Here you will find key articles on the issue of deregulation
Unfortunately the issue of deregulation re-emerged on the ABC’s 7:30 Report in April 2016. Post election we don’t know what plans the Government has for Higher Education, however the Group of Eight has rejected ‘flagship courses‘. The saga continues and we will keep you posted. Check Follow us on Facebook for all the latest information.
A history of the debates that emerged after the Abbott Hockey 2014 Budget follows. The Vice Chancellors were not the only voice on the issue of University deregulation. We’ve brought together a number of the dissenting voices here:
June 2015
Universities run as businesses can’t pursue genuine learning
The Conversation 19 June 2015
- Michael Gillings
Professor of Molecular Evolution at Macquarie University - Jane Williamson
Associate Professor in Marine Ecology at Macquarie University
The past few months have seen a multitude of revelations of cheating, academic dishonesty and sliding academic standards within Australian universities.
Commentary on these issues has, so far, focused on means of detecting and preventing fraud. Suggestions include revisions of the way we conduct assessments, or removing essays as tests of critical thinking. However, these measures treat the symptoms, not the cause.
The cause of academic dishonesty and other entrenched problems is the commodification of education, which has been increasing in recent years. Universities themselves must take substantial blame for this. By thinking of students as customers, we have turned education into a consumer good.
MAY 2015
University fee deregulation blocked but Pyne pledges to fight on
17 May, 2015
Michelle Grattan, The Conversation
The Senate has defeated the government’s plan to deregulate university fees 34 votes to 30, with Labor, the Greens and five of the other eight crossbenchers combining to vote against it.
Despite months of lobbying and an 11th-hour bid at compromise, Education Minister Christopher Pyne secured only three of the six crossbenchers he needed to pass the reforms.
The education budget report card: ‘F’ for Fail
15 May 2015 The Conversation
You could be forgiven for thinking that education was left largely untouched in Tuesday’s federal budget. In Joe Hockey’s speech, education was only mentioned twice and simply in terms of higher education as a valuable service export.
FEBRUARY 2015
Senators seek uni fee hike alternatives
Source: AAP
SBS News, 10 February 2015
Key crossbench senators will help Labor explore how universities can be helped without deregulating fees.
The move comes as another university vice-chancellor broke ranks to express doubts over the merits of deregulation.
Labor’s Kim Carr and crossbenchers Nick Xenophon, Jacqui Lambie and Ricky Muir intend to ask the Senate on Wednesday to set up another inquiry into higher education.
They want to look at what alternatives there are to deregulation in order to maintain a sustainable higher education system.
The support from senators Xenophon and Muir is significant because the government is wooing them as it makes a second attempt to pass its higher education reforms, including deregulating fees.
Abandon full fee deregulation, says Victoria University VC
Matthew Knott
Sydney Morning Herald, 9 February 2015
Another university vice-chancellor has broken ranks with the sector to call for the Abbott government to abandon its plan to fully deregulate university fees.
Peter Dawkins, the vice-chancellor of Victoria University, said the government should acknowledge that its deregulation plan will not pass the Senate and seek to pursue a “third way” between full deregulation and tight government control over fees.
The government will reintroduce its higher education changes into Parliament this week, but has not secured support from the Senate crossbench for its plan to allow universities to set their own fees.
Hopes among university vice-chancellors of achieving fee deregulation have dimmed over recent weeks and the sector is focussing its lobbying efforts on avoiding cuts to major research funding programs.
JANUARY 2015
‘Independent senator Nick Xenophon said on Wednesday that the government’s package was in “a whole lot of trouble” while the Palmer United Party’s Glenn Lazarus called on the government to abandon its policies and “move on”‘.
Christopher Pyne’s offer to reverse university cuts fails to win support for deregulation
Matthew Knott
Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2015
Key Senate crossbenchers say they remain opposed to the deregulation of university fees even if the Abbott government reduces, or scraps entirely, a planned 20 per cent cut to university funding.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the government’s higher education reforms were in “a whole lot of trouble” while the Palmer United Party’s Glenn Lazarus called on the government to abandon its policies and “move on”.
DECEMBER
NAPU Named in top 50 most influential people in Higher Education in 2014!
It’s message is simple — universities are a public good so governments should fund them accordingly.
Wake up academia: time is running out to voice your objections to Abbott’s “reforms”
Anna Sullivan
EduResearch Matters, 17 December 2014
“Wake up, ” Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra Professor, Stephen Parker, told Australia’s academics in a passionate speech in Sydney recently where he railed against the Abbott Government’s higher education reforms.
