Equity

A CAPA research project In 2003 led to the development of a white paper on existing harassment and discrimination prevention and resolution polices in individual Universities.

Policies at 27 universities were reviewed for this study. The website of each CAPA-affiliate's university was visited, and harassment and discrimination policies of those with on-line and reasonably locatable policies were down-loaded. It is likely that some policies were not included. This study is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to overview examples of practices currently in place.

There is no doubt that Australian universities are currently in a state of crisis as reported in last year's Senate Inquiry into Higher Education report Universities in Crisis. The shock-waves of the funding cuts imposed by successive Federal governments still reverberate through the sector, and there seems little light on the horizon. In this climate, it is students who don't fit traditional stereotypes (young, fit, financially secure), who require extra human and financial resources, who suffer most.

CAPA welcomes the sixteenth recommendation of the Senate Committee report, Universities in Crisis, that public funding for universities be increased to support on-line education.

"Adequately funded, high quality on-line education will enable people who are not able to attend a university campus to access the benefits of higher education," said CAPA President, Mr John Byron.

CAPA applauds the eighth recommendation of the Senate Committee report, Universities in Crisis, that the current funding models for universities be altered to better reflect the specific needs of regional and new universities, as well as those universities serving a large population of disadvantaged students.

"The current funding model for universities is atrociously out of date and needs an urgent overhaul" said CAPA President, John Byron.

CAPA applauds the fourth recommendation of the Senate Committee report, Universities in Crisis, that entry to undergraduate courses simply by virtue of capacity to pay fees should be scrapped.

"In contrast to the current government, the Senate committee recognises that entry mechanisms need to be about quality standards, not revenue opportunities," said CAPA President John Byron today.

"Since the Howard government took office, wealthy students have been able to gain entry to undergraduate courses for which they have otherwise failed to qualify.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is the national peak body representing Australia's 142,423 postgraduate students. It has affiliated postgraduate associations in 33 of Australia's public higher education institutions and in all States and Territories. Australian postgraduate students fall into two broad categories: postgraduate coursework students who number 105,046 and postgraduate research students who number 37,374 (DETYA 2001).

The $1 billion 'loan scheme' announced today by the Prime Minister apparently extending HECS to postgraduate coursework studies is an intervention into the otherwise totally deregulated, multi-million dollar market for these courses.

'CAPA has been a lone voice pointing out that qualified students on low and middle incomes can not afford to undertake the postgraduate courses needed for initial professional entry, in-service development or retraining' said CAPA President John Byron.

Responding to comments by Minister Kemp, CAPA President, Bradley Smith, said "The Minister's claim that universities have a "choice" as to how they manage the elimination of 3,500 research 'gap' places is nonsense".

"The Minister now claims that the government's position is to convert these places to ensure access for undergraduates, thereby contradicting his assertions about choice".

The Minister draws attention to the damage that the new funding regime will have on regional universities. He cites the White Paper's regional package as the instrument to ameliorate the damage.

CAPA has hit out at the underhanded way in which the release of a Higher Education Council report Access to Postgraduate Courses: Opportunities and Obstacles has been handled by Minister Kemp.

A hard copy of the report appeared without announcement yesterday and is dated April 2000. However on DETYA's web page it is dated December 1998 and is not listed in their 2000 publications data nor listed by author.