No Fees Campaign plans conference, day of action
By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE — The South Australian Education Network (SAEN) will be coordinating the second National No Fees For Degrees Conference, to be held at Adelaide University on September 24 and 25. The No Fees conference aims to bring together education activists from around the country to discuss and plan further action in the No Fees campaign. It will precede the Students, Science and Sustainability conference.
SAEN is planning five plenaries over the two days, including the politics of education restructuring, current issues facing the education movement and building student and worker alliances. There will be reports from education networks and a decision-making plenary.
Registration is $5 for interstate students, $10 for South Australian residents and $15 for full-time office bearers of student organisations.
Planning for an August 24 National Day of Action is also well under way. The rally and march will focus on the need to increase education funding, and demand that the government end the discrimination in its May budget attacks on permanent residents without citizenship.
A further action is being planned for August 26, when Simon Crean will be visiting Adelaide.
The Adelaide University Senior Management group has recently taken a decision not to accept any new postgraduate courses without a fee attached. By 1997, most postgraduate courses at Adelaide University will require the payment of up-front fees.
At Flinders University, jobs and courses are being cut. A campaign to stop the axing of the visual arts course has won a reprieve; however, other cutbacks will continue.
The SAEN can be contacted by phoning Helen, 297 6626, or Emma, 231 6982.