The professor was speaking at the National Alliance for Public Universities’ forum held in Sydney earlier this month at the University of Sydney.
He was unequivocal with his views. “These reforms are unfair to students and poorly designed policy. If they go through, Australia is sleepwalking towards the privatisation of its universities,” he said.
MYEFO: Student debts to double
Matthew Knott, Dan Harrison, Judith Ireland
Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 2014
Student debts are expected to double to over $50 billion in four years if the federal government achieves its goal of deregulating university fees and expanding federal funding.
The Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), formerly known as HECS, will rise from $25 billion to $52 billion in 2018 according to the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), released on Monday.
The government attributes the dramatic growth to students paying a greater share of their education costs and expanded access to student loans.
In its budget editorial “A modest but purposeful start”, Fairfax Media’s The Australian Financial Review lamented that Prime Minister Tony Abbott had been “boxed in” by his own election promises and could not cut deeper into government spending.
The newspaper lauded the idea of deregulated university fees as “ground-breaking reforms of the higher education sector to promote excellence and much-needed competition among our universities”.
Senate v Pyne: a victory for the people
John Birmingham
Sydney Morning Herald, 6 December 2014
There have been some cruel and stupid things said about Glenn Lazarus and Jacqui Lambie since they arrived in the Senate. There’s probably been some hard words between them too, since Lambie opted out of Clive Palmer’s excellent adventure. But these two newbie Senators covered themselves in glory this week, speaking the plain truth about Viscount Christophe du Pyne’s scheme to turn Australia’s public universities into private businesses where only the monied elite may soon dare tread.
After their divisive and craven campaign for higher fees, Universities Australia’s days are numbered
Ben Ethen
The Guardian, December 4 2014
It’s been a tumultuous week in Australian higher education.
With the chaotic mismanagement that has become the hallmark of the Abbott government, education minister Christopher Pyne’s hugely controversial university reforms were voted down by the Senate. Even some aggressive text messaging couldn’t do the trick.
Pyne wasted no time, immediately reintroducing the reform package to the lower house. Australian universities, academics and students face further uncertainty.
If the failure of the bill is a defeat for the Abbott government, it is also a humiliating blow to Australia’s top universities, and the lobby group that nominally represents them, Universities Australia (UA).
Radio National’s Late Night Live: University deregulation reforms
December 3
Guests:
- John Byron
Fellow of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education - Professor Glyn Davis
Vice-Chancellor , University of Melbourne
DECEMBER 1/2 – NAPU Assembly on Higher Education Reform and Senate Vote
-
Stephen Parker (Parker’s Pen): SPEECH AT THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES (NAPU) FORUM
-
The Australian: Peak university lobby will not survive deregulation: Parker
-
The Australian: Australia ‘sleepwalking’ towards university privatisation: Parker
- SBS News story
- SMH: ‘Labor Senate stunt puts Government on back foot in quest to deregulate universities; Jacqui Lambie slams ‘born to rule’ Liberals’
- The Australian: Welcome to zombie-ville
- Campus Morning Mail: But what does he really think
NOVEMBER
Uni pitch to Senate fails to unify
Andrew Trounson
Higher Education Reporter
Melbourne
Published in the Australian, 25 November, 2014
UNIVERSITIES Australia’s seemingly last ditch advertising campaign has highlighted the deep split between management and staff over the Abbott government’s plans to cut and deregulate the sector.
In an open letter published yesterday in newspapers and an advertisement aired on Sky News, UA called on the Senate crossbenchers to pass the government’s higher education legislation complete with the peak group’s amendments. “Please seize the unique and privileged opportunity you have to shape a system that is fair for all,” the letter said.
Almost all vice-chancellors are publicly supporting UA’s position, even if that support is sometimes lukewarm and driven by fears of stand-alone funding cuts if fee deregulation is blocked. But many university staffers oppose the changes, as evidenced by staunch opposition from the National Tertiary Education Union and new lobby group the National Alliance for Public Universities.
The Privatisation Of Higher Education: Pyne’s Numbers Just Don’t Add Up
Chris Peterson
Published in New Matilda, 20 November, 2014
When you actually do the maths, Christopher Pyne’s plan for the ‘Americanisation’ of Australian universities looks as shaky as it is expensive. Christopher Peterson explains.
