The government appears set this week for another Senate rejection of its plan to deregulate university fees. And it can’t just blame a difficult crossbench.
Universities should be accountable for their funding, says Shadow Higher Education Minister Kim Carr.
AAP
Labor has outlined its plan for universities should it be elected, saying it would be focusing on degree completion rather than enrolment.
Education minister Christopher Pyne has maintained that the higher education reforms must be passed in order for science infrastructure funding to be released.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Leading scientists warn that research facilities may close and jobs will be lost if the government doesn’t free up promised science funding.
Christopher Pyne could separate some higher education reforms into a bill on their own, along with enough savings measures to make them budget-neutral.
AAP/Lukas Coch
It would be a great shame if trying to achieve too much in higher education reform meant that the federal government achieved nothing at all.
It seems the desired effect of Pyne’s uni reforms is to stratify the system, making the top unis better and the middle-tier unis worse. A progressive tax would allow him to achieve this goal.
AAP
It seems the desired effect of Pyne’s uni reforms is to stratify the system, making the top unis better and the middle-tier unis worse. A progressive tax would allow him to achieve this goal.
Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Peter Dawkins says we need to find a way through the higher education impasse, but not a poorly made or hasty one.
Provided
Higher education reform in Australia has entered a delicate phase. The current impasse must be broken, but any move to do so too quickly carries the risk of an outcome that serves neither students nor…
Would capping domestic fees at international student prices see fees soar?
Shutterstock
In recent media reports, higher education policy experts Peter Noonan and Gavin Moodie dismiss the use of international student fees as an indirect “market cap” for domestic fees. Independent senator Nick…
In the absence of public appetite to invest in public education, a measure of fee deregulation is the only way left to fund education quality to a reasonable standard.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Over recent weeks, some staff have written to vice-chancellors, urging them to reject the university deregulation measures advocated by federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne. Public universities…
Higher education got the most attention it’s had in decades, thanks to the proposed shake up by this man.
AAP
While 2013 was all about schools and their funding (remember Gonski, anyone?), 2014 was the year of higher education reform. Or, at least, proposed higher education “reform”. With cuts to higher education…
If Pyne’s deregulation plan for unis fails to pass the Senate again, there are some alternatives that will preserve our higher education system.
AAP
The government will introduce amended legislation for higher education reform into the Senate next year for further debate. But how do we keep higher education sustainable if the package is torpedoed again…
Christopher Pyne says our universities need reform, but that doesn’t mean his ‘plan A’ is the only option.
AAP
The Senate has rejected the Coalition’s plans to deregulate university fees, cut university funding by 20% and extend government subsidies to private providers, despite a few modest measures offered at…
The Senate has rejected Christopher Pyne’s fee deregulation plan, but that doesn’t mean the sector isn’t in need of reform.
AAP
Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s scheme for the deregulation of university fees is dead or delayed. Either way it has been exposed as bad for Australia. This is because it will put universities in…
If there was doubt higher education was a political battleground for the Abbott government, the events of the last 24 hours have dispelled it. The vote on Tuesday night in the Senate stopped the current…
Pyne has reincarnated and reintroduced his failed Higher Education Bill, but it still doesn’t provide an answer to the problem of ballooning student debt under fee deregulation.
AAP
On Tuesday night, the Senate voted to block the government’s Higher Education Reform Bill. Despite last-minute negotiations, consensus could not be reached regarding its signature element – fee deregulation…
Education Minister Christopher Pyne is still adamant on getting his higher education reforms through the Senate next year.
AAP/Lukas Coch
After the Senate sent his higher education bill packing, Education Minister Christopher Pyne dropped into a Universities Australia reception, which serendipitously happened to be in full swing at Parliament…
Christopher Pyne’s higher education reforms have been knocked back by the Senate.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Senate has voted down Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s higher education measures – one of the budget’s key reforms – in a major defeat for the Abbott government. But Pyne announced the government…
Glenn Lazarus has confirmed the Palmer United Party won’t support the government’s higher education reform package.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Palmer United Party Senate leader Glenn Lazarus has warned Education Minister Christopher Pyne to “stop harassing” him and other crossbenchers as the government tries desperately to get its higher education…
If passed, the changes to higher education will mean Australia is ‘sleepwalking towards the privatisation of its universities’, according to University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker.
AAP/Paul Miller
Had someone told me last summer that I would be defending public universities on the first day of next summer I would have ridiculed the idea. Somehow I believed what the Coalition wrote in early 2013…
Labor has been touting the notion of $100,000 degrees under fee deregulation, but how likely are they in reality?
AAP
The government’s proposed changes to higher education are a platform on which Labor can fight the next election. The strategy is simple: don’t try to modify the package, or offer new solutions. Just shoot…
Should fee deregulation pass in the Senate this week, there needs to be serious discussion about an independent oversight body.
AAP
The proposed changes to higher education, including the deregulation of fees, while offering potentially significant benefits, also carry significant social and economic risks. Should the bill pass in…