IMPROVING AUSTRALIA'S HIGHER EDUCATION
The Australian Government’s review of Australia’s higher education system, the Universities Accord, has released its final report.
The final report made 47 recommendations for change.
In our three submissions to the Accord, the Curtin Student Guild called for action on the Jobs Ready Package, funding, income support, university governance and student experience.
A lot of what we recommended has been earmarked for reform by the Accord report.
Curtin Student Guild submissions
September 2023 - Response to the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report
February 2023 - Response to the Australian Universities Accord Discussion Paper
December 2022 - A Submission to the Australian Universities Accord
25 February 2024 - Curtin Student Guild statement in response to final Accord report
Australian Universities Accord - Budget Summary
On the 15th of May 2024, the Minister of Education released a media statement outlining that the Government is responding to 29 of the 47 Australian Universities Accord recommendations in full or in part.
The Government will:
- Make Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) system fairer by changing the way indexation is calculated, wiping around $3 billion in student debt from more than 3 million Australians.
- Introduce a Commonwealth Prac Payment for teaching, nursing and midwifery and social work students undertaking mandatory placements.
- Deliver FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses to provide more students with an enabling pathway into higher education. This is expected to increase the number of students undertaking these courses by 40 per cent by 2030 and double the number of students by 2040. This will give more Australians the skills they need to get into the course they want.
- Develop a new Managed Growth Funding System for Commonwealth supported places to meet student demand, maintain sustainable growth and increase opportunity for people from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Make Needs-Based Funding a core component of funding for higher education teaching and learning.
- Establish an Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) as a steward of the tertiary education system.
- Improve tertiary harmonisation, including by supporting better student pathways between VET and higher education, reducing red-tape for dual sector providers.
- Fund Charles Darwin University to establish and operate a new medical school in the Northern Territory, subject to finalisation of exploratory work.
- Commission an independent strategic examination of Research and Development across government.
- Establish an independent National Student Ombudsman.
- Establish a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence.
- Undertake a study into antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and the experience of First Nations people in the university sector.
- Mandate that higher education providers allocate at least 40 per cent of their Student Services and Amenities Fee revenue to student-led organisations.
- Develop an International Education and Skills Strategic Framework to deliver sustainable growth in international education over time and drive quality and integrity within the sector.
More information on these measures can be found here.
Background
The key areas for review by the Universities Accord were:
- Meeting Australia’s knowledge and skills needs, now and in the future.
- Access and opportunity.
- Investment and affordability.
- Governance, accountability and community.
- The connection between the vocational education and training and higher education systems
- Quality and sustainability
- Delivering new knowledge, innovation and capability
Curtin Student Guild Submissions
You can read the Curtin Student Guild's submissions below:
February 2024 - Reponse to the consultation on the Draft Action Plan addressing gender-based violence in higher education.
July 2023 - A submission to The House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training inquiry into the issues and opportunities presented by generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)