CAPA generally endorses ACOLA Review recommendations

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.

MEDIA RELEASE: CAPA generally endorses ACOLA Review recommendations

MEDIA RELEASE- CAPA GENERALLY ENDORSES ACOLA REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS

18 April 2016

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the release of the long awaited ACOLA Review into Research Training. The report lends significant support to issues that CAPA has been calling attention towards for the last decade, particularly regarding the income support levels and length of the Australian Postgraduate Award. The report recommends that the length and amount of the APA be left to the discretion of individual universities, subject to minimum values- which CAPA believes ought to be at least the minimum wage.
The report also recommends that specific higher value scholarships be created for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to recognise their uniquely different financial circumstances upon entering the research training system. CAPA welcomes this recommendation as a concrete measure to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in Higher Degrees by Research qualifications. CAPA also strongly supports the recommendations made to create joint academic appointments during the course of HDR degrees for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, so as to ensure that the university sector is able to attract and keep Aboriginal students in the academy.
As highlighted in CAPA’s 2016 Federal Budget Submission, industry placements funded by the Commonwealth are a critical part of improving industry engagement with research and it is encouraging to see that this has been given strong support by the review. CAPA looks forward to working with universities and the Commonwealth to create an agency charged with the management of this crucial element in the research training system.
Finally, CAPA strongly endorses the need for more data on the outcomes of HDR candidates and their five to ten year employment prospects. CAPA believes that longitudinal studies would result in much higher quality data, which could then be utilised more effectively by the higher education sector to ensure better outcomes for HDR candidates. Furthermore, the transparency of these datasets to prospective HDR candidates is absolutely central to the future success and sustainability of Australia’s research training system.
CAPA National President Jim Smith says, “The review sets the scene for significant change in the research training system among Australian universities. What remains to be seen is if Vice-Chancellors and the Commonwealth government are actually willing to step up to the plate and provide adequate resourcing to support the changes recommended by the review.”

ENDS
For comment: Jim Smith, National President, CAPA: 0437 006 605 / president@capa.edu.au

MEDIA RELEASE- CAPA condemns government plans for 25% increases to university student fees

3 May 2016-The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) condemns the continued uncertainty fuelled by the hollow and meaningless promises contained within the 2016/2017 Federal Budget. The Federal Budget preserves the most unjust elements of the horror Abbott budget of 2014 with its substantial cuts to teaching in higher education. However, CAPA welcomes the end of the flawed and economically irresponsible fee deregulation policy proposed in the 2014 budget.

CAPA National President Jim Smith says, “With this budget, the government has shown that it has no viable plan for higher education, instead continuing with the disastrous 25% funding cuts proposed in the 2014 Abbott budget and a shifting of that cost burden to struggling students.”

“The Government seems to be more interested in hiding its plans for higher education prior to an election, which prevents voters from making a well-informed decision at the ballot box.”

The shelving of fee deregulation (for now) is a blatant admission that the policy would bring about $100,000 degrees and dramatically accelerate inequality in Australia. The Government must commit to never bringing back the policy, and come clean on its plan prior to the July 2 election.

The cuts to the Higher Education Participation Programme (HEPP) cuts of $152.2 million over four years show that the Government is not concerned with supporting access to tertiary education for students from poorer and less privileged families. These programs have a long track record of success, having increased the proportion of students from low-SES and indigenous backgrounds. The Government’s ‘job of the future’ rhetoric clearly does not extend to those not coming from wealthy private schools.

CAPA is also concerned by massive cuts of $20.9 million over four years to the Promotion of Excellence in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education program. The Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) projects made possible by this funding assist in developing new and innovative methods of teaching and learning at our universities. Asking students to adapt to 21st century jobs with 20th century teaching leaves the Government one hundred years behind their own rhetoric.

CAPA furthermore condemns the cuts to youth allowance payments for students entering the tertiary system. The proposed cuts of 3% will place students in an even more precarious position, with many students living week-to-week and below the poverty line on their current inadequate payments.

“CAPA calls on the Government to commit to a real consultation process that includes the voices of the students, who are key stakeholders in the sector. Instead of cutting support for equitable access programs and innovative teaching and learning initiatives, the Government needs to place equity and quality at the heart of any future policy,” concluded Mr Smith.

ENDS

For comment: Jim Smith, National President, CAPA: 0437 006 605 / president@capa.edu.au

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes some of the key proposals in this review of the R&D Tax Incentive. The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of the Australian Government’s support of research and development activity in Australia.

MEDIA RELEASE: CAPA OPPOSES THE RESURRECTION OF UNIVERSITY FEE DEREGULATION

CAPA media release- CAPA opposes resurrection of university fee deregulation

6 April 2016 – CAPA is appalled that the Minister for Higher Education, Senator Simon Birmingham, confirmed the Government’s support for the Abbott Government’s poisonous university fee deregulation plan. This plan was rejected by the Senate twice and is widely unpopular among current and future university students as well as their parents. It was presumed to be off the table after the change in prime minister, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull repeatedly assuring Australians that any changes to higher education would only occur with the involvement of key stakeholders in the sector.

Postgraduate students have not been consulted and will pay a heavy price if the government implements the fee deregulation program. Postgraduate study will become more unattainable for students as fees soar, and will entrench further inequality into the tertiary system as the sandstone universities charge a premium to students. The fee deregulation proposal will weaken higher education in Australia at a time when graduates increasingly undertake postgraduate qualifications to stay competitive in the workforce.

Not only is there the looming possibility of $100,000 degrees, but the impact of fee deregulation on the Commonwealth budget would be to increase the nation’s debt by tens of billions of dollars over the forward estimates. The plan would do absolutely nothing to improve the sustainability of the HECS-HELP system and will end up costing the taxpayer billions of dollars in non-performing HECS-HELP loans and interest subsidies.

If fee deregulation remains on the cards, postgraduate students must be preparing for a lifetime of debt with little to no improvements in the real problems in the higher education sector such as workplace preparedness, quality of teaching, and learning and research training. This proposal belies the notion the Turnbull Government is committed to the innovation system. It seems that the Government is following the well-trodden path of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in bringing forward poorly thought out policies which will cost the taxpayer billions of dollars in the medium term with no consideration of outcomes or fairness.

CAPA National President Jim Smith says, “CAPA is committed to sustainable equity in the higher education sector. The failed and flawed fee deregulation plan of the Abbott Government has never been, and will never be, the solution to the problems facing the sector.”

ENDS

For comment: Jim Smith, National President, CAPA: 0437 006 605 / president@capa.edu.au