Peak body Universities Australia,which represents the country’s major universities,said 20,000 domestic places could be created for disadvantaged students to study areas of critical skills shortages if Labor doled out $493 million for higher education in the coming federal budget.
The latest federal government data shows domestic first-year student enrolments in 2022 dropped by 8.2 per cent from 2021,and reached their lowest level since 2013. The Department of Education attributes the decline to a combination of high living costs and a strong jobs market.
Universities Australia acting chief executive Renee Hindmarsh said despite more demand for university-educated workers to drive economic growth.
“Fee-free university for disadvantaged students in areas of critical national priority could help attract more people to university who otherwise wouldn’t pursue a degree. This is what the nation needs,” Hindmarsh said.
The head of the new government agency Jobs and Skills Australia,.
The Albanese government announced in September 2022 it would fund 180,000 spots for fee-free TAFE courses,which include construction,teaching and healthcare.
Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor this month said the government would pour an extra $414 million into the sector,with the states tipping in the rest,for 300,000 more places after a boom in enrolments over the previous year.
Hindmarsh said:“Fee-free TAFE is a worthy endeavour that should be replicated for universities considering the nation’s need for university graduates is increasing.”
Education Minister Jason Clare,,said almost one in two Australians in their late 20s have a university degree.
“But not everywhere. Not in the regions. Not in poor families. This has to change. If we don’t,we won’t have the skills and the economic firepower we need to make Australia everything it can be in the years ahead,” he said.
An analysis by this masthead of the most recent federal government data found there were 11 universities where fewer than 10 per cent of bachelor students come from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. They included some of the country’s prestigious institutions,such as the University of Melbourne,the Australian National University and the University of Sydney.
In September,the government announced it would spend $10 million on “degree apprenticeships” as a way to get Australians to upskill in areas like clean energy and advanced care,in a collaboration between the vocational and university sectors.
Universities Australia is also calling on the government to gradually increase the number of places partly subsidised by the Commonwealth,so that by 2050 there are double the existing 900,000 places,while also increasing subsidies to struggling students.
Students undertaking work placements in areas of critical skills shortages,such as nursing,should also receive cost-of-living subsidies,Universities Australia’s submission says.
The lobby group also wants Labor to from its record low share of gross domestic product of 0.49 per cent “to at least the OECD average (0.65 per cent of GDP).”
Australia’s total expenditure on research and development,including money from businesses and universities,has fallen to 1.68 per cent of GDP,its lowest mark since records began in 1978,and well below the average of 2.7 per cent among OECD member nations. That prompted unless the downturn was reversed.
Clare has previously said the government’s recent reforms to the Australian Research Council grant system would help sustain research.
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