VC’S CORNER
campusreview.com.au
Policy changes unfair
to regional universities
The HESLA Bill has the potential to damage
regional universities and the communities that
depend on them, and RUN will not support it.
By Professor Greg Hill
O
n one hand, the federal
government is delivering policy
to assist regional Australia, its
students, universities and communities.
Parts of the higher education reforms
announced in the 2017–18 Federal Budget,
such as keeping the demand-driven student
system, uncapping approved sub-bachelor
programs that articulate into bachelor
awards, providing funding for up to eight
regional study hubs, and legislating to
provide certainty for the Higher Education
Participation and Partnerships Program
(HEPPP), are all positive measures.
These initiatives will complement
other government programs in regional
Australia, such as Regional City Deals, the
new Regional Growth Fund, the Regional
Jobs and Investment Package, and the
decentralisation of government bodies.
These policies are designed to encourage
people to work and live in regional Australia.
On the other hand, the government
is supporting initiatives which will be
damaging to the regions. This includes
significant parts of the higher education
reforms announced in the 2017 Budget.
Regional Universities Network (RUN)
cannot support the passage of the Higher
20
Education Support Legislation Amendment
(A More Sustainable, Responsive and
Transparent Higher Education System) Bill
2017 (the HESLA Bill).
Too little detail is known about important
parts of the package, such as performance
funding for the Commonwealth Grant
Scheme (CGS), and the new models for
the delivery of enabling and post-graduate
places. We are unable to model the
impact on our institutions, students and
communities. Much of the package will
introduce more regulation and red tape
and reporting, and there will potentially
be significant costs associated with its
implementation.
However, the impact of the efficiency
dividend alone of 2.5 per cent on the CGS
in 2018 and 2019 will hit the University of
the Sunshine Coast by at least $7.5 million
and performance funding will put another
$7