In a September parliamentary debate on the subject of deregulation, Labor MP Chris Hayes accused education minister Chris Pyne of “saddling Australian students with a debt sentence whilst Americanising our universities.” Pyne responded by implying that Hayes was xenophobic for portraying America as “the bogeyman.”
From the passion of active NTEU members: National Alliance for Public Universities
NTEU Delegates Stories: An interview with Ben Etherington, founder of NAPU
Published November 2014
Do you believe in publicly funded education? The National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU) was formed in response to the unprecedented attack being made on public universities by the Abbott Government, and the response has been phenomenal.
We spoke with NTEU member Ben Etherington about the formation of NAPU.
What is NAPU? What prompted you to form NAPU?
The National Alliance for Public Universities came together for two main reasons. Firstly, we were increasingly angry that Vice Chancellors and Universities Australia have been lobbying for fee deregulation as though they speak for the interests and values of university staff. We know that, overwhelmingly, staff across the country are entirely opposed to these proposals and that VCs are acting according to short-term corporate self-interest in the face of deep cuts.
Secondly, we felt that – the good work of the NTEU aside – the campaign against deregulation has lacked both coordination and a positive vision of the alternative. There have been a lot of individual voices and groups within universities speaking out, and we wanted to give these an umbrella organisation within which to act so as to produce more force collectively.
Instead of launching the group with a letter or petition, we decided to do something more comprehensive. Over a few weeks, a group of us produced A Charter for Australia’s Public Universities (napuaustralia.org/charter). It outlines eight key principles that we believe underpin a coherent and healthy public university system. Each of these principles is given a supporting rationale.
The Americanisation of Australia’s universities
Sarah Klenbort
Published in Eureka Street, 9 November 2014
In April 2012, National Public Radio (NPR) in the US ran a story about student debt, announcing that American citizens owe over one trillion dollars in student loans.
Is this the direction Australia wants to follow?
According to Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, the answer is yes.
Pyne has often stated that universities in Australia are on board when it comes to deregulation. This may be true for management, but not so for lecturers, tutors and researchers.
Edith Cowan University in Joondalup.
Fee deregulation still a hot topic
Rebekah Mathieson, Staff Reporter
Published in ECU Daily 4 November 2014
Education reforms are back in the Senate as the debate continues surrounding the deregulation of university fees.
The government is proposing fee deregulation along with funding cuts to higher education and are waiting for the policy to be passed.
Many vice chancellors around the country have showed their support for deregulation but Dr Ben Etherington, key member of the National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU), says that they might not have any other choice.
Professor Stephen Parker
Professor Stephen Parker, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Canberra, has signed
A Charter for Public Education and thrown his support behind NAPU in his blog.
Published on Parker’s Pen, 4 November 2014
… last week the National Alliance for Public Universities was formed and has called for signatories to its charter. I was happy to join this cause at the weekend. I urge colleagues to visit the NAPU website and form a view whether they wish to become signatories; a matter which is entirely up to them; see https://napuaustralia.org/signatories/. Fortunately, academic and professional staff have found the motivation to stand up for the public university system, and I hope further signatures will come from the many successful scholars in Australia who have built their careers writing about social justice, equity and public policy.
Read Vice Chancellor Stephen Parker’s blogpost here
OCTOBER
Whitlam’s timing just right
Ben Etherington
Published in the Australian 31 October 2014
ONCE again, it seems, Whitlam has got his timing right. Just as one of his signal achievements is about to be dissolved entirely, he expires: a martyrdom for free universal university education; a kamikaze PR stunt to expose the individualist ethos of the Pyne reforms.
And this week witnessed one of the unlikeliest transmigrations of the soul: Clive Palmer declaring on Tuesday that Australia should restore free universal tertiary education.
The nostalgia for the short era of free university education brought on by Whitlam’s death hides a deeper amnesia about what was once a bipartisan consensus on the importance of public universities.
And as we’ve been reminded during the past week or so, Whitlam saw his reforms as a continuation of the Menzies program of expansion.
Both he and Menzies acted on a clear understanding of the responsibilities and benefits of public universities. They are spaces of public scholarship in which claims to expertise can be tested transparently and made available for the good of the entire society.
Poll reveals public, academics disagree on reforms
Andrew Bracey, Campus Review, 31 October 2014<
A poll shows many academic staff are at odds with university leaders – and a majority of Australians – over the government’s higher-education reforms as the legislation continues its journey through the Senate.The results of a national survey released yesterday, carried out by GA Research at the request of Universities Australia (UA), has found more than half of Australians support the passing of the Coalition’s reform bill in amended form.
