CAPA Senate Submission Highlights Inequities, Barriers to Medical Research

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has made a twenty-seven page submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, covering their opposition to a number of key policies including cuts to the Research Training Scheme, the introduction of fees on higher degrees by research, indexation on HECS-HELP debts of up to 6 per cent, and changes to ABSTUDY and AUSTUDY and the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme which will disproportionately impact on rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

You can read the full submission HERE.

“With the Government refusing to respond to feedback from student leaders, this Senate Inquiry has been our first real opportunity to have our grave concerns around the Budget measures heard and responded to” said President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, Ms Meghan Hopper.

Key points from CAPA’s submission:

• While the Government claims it is funding extra medical research, the cost to become a medical researcher is set to more than double, with a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery, Honours, and a PhD, expected to come in at close to $140,000 (current cost: $61,200).
• A recent tour of regional campuses in Central and Northern Australia conducted by the CAPA President and co-Vice President (Equity) revealed a serious lack of information and consultation from the Government with rural and Indigenous academic and student leaders.
• “It cannot be stated too firmly, how opposed the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations is to the way in which changes to the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme, ABSTUDY and the impact of deregulation and HDR fees, have been handled and the profound disrespect that has been shown to the leaders within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community who contributed to the Behrendt Review and to Indigenous academics and students, in failing to consult with them.”

In concluding CAPA’s submission, Ms Hopper said that the process had failed to engage with existing reviews of the higher education sector, or to consult with student leaders, from start to finish.

“The Minister for Education should be taking as his basis for reforms to the Higher Education sector, not the bottom line that happens to appear on this year’s Budget or the media grabs provided by the cohorts within the sector that are financially benefited by the introduction of fee deregulation, but the expert views of representatives commissioned by prior Governments with the specific task of reforming the Higher Education sector. ”

“These reviews each provide an in-depth, long-term vision for higher education in Australia and whilst we do not agree with all of their recommendations, we believe that they provide the foundation for real and considered change.”

“To ignore these important contributions by life-long educators and higher education reformers, in deference to a Budget package that was rushed out by a Minister in his first year following no attempted consultation with the sector and no engagement with the standing evidence, is complete folly.”

The submission incorporates feedback from thousands of current and prospective postgraduate students gathered as part of CAPA’s ‘No Fees on PhDs’ campaign.