TURNBULL CUTS HURT FEDERATION UNIVERSITY
Federation University Australia and the ambitions of regional students will suffer under the budget strategy confirmed by the Turnbull Government in its MYEFO announcement on Monday.
Continuation of the freeze on Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding at 2017 levels for two years, and linking growth from 2020 to performance and national population, will potentially hit regional universities like FedUni hard.
In recent years FedUni has met the challenge of the Government’s demand-driven student system through infrastructure and course development, including a focus on outreach activities.
What a waste this will all be now under this Government’s savage budgetary regime. It will simply make it much harder for FedUni to enrol more students.
So, simply, this Government encourages regional universities to enrol more students but then denies them the ability to do just that.
Regional universities like FedUni must be treated more fairly when compared with their metropolitan counterparts to ensure they can continue to grow their teaching, learning, research and regional development focus.
They are also vitally important because they are critical in building the level of academic aspiration across regional communities.
Fed Uni and other regional universities have done great work to help build the educational strength of our regional communities. This must not be allowed to fall away.