Compulsory Student Levy not Passed by Senate

The Age, 19 August 2009; The Australian, 19 August 2009

The Australian Government’s proposal to allow universities across Australia to implement an annual compulsory student fee of up to $250 was defeated in the Senate.

The student fee levy, which could not be used to fund student unions or for political purposes, would have been used by universities to continue to finance on-campus services, such as: sporting facilities, childcare, health, counselling and other such non-academic services if it had been passed by the Senate.

The Minister for Early Childhood Education, Child Care and Youth, and the Minister for Sport, Ms Kate Ellis, has said that the Rudd Government would ‘remain committed to rebuilding services on campus’.

Mr Glenn Withers, the Chief Executive of Universities Australia expressed his concerns that Australian universities would not be able to continue to finance such non-academic services without diverting funds away from teaching and research.

‘Universities Australia’s paramount concern is the negative impact on student welfare and completion rates. Students most in need will suffer from the failure of this legislation to pass the Senate. Without proper support for student-sensitive services such as advocacy, counselling, health and legal support, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to dropping out of university studies should they face significant up-front costs in accessing these services,’ Mr Withers said.

Professor Glyn Davis, the University of Melbourne’s Vice-Chancellor, agreed that ‘this is a sad day for the quality of Australian higher education. The losers will be university students, who must endure inadequate services, and universities, which must fund services at a time they can least afford to do so’.

 

 

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