous Australian students, for women compared with men, and for students from rural and remote Australia.

Read the full briefing here (PDF download).

IRU’s initial overview and analysis of the JRG package

July 2020

This document summarises the JRG reforms, the IRU response, the long term budget picture and areas the IRU identified for improvement, such as the Funding envelope, Growth places and funding academics’ general research. Download IRU overview and analysis (PDF).

Improving the rates: Government funding and student charges

August 2020

In this brief the IRU addresses the weaknesses in the proposed funding and charging rates, presenting two IRU options we have developed to improve the Job Ready Graduate package.

Read the full brief here (PDF download).

Job-Ready Graduates: Will the growth places be enough?

22 July 2020

The increase in 39,000 Commonwealth supported places by 2023 will just be sufficient to meet the immediate demands for higher education from people in the 15-29-year-old cohort. Over the longer term to 2030, the additional 100,000 Commonwealth supported places is a useful step towards meeting likely demand but will almost certainly fall short.

Read the full brief here (PDF download).

At what point does HECS break?

2012

The Job-Ready Graduate proposal to raise the level of charge to $14,500 for approximately 38% of student learning renews the relevance of this 2012 IRU comment about the capacity of Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) to handle ever-increasing student charging rates. This document was first published in 2012.

Read the full document here (PDF download).

IRU media releases (Job-Ready Graduates package)

Supporting students requires action on the cost of degrees

November 4, 2024

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) supports measures to reduce student debt, but these must be paired with immediate action on the underlying cost of doing a degree. Changes to HELP loans proposed by the Albanese Government will benefit students with a current debt, but more action must also be taken now to support future students.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

First step on JRG reform would benefit 300,000 students

September 23, 2024

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) recommends immediate reform of the Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) package to support students and a more equitable higher education system. The IRU provides updated modelling of options for Government for the “urgent remediation” of JRG that was recommended by the Universities Accord.

Read the full media release and the full submission here.

IRU welcomes action to reduce student debt

May 7, 2024

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) welcomes today’s announcement by Education Minister the Hon Jason Clare MP and Skills Minister the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP of changes to the indexation of student loans to reduce debt.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

Job-Ready Graduates: principles and options for reform

September 27, 2022

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

Public policy for public universities

August 3, 2022

Paul Harris, Executive Director of the IRU, spent the last few years working with universities in the United States, where private four-year institutions outnumber public institutions more than two to one. In the US system, the top ten highly ranked research universities are all private, and elite US universities can afford to wait out unfavourable policies of the current government.

Read the full opinion piece here.

Making the most of Job-ready graduates

October 9, 2020

With the passage of the Government’s Job-Ready Graduates package through Parliament it is now for universities and the Government to ensure the best outcome over coming years. We need to take advantage of the strong elements of the package and work to minimise the impact of the weaknesses that remain.

Read the full IRU statement on the Job-Ready Graduates Bill here (PDF download).

Major step towards a new research funding system

October 8, 2020

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) congratulates the Government for recognising the need for a major investment in research across 2021 to ensure our research system continues. The Government’s commitment of an additional one billion dollars to the Research Support Program over the coming year is the major injection of funding that IRU has called for since Covid-19 hit Australia early in 2020.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

Job-Ready Graduates or not, senators must unfreeze university funding

October 6, 2020

Federal senators must find a way to unfreeze university funding whether the Job-Ready Graduates Bill passes through Parliament this week or not, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group has said. As the JRG package is currently presented, universities face a choice between continuation of former Education Minister Senator Birmingham’s frozen funding system, announced late in 2017, or implementation of the changes now brought forward by his successor Dan Tehan.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

Higher education red tape has doubled since 2004

October 2, 2020

“Quality and accountability” regulations for Government supported higher education providers have more than doubled in volume since 2004 and will grow even further if the Job-Ready Graduates Bill passes through Parliament next week without amendments, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group has warned.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

Budget 2020: Invest in research, fix JRG

September 29, 2020

Next week’s Covid-19 recovery Budget should include major investments in university research and sensible changes to the Government’s Job-Ready Graduate (JRG) funding package, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group says.

Ahead of Budget day on 6 October, the IRU is calling on the Government to use the opportunity to invest in Australian university research and to fix the remaining problems with the JRG legislation.

Read the full media release (PDF download) and the Pre-Budget Submission 2020 here (PDF download).

IRU calls on Parliament to amend and pass Job-Ready Graduate legislation

September 1, 2020

Further changes to the Government’s Job Ready Graduates (JRG) legislation are vital before it is passed, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group says.

Rejecting the bill is not an option. The current university funding system cannot continue, with university funding covering fewer students each year. Demand for university places is now rising further due to population growth and the added hit of COVID-19 demand.

Read the full media release here (PDF download).

The Senate has three choices not two: The Job-Ready Graduates Bill

September 17, 2020

The Senate can do what it has done many times on many issues. It can find a resolution that fixes the worst elements of the Government’s proposal, giving universities and their students a solid, sure base for the coming decade.

Read the full media release (PDF download) and the IRU Senate Submission here (PDF download).

Four things to fix in JRG legislation: IRU

September 15, 2020

Senators must fix four major weaknesses in the Job-Ready Graduates legislation before letting it pass through Parliament, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group has said.

Read the full media release (PDF download) and the IRU Senate Submission here (PDF download).

IRU calls on Parliament to amend and pass the Job Ready Graduates legislation

September 2, 2020

Further changes to the Government’s Job Ready Graduates (JRG) legislation are vital before it is passed, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group says.

Read the full media release (PDF download).