A freeze on federal university funding announced this week could put a stop to La Trobe’s plans to increase the number of regional students enrolling in places like the Albury-Wodonga campus.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
La Trobe University regional pro vice-chancellor Richard Speed was left disappointed by the mid-year budget update, which put a freeze on funding that could be legislated without the approval of the Senate.
He said by looking to solve one problem, the government had created another for regional students, but it was too early to tell how it would impact the Border.
“They’re effectively locking in disadvantage that already exists between regional students and metropolitan students,” Professor Speed said.
“What this is affecting is our long-term strategy.”
Just 12.5 per cent of people in their 20s in regional Victoria had degrees, compared to 32 per cent in Melbourne.
Professor Speed said La Trobe and Charles Sturt universities needed funding to run innovative programs to attract students who may not otherwise take up further education.
“We have been trying around all our regional campuses to grow our enrollments,” he said.
“These are people we have been trying to give opportunities to and our ability to do that is under threat.”
He said the federal government system encouraged more growth in maths and technology, rather than courses important to regional areas like nursing.
La Trobe has still committed to run all of its planned courses for 2018.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the end of the student enrollment boom was an opportunity to "ask universities to really focus on the quality of delivery" and repair the budget with a "modest contribution" from the tertiary sector.
Indi MP Cathy McGowan said she would continue discussions in the new year, despite not being able to change the minister’s mind so far.
“It’s not just La Trobe and CSU, it’s the Regional Universities Network that are really distressed about it, so we’ll have a lot of work to do on that” she said. “We haven’t given up on that one yet.”