| Studying in |
|
 |
|
|
|
Australia | Australia | 2008-06-22 Studying in Australia Fee shift: unis will recruit overseas  University students will no longer be able to buy their way into prestige courses under changes introduced by the Labor Government, but universities say the end to full fee-paying places will force them to recruit more international students. More than 200,000 foreign students are enrolled in Australian universities and almost all pay full fees for their courses. About 11,000 local students pay full fees and are typically enrolled in subjects such as veterinary science, law, medicine and dentistry.
Most universities cashed in on the Howard government policy that allowed them to accept students with up to 10 marks lower than the official cut-off for each course, and charge them the full cost of their degree. They now stand to lose millions of dollars when the new government's ban on full-fee students comes into force next year. The president of Universities Australia, Professor Richard Larkins, said there was no doubt universities would not be fully compensated by the proposal to replace full fee-paying places. "It does provide an incentive to recruit more international students," he said. The University of Sydney has estimated it will lose about $30 million over four years. Its vice-chancellor, Professor Gavin Brown, told the university's governing body on Monday night that it would be logical to refuse the Government's replacement places and bring in more international students. "That's something that does need to be explored. It needs to be explored in two dimensions - one is the financial dimension and the other is the moral dimension, and one needs to be very careful," he said. Macquarie University had 242 full fee-paying domestic students last year, bringing in a revenue of $2.89 million. The University of Technology, Sydney had 391 equivalent full-time fee-paying students, bringing in revenue of nearly $7 million. "It is concerning that a current important source of revenue for universities is being removed without the prospect of any reasonable countering of the chronic under-funding of domestic government-supported places," said Professor Peter Booth, a deputy vice-chancellor. A spokeswoman for the Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, said the department had only given universities a guide. It would consult with individual universities on how to compensate them, she said.
|
Queries to
|
Comments existing to this article
