Students oppose Nelson review

BY LUISA ARA
& MARCUS FELSMAN

SYDNEY — In a clear indication that students are beginning to organise against further privatisation of higher education, 500 students marched through Sydney's streets in protest against the higher education review recently released by federal education minister Brendan Nelson.

The review proposes further deregulation of the education system and more undergraduate fees. Universities may be able to charge up to $100,000 for undergraduate courses.

Moksha Watts, National Union of Students (NUS) national president, told the rally that the review was "a tool for [the government] to enforce its agenda of fee deregulation and to abolish unions. If [the government] gets its way, the universities will become highly commercialised. It will be, simply, commodified education."

The protest began on the front lawns of Sydney University. Speakers included Ian Maxwell, deputy president of the National Tertiary Education Union; Moksha Watts; and Thalia Anthony, postgraduate representative of the university senate.

The march snaked along Parramatta and City roads, around campus, and culminated at the main entrance of the university.

"We are all here united to say 'No' to Howard's neo-liberal agenda for higher education", Danny Faddoul, NUS NSW president, told Green Left Weekly.

Later in the day, about 150 students showed up to the vice-chancellor's office to show their disgust with the Nelson Review. The loud chanting made sure all the attendees of the meeting, who were discussing the Nelson Review, could hear that "education is not for profit".

From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.

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From GLW issue 506