When asked last week to rate their level of support for the reforms – without amendments – 59 per cent of the 1282 respondents opposed the reforms (40 per cent strongly opposed 19 per cent mildly opposed).
The support shifted, however, following three key amendments: reducing the magnitude of university funding cuts; maintaining CPI interest rates on HECS-HELP loans; and an adjustment package to help institutions transition to a fully deregulated system.
Uni VCs selling Australian students short for a quick buck
George Morgan Published in Crikey, 30 October 2014
University vice-chancellors, whose eyes are on the bottom line, support a free market for education. But George Morgan, a founding member of the National Alliance for the Public University, says this does not mean universities themselves are in favour.
NTEU welcomes formation of NAPU
Jeannie Rea (NTEU National Office)
Published on the NTEU website, 28 October 2014
The National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU) was launched earlier today, and when I last checked, had attracted 854 likes on Facebook. Established by university staff in opposition to the unprecedented attacks on public universities by the Abbott Government, the founders want to give more voice to staff to counter the hegemony of the neo-liberal, corporate university discourse.
At this critical time, we need a plethora of voices speaking out knowledgably and passionately for the purpose and role of public universities working for the public good.
The Battle To Save Our Universities Is Now
Nick Riemer
Published in New Matilda, 28 October 2014
‘When one sees how people behave when they are all alone,’ noted Gorky in My Universities, ‘they appear to be insane.’
Insanity isn’t one of the obvious traits of the tiny coterie of Australian Vice-Chancellors. But given the broader political context, VCs’ support for university fee deregulation, before the Senate this week, is pure madness.
Read the full article here
NAPU Launched: ABC Radio Illawarra
28 Octoer 2014
Listen to Ben Etherington’s interview
Vice-chancellors vs the collegiate: who is right on deregulation?
Hannah Forsyth
Lecturer in History at Australian Catholic University
Published in The Conversation 28 October, 2014
The idea of university collegiality is an old one. Among some working in universities it evokes romantic notions of shared authority, democratic governance and inclusive decision-making. Others recall an era of closed-shop boys’ clubs, self-interested professorial regimes and a way of legitimising knowledge that was inherently conservative.
In recent months, as the Commonwealth government’s unpopular deregulation policy has loomed over higher education, some university staff sought to draw on those older collegial ideals to tender their critique. At Sydney University staff recently used the rather antiquated “convocation” to challenge their Vice-Chancellor’s stance on deregulation. This week, staff from a range of universities have launched a National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU).
Palmer to block uni fee overhaul
Published in the New Daily, 28 October 2014
Clive Palmer has declared “bye bye” to the Federal Government’s university overhaul, saying his party will vote against the measures.
In the May budget, the government announced it would cut funding for courses by 20 per cent and allow universities to charge their own fees.
But Labor and the Greens are against the change, leaving Education Minister Christopher Pyne to negotiate with the Senate crossbench.
The Battle To Save Our Universities Is Now
Nick Riemer
Published in New Matilda 28 October 2014
Speak now on university de-regulation, or forever hold your peace and your debt. Nick Riemer explains.
‘When one sees how people behave when they are all alone,’ noted Gorky in My Universities, ‘they appear to be insane.’
Insanity isn’t one of the obvious traits of the tiny coterie of Australian Vice-Chancellors. But given the broader political context, VCs’ support for university fee deregulation, before the Senate this week, is pure madness.
University fee hikes are a disaster for social mobility. The time for protest and escalation is now
Van Badham and Ben Eltham
Published in The Guardian 16 October 2014
Are Australian students not escalating protest because they don’t know how bad their situation will be? Perhaps they don’t realise how influential they can be.
Last week, the peak lobby group for Australian higher education, Universities Australia, told a Senate committee that it now supported the funding cuts and tertiary fee hikes proposed by the Abbott Coalition government in its as-yet-blocked May budget.Universities Australia’s Belinda Robertson told the Senate committee:
“The sector has looked carefully and closely at the government’s proposals, and come to the consensus view that fee deregulation is the next logical step in higher education policy, and should not be opposed”.
The electorate have expressed hostility to the proposals, and education minister Christopher Pyne is deeply unpopular. A recent Essential poll found that 66% of those surveyed were against the changes; for 18-24 year olds it was a whopping 77%.
