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Birmingham puts the government ’ s plans for deregulation on the backburner for now , locks in 2016 funding arrangements .
Respite from reform
The Turnbull administration has put the Coalition ’ s higher education reform agenda on ice . Education Minister Simon Birmingham announced the government would not seek to enact any reforms to the sector until 2017 at the earliest .
Speaking at the recent Times Higher Education World Academic Summit in Melbourne , Birmingham said existing higher education funding arrangements would not be altered for 2016 . He told delegates that while the government would continue to consult the sector regarding future reforms needed to ensure long-term sustainability , “ any future reforms , should they be legislated , would not commence until 2017 at the earliest ”.
Birmingham said the decision would allow universities and students to plan ahead on the basis of existing arrangements .
Student contributions , he also confirmed , would remain the same in 2016 as in 2015 , although they would be indexed for inflation .
“ With this additional time , I will be consulting with the higher education sector , students , employers , my Senate colleagues , and other stakeholders on how we can best meet the challenges of finding a sustainable basis for students , universities and taxpayers to fund an adaptive and world-class higher education system , with fair , equitable access for students ,” Birmingham said .
The news has been praised by Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson , who described it as a “ much-needed circuit-breaker ”.
“ The confirmation that next year ’ s funding will be unchanged gives the sector optimism that the proposed 20 per cent funding cut ($ 1.9 billion ) for university education in future years could be scrapped ,” Robinson said . “ There can be no justification for a cut of this magnitude .”
In a statement , the University of Newcastle welcomed the opportunity to move toward a new phase of dialogue with the government , through which the university hoped to “ encourage the retention and expansion of the demand-driven system as a key equity measure ”.
Greens spokesperson for higher education Senator Robert Simms said Birmingham ’ s announcement reflected the will of the national electorate , which he said had “ truly rejected the government ’ s vision ”. ■
See “ Inside Labor ’ s plan ”, page 12
Australia thrives in uni rankings
Go8 places six members in top 100 of global index ; University of Melbourne leads way .
Australian universities have once again performed well in the Times Higher Education rankings . The index ’ s editor has warned , however , that additional funding will be needed to sustain such results .
While Australia ’ s second highest-rated university , Australian National University , fell from 45th to 52nd in the latest list , the University of Melbourne held on to its 33rd ranking from last year ’ s index .
The pair were followed by fellow Go8 members the University of Sydney ( 56 ), the University of Queensland ( 60 ), Monash University ( 73 ) and UNSW ( 82 ).
The only two Go8 universities to rank outside the world top 100 were the universities of Western Australia ( 109 ) and Adelaide ( 149 ).
Australia ’ s top non-Go8 institution was the University of Technology , Sydney , which ranked in the 201 – 250 bracket .
THE World University Rankings editor Phil Baty said the result for the country was positive , with 22 of its universities making the top 400 ; Australia was the seventh most-represented country in the rankings .
“ It seems that the country ’ s Excellence in Research for Australia ( ERA ) initiative , which launched in 2010 and evaluates universities on the quality of their research , is paying off ,” he said . “ This is promising news for the Australian sector , but the government will need to increase higher education funding if its universities are to sustain this performance ; in 2014 , research and development spending in the country dropped to its lowest level since 1984 – 2.2 per cent of the federal budget .
“ Australia will have to raise its game to ensure it can compete with the leading Western powerhouses of the US and the UK and rising stars in Asia that are heavily investing in research .”
University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis , whose university hosted the launch of the rankings , said Melbourne ’ s performance in the research metrics were particularly pleasing .
California Institute of Technology took out top spot in the index , followed by the University of Oxford , Stanford University , the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology . ■
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