Peter Robson
On December 4, the Senate passed federal education minister Brendan Nelson's legislative package of "reforms" to higher education. The Nelson legislation is the most regressive changes to the education system since the abolition of free education.
University vice-chancellors across the country are set to implement the changes, which are being debated in university senates and councils.
The Nelson legislation is aimed at creating a two-tier higher education system, with elite user-pays universities and no-frills lower funded ones. The legislation makes it possible for university administrations to increase fees paid by students by up to 30% and force up to 50% of all students to pay up-front the full cost of their degree.
Before the legislation was passed, students could opt to pay for their degrees through increases in their tax payments. This scheme was called the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS). The amount students had to pay was linked to income and many students never payed off the entirety of their degree.
HECS has now been replaced by HELP (Higher Education Loan Plan), which offers students a flat amount they can borrow from the government and pay back the same way as HECS, although with a 20% administration charge. If the total cost of their degree exceeds the amount of the loan, then the student must pay the remainder.
This is a massive attack on who can attend university. Students from poorer families simply cannot afford these increases. A student who wants a more expensive degree will have to pay more, or seek to study at a lower quality university — whose degree will be viewed by employers as of lower quality even if the course content is exactly the same as at a prestigious university.
These policies will entrench differences between rich and poor. Poor students will be less likely to become doctors or veterinarian or lawyers or scientists, as these degrees are the most prestigious and expensive.
In NSW this year, academic requirements to be accepted into university courses increased by an average of 10%. These increases had nothing to do with an increased need for skills or knowledge to begin the courses but were totally market-driven. Universities increased their requirements because there were so many students applying for courses.
Now that these changes have been voted up by the Senate, the buck has been passed to individual campus administrations to implement the attacks. Although some vice-chancellors were condemning the changes last year, they now seem eager to milk students for all they can get.
The University of Western Sydney has announced that postgraduate courses will only be available for students who pay up-front. It has also announced a massive cutback in the availability of courses, citing market demand as a cause.
University of Canberra vice-chancellor Roger Dean became the first to implement the package at a February 6 UC council meeting. Before the passage of the legislation, he had publicly argued for free education.
The University of Queensland has already attempted several times in the past to introduce courses available only to students who pay up-front. The Brisbane Courier-Mail has reported that tutors claim full-fee-paying students receive preferential treatment at UQ.
All the major metropolitan universities have signalled their desire to implement the Nelson legislation.
The story on regional campuses is similar. Newcastle University has declared its desire "to exploit the legislation to improve access for students". What this actually means is that the university will use the legislation to rip-off students.
Student organisations are already preparing themselves for a major fight. The university administrations themselves are obvious targets. Where they plan to introduce the changes, blockades, rallies and occupations are planned.
The level of student anger at the attacks on higher education are likely to be first expressed in battles with the vice-chancellors who are helping the Coalition government destroy access to higher education for poorer students.
If students can force administrations to back down — by demanding that universities be run with deficit budgets and provide higher education regardless of government funding — then students can force a political crisis for the federal government. March 31 has been set by the National Union of Students as a national day of action against the Nelson legislation.
The strategy for the student movement needs to be one that directs opposition to the Nelson legislation not just against the university administrations which implement it, but also against the legislation itself. Repealing the legislation must be the demand of the student movement, regardless of which party is in government, be it the Coalition parties or Labor.
From Green Left Weekly, February 25, 2004.
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