ANU mining investment sell-off move backed by business, investors as Tony Abbott labels decision ‘stupid’
Louise Willis
Published on the ABC News website 15 October 2014
Dozens of Australian investors and business people have written an open letter in support of the Australian National University’s (ANU) decision to end investment in mining companies.
It came as Prime Minister Tony Abbott labelled the ANU’s move a “stupid decision”.
The Federal Government previously criticised the ANU for selling off $16 million worth of shares across seven companies due to what the university said was social responsibility reasons.
Deregulation could threaten standing of Australian universities in rankings
Published in the Guardian 2 October 2014
The reputation of Australian universities is on the rise but there are fears that deregulation of fees could threaten the depth of the nation’s education system.
Australia increased its representation in the 2014-15 Times Higher Education World University rankings released on Wednesday, with most of the nation’s top institutions improving their standings on last year.
SEPTEMBER
The Australian public, not individuals, profits most from higher education but students shoulder most of the cost, according to international figures that undermine the government’s claim that students should pay more because they benefit most.
The public rate of return from tertiary education in Australia is twice the rate of return to the individual, a Fairfax Media analysis of figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows. The data measures the return on investment based on taxes and other financial benefits.
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker sounds warning over student debt
Emma Macdonald, Education Editor
Published in the Canberra Times 26 September 2014
An average female undergraduate who wants to be a teacher in Australia could quickly find herself graduating with debts of $50,000 or more, according to University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker.
Professor Parker, who has been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s plans to deregulate university fees, has written submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment in which he tones down his rhetoric in the interest of presenting a short and stark warning,of the damage these reforms could do to Australia.
NTEU Publishes Submission to Senate Inquiry
Posted 23 September 2014 by Paul Kniest (NTEU National Office)
Submission to Senate Inquiry Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment (HERRA) Bill 2014
The National Tertiary Education Union’s (NTEU) submission to Senate Education and Employment’s Committee’s Inquiry into the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment (HERRA) Bill 2014 calls for the whole Bill to be rejected.
The submission shows that the Abbott Coalition government’s proposed policies have nothing to do with reforming Australian higher education and setting our universities free to offer internationally competitive teaching, research and community engagement, but has everything to do with achieving large cuts to public investment in our universities and their students no matter what the consequences.
UWA students face big jump in course fees
Bethany Hiatt, The West Australian
September 23, 2014
The University of WA says it will charge nearly $50,000 for a three-year undergraduate degree in a deregulated higher education market.
Based on legislation before the Federal Senate, UWA would set an annual fee of $16,000 for domestic full-time students enrolled in its five undergraduate degree courses from 2016.
Fact check: Will Australian universities ‘slide into mediocrity’ without reform?
ABC News: Fact Check
Published 23 September, 2014
The Government claims allowing Australian universities to charge students unregulated fees will keep them internationally competitive. It has issued dire warnings about what may befall the universities if the current funding system remains.
“The situation in Australia is such that we cannot have no reform to our universities or they will slide into mediocrity, be overtaken by our Asian competitors,” Education Minister Christopher Pyne told Network Ten’s The Bolt Report on August 24.
“Our international education market will dry up. Our university students will go overseas thinking that they have first-class degrees only to find they come eighth out of eight in every race.”
ABC Fact Check examines how Australian universities are tracking against their international competitors.
AUGUST
Staff And Students Lash Out As VCs Stay Close To Pyne
Max Chalmers The New Matilda
Published 26 August, 2014
A showdown at the University of Sydney last night saw overwhelming opposition to higher education reforms. Max Chalmers reports.
A rare public forum at the University of Sydney has seen a host of voices speak out against the Coalition’s plans to deregulate the university sector, heaping further pressure on a group of vice-chancellors championing the changes.
Vice-chancellors rally to salvage best of university reforms
Julie Hare
The Australian
Published August 26, 2014
VICE-CHANCELLORS will arrive in Canberra today to urge Education Minister Christopher Pyne to push ahead with plans to deregulate tuition fees but will make their support conditional on a raft of changes, including a rethink of proposals to impose sharply higher interest rates on student loans. While students and unions are building their opposition to the reforms, the university heads have also reacted angrily to weekend revelations that the government will grab savings from university research budgets if it does not get its reforms through the Senate.
