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| Penny Wright, Senator for SA (Wikipedia) |
Critics have lined up to slam the Government's plan to scrap $2 billion of university funding to help pay for the Gonski school reforms.
From January next year universities will be hit by a 2 per cent efficiency dividend, saving the Government $900 million.
A 10 per cent discount on the upfront payments of HECS loans will be dumped at a value of $230 million and Student Start-Up Scholarships would need to be repaid once the student begins working.
Tax concessions for work-related education expenses will also be capped at $2,000, putting the total saving at $2.8 billion.
Gonski funding
| Extra funding | Total public investment 2014-19 | |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | $5 billion | $87 billion |
| VIC | $4 billion | $68 billion |
| QLD | $3.8 billion | $65 billion |
| WA | $300 million | $38 billion |
| SA | $600 million | $21 billion |
| TAS | $400 million | $7 billion |
| ACT | $100 million | $5 billion |
| NT | $300 million | $5 billion |
| Catholic schools | $1.4 billion | $50 billion |
| Independent schools | $1 billion | $35 billion |
- Funding is based on a formula of a base amount per student plus "loadings" that are given when certain criteria are met.
Announcing the cuts yesterday, Tertiary Education Minister Craig Emerson said the Gonski reforms were a "Labor priority" and vital for the future of school education. The Federal Government will today release further details of its school funding model, which it says will provide an extra $4,000 per student.
But Greens Senator Penny Wright says the Government should look to the mining tax, rather than universities to pay for the reforms. "The Government just needs to have the courage to plug the holes in the mining tax to pay for Gonski," she said.
Federal independent MP Rob Oakeshott described the cuts as a "poison pill", and called on Treasurer Wayne Swan to rule out any further cuts to higher education in May's federal budget. Fellow independent Andrew Wilkie believes the cuts will do enormous damage to the Federal Government.
"The Government, approaching an election, is making much of the fact that the Labor Party is the party of education and more funding in education," he said. "But the fact that they have decided to cut more than $2 billion out of education funding, frankly makes a mockery of their claims."
The Tertiary Education Union's Jeannie Rae says the decision does not make sense. "The system is in stress, and it's getting towards breaking point," she said. Universities Australia chair Glyn Davis agrees the cuts will be devastating. "It will go to services, it will go to quality of teaching," he said.
Professor Glen Finger, from Queensland's Griffith University, says the cuts could lower Australia's university ranking and reputation overseas. He says Australia already ranks low for advanced economies that invest in universities.
University cuts
| Savings | |
|---|---|
| Efficiency dividend | $900m |
| Scholarships repaid | $1.2b |
| HECS discount abolished | $230m |
| Tax concession cap | $500m |
| Total savings | $2.8b |
"This will have a long-term impact on university research and education in a very negative sense," he said.
"Australian universities are punching above their weight in terms of university rankings, being 25th out of 29 advanced economies for public investment in universities as a percentage of GDP. "That's not a good ranking, it means we are in the bottom five."
Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates says the Government is taking from one hand to give to the other.
"We would say that it is up to the Government to find the money to ensure these reforms are implemented, but we don't support the notion that one sector of education should be robbed of this amount of money in order to ensure that these reforms of the funding of the school sector are able to go ahead," he said.
Victoria's Education Minister Martin Dixon says the state's universities and their students will lose more than $200 million over the next two years. "The universities have already said they'll either have to cut their services, increase their class sizes, lay off staff. This is not something that they expected," he said.
"This is a kick in the teeth, and an unexpected kick in the teeth, from the Federal Government."
National Union of Students president Jade Tyrrell says the higher education sector was already in desperate need of more funding. "This announcement is absolutely appalling," she said.
"The higher education sector is crying out for funds. Rearranging it in this way - robbing Peter to pay Paul - is a really irresponsible move."
Regional Universities Network executive director Caroline Perkins says the cuts may make tertiary education less accessible. "The other issue is that many students from low socio-economic backgrounds, indigenous students, regional students, aren't particularly well prepared for university," she said.
"Our universities are very good at dealing with students with diverse needs, provide additional services, and we may have to look back on the scale of those services."
The Federal Government will unveil its plan later today to increase public school spending to $50 billion for the next six years. Under the proposed Gonski funding reforms, public schools will receive an extra $12 billion.
What does the Gonski report say?
The Prime Minister says it's vital, the Opposition says the Government can't afford it, and unions, teachers and parents say the money won't come soon enough. But what does the 319-page Gonski report on school funding actually say?
Catholic schools will get an extra $1.5 billion and independent schools an extra $1 billion. Commonwealth funding would increase by 4.7 per cent, provided the states and territories boost their spending by 3 per cent. The Government says the changes will equate to $4,000 in extra funding for each student.
The Australian Education Union says it will make an enormous difference to Australian schools. Federal president Angelo Gavrielatos is urging the states and territories to cooperate saying the additional fund will help schools meet the needs of students.
"It's vitally important. The time for politics is over," he said. "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to introduce a funding system that better targets funding to meet the needs of every child.
"This additional funding is much needed and is much overdue."
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