Education Minister Christopher Pyne has continued to push ahead with the highly unpopular introduction of fees on PhD and Masters by Research programs for domestic students as part of his Higher Education and Research Reform Bill, tabled in the Lower House today.
The President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, Meghan Hopper, together with the Vice President (Equity), Sadie Heckenberg, today marked the occasion of the tabling of the Higher Education and Research Reform Bill by visiting Christopher Pyne’s Adelaide office, where they submitted a petition of over 2,500 signatures calling on the Minister to reverse his decision to cut the Research Training Scheme by $174.7 million and to allow the introduction of fees on research degrees of up to $3,900 per year.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has received commitments from The Australian Labor Party, The Greens and members of the Palmer United Party that they will not be supporting the introduction of fees on research degrees, and so the policy is not expected to pass the Senate.
However, the Minister is in a position to make cuts to the Research Training Scheme without needing to go to the Senate for approval, meaning that PhD and Masters by Research students could find funding to their programs slashed with Universities having no means to make up the shortfall.
“It’s time for Minister Pyne to admit that he got this one wrong and go back to the drawing board. His lack of consultation with the sector and with the users of higher education – the students – is evident in these harmful, unpopular, slapdash policies” Ms Hopper said.
“He would be better off starting again and actually taking the time to consult with students and educators rather than continuing to flog a dead horse, as the saying goes” Ms Hopper said.
“Christopher Pyne was hoping he could get away with sneaking through a dramatic Budget cut to the Research Training Scheme and the introduction of fees on research degrees, but the No Fees on PhDs campaign spearheaded by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has proven that this policy is hugely unpopular, with more than 2,500 students, academics and supporters petitioning the Minister and the Parliament to reverse it” Ms Hopper said.
“We delivered that petition to Christopher Pyne’s Adelaide office today shortly after he tabled the Higher Education and Research Reform Bill in Parliament, and we look forward to him reading the comments from students within that petition and to him realising how deeply unpopular this policy is” said Ms Hopper.
Ms Hopper said that the introduction of fees on research degrees was equivalent to asking our best and brightest researchers to pay to come to work.
“To be accepted into a PhD is an acknowledgement that the student is amongst the very best and brightest in their field, capable of contributing to a unique field of knowledge. The Research Training Scheme, which currently allows Universities to offer PhD studies free to domestic students, has always been an acknowledgement of that fact” said Ms Hopper.
“The cuts to the Research Training Scheme and the introduction of fees on research degrees are an attack on our future research leaders and our future academic workforce and we are looking forward to seeing the Senate reject these policies in the strongest possible terms” Ms Hopper said.
“Postgraduate students are also strongly opposed to the increase in interest rates on HELP debts of up to 6 per cent, which will have a particularly adverse impact on those who choose to price themselves out of repayments whilst undertaking further study” said Ms Hopper.
Ms Meghan B. Hopper
President – Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
president@capa.edu.au / 0421 807 303
