9 February 2018

The impacts of the government’s freeze to university funding are beginning to be felt on students, with the Australian Catholic University announcing that it will cut almost 20 course offerings – primarily in health disciplines - across four disciplines and five campuses in response to the cuts in government funding.  ACU has highlighted cost-effectiveness and low student enrolments as key factors in cancelling the programs, some of which already had students accepted for study in 2018.

A number of other universities have also indicated that they are considering closing intakes for some disciplines and locations, including health courses in Port Macquarie for CSU. However, Education Minister Simon Birmingham has called on universities to find efficiencies in their operations rather than cut key courses, stating that the demand-driven enrolment boom had already ended and that universities should give priority to the courses that students want and the country needs. Minister Birmingham specifically called out marketing and administration costs as areas where universities could save money rather than cutting high-cost courses.

Labor has continued to criticise the government for ‘slamming the door’ to higher education, highlighting that aspirational families in outer suburbs of major cities, such as Western Sydney and outer Melbourne, would be hardest hit by the funding freeze with the largest growth in participation under the demand-driven system flowing from these areas.

More here:

University finances also remain a hot topic, with efficiency, productivity and Vice-Chancellors’ pay the key points of discussion in the media and political discourse. In The Australian, economist Keith Houghton highlights that university efficiency has improved at a rate of 2.1 per cent per year on average, but that there is significant variability in efficiency across the sector. He suggests that ‘uniform and universal’ cuts to universities thus risk penalising universities who have achieved strong efficiency gains.

However, Tim Dodd argues that universities need to admit that they ‘harbour significant inefficiencies’ and should boost productivity by removing the requirement for academics to undertake research as well as teaching. Echoing Education Minister Simon Birmingham, Dodd has also criticised university VCs for their lack of accountability, suggesting that their pay should be contingent on delivering results in improving productivity or boosting student outcomes.

In The Conversation, academics Kristen Lyons and Richard Hill also highlight the high remuneration of university VCs as an issue for the sector, but conclude that this is a distraction from the growing  corporatisation of universities and the larger institutional inequities across the higher education sector, which constrain research and teaching in the ‘public good’. Ratings agency Standards and Poor has also weighed in on universities' finances, stating that the funding freeze is ‘unlikely to substantially affect’ the credit quality or financial positions of Australia’s top-tier universities, such as the Group of Eight, due to excellent reputations and robust student demand from international students.

More here:

New ABS data shows that education exports rose by almost 20 per cent to reach $30.9 billion in 2017, with China and to a lesser extent India continuing to drive the strong growth in education export revenue. The Australian reports that the growth rate of education sales to China reached 28 per cent between 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, underlying the reliance of Australian universities on China as a key market. In a move that may offer opportunities for Australian universities, Indonesia has opened its doors to foreign universities establishing campuses in the country, so long as these are undertaken in partnership with private universities in Indonesia. The Indonesian Government will determine where universities can operate and which subjects can be studied.

In other international education news, international education expert Stephen Marshall has highlighted the role of transnational education – or offshore study - in attracting international students and channelling them to onshore study within Australia. Murdoch University’s Jan Gothard has criticised the government’s policy of refusing visas to international students with a disability or health issue, highlighting reporting from the Productivity Commission that international students do not impose a significant fiscal cost on government as they are excluded from free or subsidised access to healthcare.

More here:

The University of Sydney has confirmed that it is investigating 21 student recruitment staff for alleged financial misconduct in relation to overspending on entertainment expenses, hospitality, alcohol and staff celebrations. Staff have denied wrongdoing, criticising the university for focusing on issues such as excessive birthday cakes or whether taking a student out for a coffee was a valid expense. The University has indicated that it takes all allegations of financial misconduct seriously.

More here: