The government could be adding insult to injury on the University of Newcastle

BY JESSICA ROUSE

New figures have revealed the University of Newcastle could be set to lose $79 million if the Turnbull Government's higher education reforms get through Parliament.

The loss would come as a result of particular reforms for enabling programs like New Step and Open Foundation, which would be opened up to the private sector and an addition of fees in excess of $3,000.

Newcastle Mp Sharon Claydon along with her Labor team is fighting against the reforms and she believes it would really add insult to injury for the university.

"That's a lot of money and it's coming on top of additional $100 million that the university is set to lose through the so called efficiency dividend over the next ten years if this government's higher education package gets through the parliament."

Tens of thousands of students get into degrees through the enabling programs and Newcastle is the biggest provider of the programs in Australia.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Education Tanya Plibersek hosted a roundtable at the University of Newcastle with Sharon Claydon and Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Daryl Evans last month to discuss the changes and the effect they'll have on students wanting to undertake study.

The government's views haven't budged since and the Newcastle MP says the reforms will put students off the idea of high education rather than encouraging them to better their learning.

"It's my firm view if the government is looking for savings they'd better look away from education because that's an area we should always be investing - Australia's greatest asset is our people and investing in our people is a long term investment for our future."

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon and Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Tanya Plibersek at the roundtable last month.

Dumb and short-sighted: Plibersek

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Labor is forming a united front against the Federal Government's proposed changes to university enabling programs which would see programs such as NewStep and Open Foundation which are free, cost students up to $3,200 in fees.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Education Tanya Plibersek hosted a roundtable at the University of Newcastle yesterday with Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon and Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Daryl Evans to discuss the changes and the affect they'll have on students wanting to undertake study.

The University of Newcastle is one of the largest and oldest providers of these enabling programs, and Tanya Plibersek says in an area where youth unemployment is high and university participation rates are already low, the changes would make higher education impossible for some students.

All smiles here, but not for the government's proposed changes
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon & Deputy Labor Leader
Tanya Plibersek.

"They (students) wouldn't have even considered it even if was a much smaller fee, some of them just wouldn't have had the money, others are saying they wouldn't have had the confidence to spend that money on themselves because they had such a tough time at high school, because their marks weren't good,"

"They wouldn't have had the confidence to say its worth putting thousands of dollars into an educational opportunity like this because they would've thought they were going to bomb out," said Tanya Plibersek.

Also known as 'university preparation courses', Sharon Claydon says they focus on higher education pathways for Indigenous and mature-age students as well as recent school leavers between 18 and 20 years old.

"The fact that Newcastle has more than 1,000 Indigenous students enrolled and trains more than half of the nation's Indigenous doctors is no coincidence - this is directly attributable to decades of hard work and Newcastle University's steadfast commitment to delivering equity in education through high quality enabling programs."

Tanya Plibersek says the enabling programs give students the option to study who otherwise wouldn't even consider taking the step into higher education. She believes it's dumb and short-sighted to propose fees now.

"It's absolutely typical for the liberal government to be handing out tax cuts to millionaires and tax cuts to big business and a new fee for uni students who've had a tough time, who are trying to turn their lives around and they're slugging them with all of these fees."