Anemic academics surrender to marketisation
Ben Etherington
The Australian
Published 20 August, 2014
FEDERAL parliament sits next week and on the menu is Christopher Pyne’s reform package for higher education. There will be a debate, but from the perspective of many who care about universities, it will be a pseudo-debate. It will concern not the framework of policy, but the mode of distribution of resources within a conception of higher education provision on which the two major parties have long been in agreement.
Politics 101: why Pyne has failed to sell his education ‘reforms’
Jamie Miller
The Conversation
Published 18 August, 2014
‘No’.
And with that, Clive Palmer indicated that the populist Palmer United Party (PUP) would not support the federal government’s proposed deregulation of the tertiary education system. At least in its short life-span, the PUP has shown itself to be thoroughly consistent in its inconsistency. A backflip isn’t impossible.
Up to 65,000 students may have to repay loans sooner
Daniel Hurst
The Guardian
Published 11 August, 2014
About 65,000 people could be forced to start repaying their student loans sooner as part of the Abbott government’s plan to lower the income threshold, new figures reveal.
The government has disclosed extra details about its university plans in answers to questions placed on notice at budget estimates hearings, including the effect of reducing the salary level at which repayments must begin by 10%.
JULY
The College Amenities Arms Race
Cara Newlon
Forbes
Published 31 July, 2014
A free movie theater. A 25 person hot tub and spa with a lazy river and whirlpool. A leisure pool with biometric hand scanners for secure entry. A 50 foot climbing wall to make exercise interesting. And a top-of-the-line steak restaurant with free five course meals.
This isn’t a list of items from a resort brochure. They’re facilities you can find on a college campus. And with college construction costs rising, it could be the best four-year getaway you’ve ever had.
University funding cuts cause severe indigestion for government
Mark Kenny
Sydney Morning Herald
Published 13 July 2014
Crossbench senators with an ear to popular opinion could become even less co-operative when university cuts come before them, with new polling showing the Coalition’s changes are poison in voter-land.
Extensive automated phone polling across 23 federal electorates taking in all states has found cuts in federal funding and changes to allow increased fees, higher loan charges, and access to limited federal funding by non-university course providers, have not gone over well with households.
Economists Reject Abbott Crisis Claims
Gareth Hutchens
The Sydney Morning Herald
Published July 12 2014
Leading economists have rejected the federal government’s claims of a ”budget emergency”, saying it is only a medium-term “problem” rather than a crisis, which should be dealt with sooner rather than later.
The economists who took part in BusinessDay’s midyear economic survey also rejected the notion of a “debt crisis”. One said it was an abuse of the language to apply the term to Australia.
How much will your degree cost? Australian university fees interactive calculator
Created by Jarod Alper, Hannah Bull, Joshua Chen, Angus Griffith, David Smyth, 2014
The Guardian
Published 11 July, 2014
A team of mathematicians have modelled the effect deregulation will have on the cost of various degrees. Using their calculator you can compare the cost before and after the Government’s proposed changes, and see the modelling behind the calculations here.
Inequality: Why Australia must not follow the US
Joseph Stiglitz
The Sydney Morning Herald
Published 6 July 2014
There is growing concern about inequality, and rightly so. There is growing inequality in most countries – marked increases in some, with more and more of each nation’s income going to the top, more people in poverty, and a hollowing out of the middle class. But the fact that there is so much more inequality in some countries than others means that the degree of inequality is not just a matter of economics; it is the result of policies and politics. Each confronts the same laws of economics, the same global economic forces; but how they respond differs markedly.
The Vice-Chancellors And The Budget
Nick Riemer
University of Sydney
New Matilda
Published 3 July, 2014
‘The support for deregulation of higher education in Australia by the major universities bosses is outrageous, writes Nick Riemer.
Any serious discussion of university funding and this year’s budget must recognise a simple fact: nothing good for higher education can come of the reforms Joe Hockey announced on May 13’.
JUNE
The costs of the ‘great cost shift’: lessons from the US
Steven C. Ward
Professor of Sociology at Western Connecticut State University
The Conversation
Published 17 June, 2014
‘The US system of higher education, while lauded as a model to be emulated by the Australian government, is facing harsh criticism on home soil. With up to US$1 trillion in student debt owed to the government and graduates facing debts they cannot repay, calls are being made to fix a system that isn’t working’.
Deregulation opposed by University of Western Sydney staff
Adam Vidler
Canterbury Bankstown Express
Published 17 June, 2014
‘STAFF at the University of Western Sydney remain concerned about course affordability despite the university taking steps to freeze fees in the face of impending deregulation’.
National Alliance For Public Universities 