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Turnbull shakes up Education ministry
PM names Birmingham sector’ s new minister, creates portfolios for VET, international education; future of reform still uncertain.
The installation of Malcolm Turnbull as the nation’ s latest prime minister may herald further concessions by the Coalition in its pursuit of higher education reform.
Speaking a day after the announcement of sweeping changes to ministerial oversight of the Department of Education and Training as part of a Cabinet reshuffle, Turnbull said the government had to deal with the“ political realities” it faced regarding its two failed attempts to deregulate universities.
“ If you can’ t get something through the Senate, I would say it’ s highly possible that you could change it to something that will get through the Senate,” Turnbull said.
The comment followed an earlier statement in Parliament in which the PM said he supported“ all of the policies and all of the measures” of the Abbott government.
Amongst the Cabinet changes related to education, Senator Simon Birmingham has been elevated to Minister for Education and Training. He replaces Christopher Pyne, who will move to the new portfolio of Industry, Innovation and Science.
In two other newly created standalone portfolios, Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker has been appointed Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, while Tasmanian Liberal MP Richard Colbeck has been appointed Minister for Tourism and International Education. The day after the Liberal leadership coup, Greens education spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon announced she would be stepping aside from her portfolio – a role she has held for five years – to make way for incoming Senate colleague Robert Simms.
“ It’ s a challenging time for the higher education sector,” Simms said.“ I’ m looking forward to working with stakeholders across the sector to address some of those issues and fight for a better deal for students and academics.”
Earlier in September, Simms was named to replace outgoing South Australian Greens Senator Penny Wright, following her resignation. ■
20,000 degrees of separation
Labor unveils policy aimed at greatly increasing university completion rates, reducing cost of higher education for students.
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Labor government would increase the number of students completing their university studies by 20,000 each year from 2018, as part the party’ s new higher education policy worth more than $ 2.5 billion, education spokesman Kim Carr announced.
Carr said that among the key aims of the long-awaited policy – released in late September – was addressing worrying non-completion rates, and upgrading funding levels per student. He said Labor’ s plan would also more than halve the cost of some of the most expensive university degrees, while sourcing funding through reforms to taxes and superannuation. Under Labor, he said, medical, dentistry and veterinary degrees would cost just $ 52,000, compared with upwards of $ 125,000 under the Coalition.
Peak bodies including Regional
Universities Network( RUN) and Universities Australia have welcomed Labor’ s plan.
In an interview with Campus Review, Carr said 33 per cent of students from low-socioeconomic-status backgrounds were failing to complete their university studies within eight years, along with 32 per cent of regional students, 41 per cent of remote students and 55 per cent of Indigenous students.
“ We need to not just enrol students, but also ensure they are provided with the necessary support to secure a successful completion of their university degree,” he said.
The Labor policy also included the establishment of an independent commission that would work with universities to ensure promised increases in funding resulted in a high-quality system.
While supporting the Labor policy outline overall, RUN chair and University of Southern Queensland vice-chancellor Jan Thomas warned that completion rates would probably prove difficult to turnaround.
“ Given the high proportion of low-SES, mature-age and part-time students at regional universities, raising the completion rate is [ complex and challenging ],” Thomas said. ■
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