Jess Moore
The National Union of Students has abandoned the campaign against "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) and yet, in the context of a weakened student movement and current attacks on higher education, students need strong unions now more than ever to fight for their rights.
Government funding continues to be withdrawn from public education, forcing the bill onto individuals. The contribution of student fees and charges (other than HECS) to higher education funding increased from $1.2 billion in 1997 to $2.5 billion in 2002. Since 1996, about 20,000 government-funded university places have been cut.
As well, HECS fees have increased by 168% since 1996 and more than 60 university degrees charge fees of $100,000 or more. In 1998, full-fee-paying places for domestic undergraduate students were introduced.
As a result, the quality and diversity of higher education is in decline.
The average student-staff ratio has increased from 15:6 in 1996 to 20:7 in 2004. Furthermore, students are being forced by their increasing debts to maximise the potential profitability of their qualification by enrolling in more prestigious universities and in business-related departments. Smaller, regional and less prestigious universities are consequently receiving less government funding, and departments that do not promise lucrative employment, such as arts and creative arts, are receiving proportionally less of the money that universities have to distribute.
The nature of higher education is increasingly directed toward employment and training "labour power" to fit into, rather than question, the existing system. Students have no input into the curriculum.
VSU means that the funding base for services such as childcare, counselling, textbook subsidies and food is no longer guaranteed. Services run by students for students (not for profit), which protect and assist those with less money, are not assured.
Students need a strong, unifying voice to regain their corroded rights. However, VSU has knocked the funding base and universal membership out from under student unions.
The Wollongong Undergraduate Students' Association (WUSA) is fighting for its survival, not by offering service discounts or vouchers or the like, but by being a union — addressing members' concerns (identified in a survey conducted by the education collective). For example, the under-funding of higher education forces more than 70% of university students to work, as well as study, so WUSA has decided to campaign for the rights of young workers, who often find themselves in low-paid, casual and un-unionised jobs.
More students will become active on campuses if student unions engage with existing campaigns and fight around issues that members identify as important. Students are part of broader campaigns, such as the fight against Work Choices, and in the absence of a unifying campaign against attacks on higher education, students' collective action and strength will best be sustained by their unions engaging with the broader issues and working with other unions and groups.
[Sources: Australian Youth Facts (<http://www.youthfacts.com.au>) and Australian Bureau of Statistics (<http://www.abs.gov.au>). Jess Moore is president of the WUSA and a member of the Socialist Alliance.]