Base Funding Review “in right direction”, but postgraduates lose out

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomed today’s release of the Base Funding Review led by Professor Lomax-Smith. “The twenty-nine recommendations put forward are predominantly sound and cover a breadth of issues,” said National President John Nowakowski. “Ultimately, the Review shows that whilst the Government has been moving in the right direction, there’s still a lot more funding needed to adequately support studies nationally.”

Concerning for CAPA was the recommendation that postgraduate and undergraduate courses should be funded at the same level. “The Australian Qualifications Framework clearly lays out expectations of higher quality and more detailed teaching at a postgraduate level, something which requires increased funding. Full-fee courses are already used widely to supplement university income, and by equating the current funding, there is no incentive to retain postgraduate commonwealth-supported places. This will impact on low-SES students’ access to higher education,” John Nowakowski said.

In the report, the panel recommends a range of changes, including addressing areas of underfunding, a review of the current funding for student placements, and updating schemes for participation in required fields. Core to this, CAPA was pleased to see that the current FEE-HELP system would remain, and with a set public-private contribution of 60:40. “Our colleagues internationally have seen that other alternatives do not work, and where fees must be charged, CAPA agrees that the FEE-HELP system is the most appropriate,” continued John Nowakowski. “Furthermore, the public good from an appropriately educated country outweighs those who will privately benefit, and CAPA upholds that where fees must be charged, they should never exceed the public contribution.”

Ultimately, CAPA was pleased that the review has done more than ‘shuffle the deck chairs’ on income sources. “Universities cannot and should not be forced to rely on international student numbers to make up income, as this is ultimately unfair treatment of the international student market,” continued John Nowakowski. “The review has confirmed that the contributions from the government need to increase under an improved structure, and CAPA believes that the evidence presented shows action must be taken.”

CAPA calls on the Federal Government to enact the promised consultation and implementation of the Review next year swiftly. “Universities cannot wait to be better funded. We have already seen drastic cuts proposed at Sydney University and other institutions nationally, the Government needs to act today,” concluded John Nowakowski.

Media contact – John Nowakowski, CAPA National President, president@capa.edu.au 0404 165 095