Now the government wants to reduce government funding to education
again. This will mean higher student fees, cuts to courses and services,
and decreasing staff wages and conditions.
But the next steps in the privatisation of higher education will not
be easy. Most of the proposals in Kemp's leaked cabinet briefing paper
in October had to be dropped -- for the time being -- due to extensive
public opposition. These proposals included allowing universities to charge
higher fees and replacing HECS with a student loans scheme repayable at
market interest rates.
The government is now attacking those who seem to have less public support.
The attacks on staff that were flagged in the briefing paper were not subsequently
ruled out; Abstudy has in essence been abolished; and the government is
pushing for a “voucher” system for post-graduate students.
Increasing inequality between universities is being passed off as increased
student “choice”. In reality, the drive to increase competition and differentiation
between universities is aimed at squeezing more out of those who can pay,
and giving a cheaper, second-class education to the rest.
These attacks, along with the mounting evidence of the problems associated
with privatisation at a campus level, provide a lot of opportunities to
campaign to defend public education. Student activists are already discussing
what to do this year.
Resistance supports a campaign based around: targeting the on-campus
effects of privatisation, putting demands on the university administrations
and vice-chancellors; and also targeting the cause of the problem by demanding
that the federal government restore funding.
Last year, students ran a “log of claims” campaign at the Bankstown
campus of the University of Western Sydney. After a sustained campaign
of rallies and talking to students, as well as a 14-day occupation, students
won more than 30 of their demands for increased education quality and student
services. Two successful elements of this campaign were the way that students,
staff and trade unionists worked together, and its focus on getting more
students involved in the Education and Welfare Action Group which organised
the campaign.
Resistance is supporting the call for a national day of action to be
held in late March to demand “Reverse education funding cuts!” with the
theme “Free education, not privatisation!”. We will also be involved in
education actio
