Fury at uni fees revamp

DEAKIN University students fear a Federal Government plan to slash fees on some courses and drive up the cost for others will “shoehorn” students into industries.

Plans to more than double the cost of humanities degrees and increase fees on law and commerce degrees have been met with condemnation.

But the Government is confident it can convince the Senate to agree to the funding changes in the name of better-equipping young Australians for jobs.

Under the changes, fees for 17 degrees, including teaching, nursing and agriculture will be cut, some by more than half.

But a three-year humanities degree would more than double in cost, from about $20,000 to $43,500, while the government contribution would nearly halve to $3300.

The Government plans to contribute more and charge students less for courses it says are more likely to lead to jobs, including maths, teaching, nursing, science, IT, architecture and engineering.

Maths and agriculture degrees will drop from $9698 a year to $3700. No existing student will pay more.

“If you are wanting to do philosophy, which will be great for your critical thinking, also think about doing IT, so you can help in a new and emerging area where we know that is going to be jobs,” Education Minister Dan Tehan told the National Press Club yesterday.

The 2019 graduate outcomes survey showed science and maths graduates were less likely to have jobs than humanities graduates, but Mr Tehan said Australia faced a shortage of teachers, nurses, engineers and psychologists.

The plan was met with opposition from Labor, student unions and humanities sector organisations. Deakin University did not respond to the proposal by deadline yesterday.

But Deakin University Student Association president Tiarnan Cleary said the plan was a cruel attempt at shoehorning new students into industries that would supposedly lead to job growth.

“Forcing students to make a choice between a debt sentence straight out of high school or a degree that will appease the Federal Government’s fixation on short-term job creation and a performance-based model of educational provision is utterly shameful,” he said.

“Fee increases such as these could also lead to decreased enrolment numbers in affected fields of study, leading to further cuts of professional university staff.

“DUSA condemns this announcement and will be fighting to defeat this proposal.”