Australian funding overhaul clears parliament

Australia’s university funding overhaul has finally passed federal parliament, ushering a new age of central control over the allocation of domestic students’ university places.

In a last-minute hitch symbolising the chaotic progress of the bill, the governing Labor Party refused to pass one of its own Senate amendments because – in the House of Representatives’ opinion – it would have had the effect of appropriating money, which is beyond the Senate’s powers.

The government resolved this constitutional technicality by issuing an identically worded amendment from the House of Representatives. That amendment has now been approved by the Senate, clearing the way for the bill’s proclamation as law.

It concludes a rocky passage for the legislation, which attracted 17 amendments from the government before it even reached the house of review. The Senate approved another 43 changes proposed by Labor, the Liberal-National opposition and the Greens while rejecting dozens more from the opposition, the Greens, One Nation and hard-working independent senator David Pocock.

Education minister Jason Clare said it was the seventh piece of legislation that had been passed to implement the recommendations of the Universities Accord. “The number of Australians starting a uni degree has jumped almost 30 per cent since we came to government,” he said.

“This is the next step. These reforms will mean more young people from poor families and from the regions and the bush get a crack at university.”

The changes secured by the Greens include more generous buffers to the domestic enrolment quotas allocated by the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (Atec), the removal of ministerial powers to “designate” limited admissions for certain courses, and a new way of determining disadvantaged students’ eligibility for “needs-based” funding.

Meanwhile, under an opposition amendment, courses must be “delivered” – and not merely “administered” – outside large cities to attract extra regional funding. “We have closed the loopholes that would have allowed regional money to go to inner city campuses,” said shadow education minister Julian Leeser.

Another opposition amendment will see Alphacrucis University College and the Australian University of Theology – whose registrations were recently upgraded from college status –recognised as “Table B” institutions in the Higher Education Support Act. “They are both reputable, highly effective and respected institutions,” the Liberal Party’s Matt O’Sullivan told the Senate. “We are asking the government and all those in this parliament to recognise these wonderful institutions and list them in legislation.”

Table B listing gives the pair access to funding streams including the block research grants and the Indigenous Student Success Programme. Perhaps most significantly, students at Table B institutions are not required to pay the 20 per cent fee that private college students normally incur to borrow from Fee-Help, the government loan scheme for unsubsidised students.

Monash University policy expert Andrew Norton questioned whether the financial benefits of Table B listing – including loan fee savings of around A$2.1 million (£1.3 million) for Alphacrucis students and A$1.6 million for University of Theology students – adequately compensated for the downsides of being required to sign compacts with Atec.

“They have this enormous interference in their internal affairs, basically conscripting them into the government’s strategic priorities,” Norton said. “This seems to…challenge the whole nature of the private higher ed sector, which is… offering something qualitatively different from the public sector.”

He noted that Alphacrucis would be the first university college to receive Table B listing. Australia currently has seven other registered university colleges. “What precedent does this create?” Norton asked.

The opposition also moved an amendment to make socioeconomically disadvantaged postgraduate students eligible for additional equity funding, alongside their undergraduate counterparts, but it was among a tranche of changes voted down by Labor and the Greens.

Another opposition amendment rejected by the Senate would have required universities to adopt the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

Leeser has separately introduced a private member’s bill to enforce the IHRA definition. Under its provisions, institutions and researchers would be ineligible for funding if they fell foul of the definition. Funding agreements would need to be rewritten to reflect the new arrangements. Failure to comply would see existing funding approvals revoked in six months.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com