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Aim for the top( 50)
Unis, show your worth
Deregulation will probably make some prized degrees more costly; so institutions will have to do a better job of demonstrating their value.
Prepare for deregulation – that is Hobsons APAC’ s message for universities in a recent report.
UNSW announces 10-year plan to break into highest tier of world rankings.
While the Coalition has pledged to place deregulation on the back burner until 2017, at the earliest, Value of a Degree, from Hobsons examined how much students were willing to pay for a degree in a scenario in which fees are deregulated. It found in a deregulated market students would be willing to pay, on average, $ 11,000 to $ 20,000 more. However, the report also found that students would be more focused on getting a tangible
The University of NSW has set its sights on joining the University of Melbourne in the world’ s top 50 universities as part of an ambitious new 10-year strategy.
With UNSW ranked 82nd in the recently released 2015 – 16 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university has plenty of ground to make up if it is to reach its goal by 2025.
Melbourne was the only Australian institution to rank inside THE’ s top 50, holding 33rd place from the previous year’ s index. Australia’ s second-ranked institution was Australian National University, which had held 48th spot in the 2014 – 15 index but dropped to 52nd this year.
“ We aspire to be in the world’ s top 50 in the belief that a great university – which is a global leader in discovery, innovation, impact, education and thought leadership – can make an enormous difference,” UNSW vicechancellor Ian Jacobs said of the strategy.
“ UNSW’ s ambition for the next decade is to be a global leader of change and innovation with an altruistic wish to improve people’ s lives through academic excellence, social engagement and global impact.”
He added that the strategy, outlined in the UNSW 2025 Strategy document released in mid-October, was the sum of a“ wide-ranging white paper consultation” process involving staff, students and alumni along with additional input from the broader higher-education sector.
Jacobs also took the opportunity to praise what he said was a positive focus by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on“ re-energising the science, research and innovation agenda”.
“ As Australia positions itself to take advantage of the knowledge economy, governments and industry will look to our leading universities to provide the skilled graduates and research required to translate great ideas, discovery and knowledge into activities that lead to social progress and economic prosperity,” he said. ■
See“ Golden Moment”, page 12.
financial return from their education, given the increased outlay.
Prices for fields of study with good graduate starting salaries and employment rates – such as medicine, engineering and law – would double in some cases, but would still provide the biggest bang for the buck under a deregulated market. According to the report, the cost of a medicine degree would increase from roughly $ 30,000 to $ 75,000, engineering from $ 25,000 to $ 57,000, and law from $ 30,000 to $ 54,000; however, students would be willing to pay these higher prices.
Of the 5800 prospective students surveyed for the report, 88 per cent said getting a job upon graduation was their most important consideration when thinking about where and what to study. Future earnings was rated the second most important factor.
Tim Renowden, Hobsons’ head of marketing intelligence, said these figures were a warning that universities must prepare for deregulation by articulating to students the value of a degree.
“ That means demonstrating things like links to employers,” Renowden said. ■
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