Public Submission

Senate Inquiry Submission: Higher Education Support Amendment (Job-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students)

AuthorsAlan Duncan, Director
Rebecca Cassells, Deputy Director
Steven Bond-Smith, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
Published25 September 2020

This submission was prepared as a response to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry into the Higher Education Support Amendment.

The Centre drew from detailed analysis it had carried out on the impact of the proposed changes to higher education funding on universities and students, including the differential impact on women and men.

The submission recommended that the Government:

  1. Addresses the imbalance between Commonwealth and student contributions within disciplines, but particularly the humanities, including the disproportionate impact of the proposed changes on women.
  2. Applies a more rigorous assessment of the likely impact of the Bill and its stated aims, including an assessment of the policy as the right tool to incentive growth in STEM and health disciplines.
  3. Maintain adequate funding support for research, recognising the benefits of excellence in research to the Australian economy, to economic growth and innovation, to the positive spillovers from research to teaching, and to the international reputation of Australian universities;