Higher Education

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Palmer United Party Senator Dio Wang that asked the Government to extend funding to for private universities and colleges to increase competition in the higher education sector. This means the motion failed.

Motion text

That the Senate notes that:

(a) public universities currently do not sufficiently compete with one another to lower fees for domestic undergraduate students, instead, they routinely charge the maximum amount allowed by the current government, thus rewarding inefficiency and keeping tuition artificially high for students;

(b) competition brings down tuition fees for students, for example, government funding would allow private not for profit colleges, such as Sheridan College in Perth, to deliver current and future courses without a charge to students, and many other private colleges and universities would also reduce fees;

(c) students would have the choice to earn an undergraduate degree without incurring a crushing debt burden;

(d) the Government would be under no obligation to provide capital grants, such as land, building, equipment etc. to such colleges;

(e) extending funding to private colleges and private universities would both benefit students and save government money; and

(f) a proposal to extend the Commonwealth Grants Scheme (CGS) to not for profit private colleges and universities should be considered irrespective of the rest of the Government's higher education deregulation agenda, as funding private not for profit colleges, such as Sheridan College, levels the playing field leading to the possibility of free education for Australian students.