News
Welcome to the news section. This page includes the five most
recent pieces of news whether it be a Media Release - Executive
Director's Comment - Article - or Update.
Visit the specific page for a complete listing.
Government risks undermining its achievements
The 2013 Budget confirms the Government's cuts to higher
education investment. These put at risk the success of its
higher education reforms through reducing the value of funding for
university education, turning a payment to students eligible for
Youth Allowance into a loan that will add to their debts at
graduation, and discouraging professionals from up-skilling.
Download PDF (219kb) >
Executive Director's Comment
13 May 2013
An efficient equity framework?
Sharon Bird the Minister for Higher Education and Skills has
announced a new look at equity policy and revised arrangements
for allocating the funding from the Higher Education Participation
and Partnerships Program (HEPPP).
So what do these announcements mean in the age of efficiency,
given the speech does not mention the Government efficiency
dividend and the transformation of equity scholarships into equity
debt? Will the Government now remove program acquittals and
reduce project reporting to let universities exploit the Bradley
policy settings as originally proposed?
Download PDF (152kb) >
Executive Director's Comment
7 May 2013
Government changes to future higher education funding
Government changes to future higher education funding
The IRU understands the fiscal challenge the Government
faces. It has accepted the array of modifications to
the Government's higher education reforms announced in each budget
and mid-year review since 2011, as necessary to assist with
restraint in budget outlays without undermining the thrust of the
reforms flowing form the Bradley report and Senator Carr's
additional research investment.
The Government's 2013 changes will serve to hamper severely the
success of the Government reforms through reducing revenue per
student and the bad policy in transforming a grant to students
eligible for Youth Allowance into further graduate debt.
The tie to school funding is particularly galling.
Download PDF (597kb) >
Media Release
15 April 2013
IRU network calls for Government action after university funding cuts
The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) network is calling on
the Australian Government to reduce the financial burden on
universities through costly bureaucratic red tape following
Saturday's announcement that $2.3 billion will be cut from the
university system over the next four years.
The Chair of the IRU, Professor Barney Glover, said the
magnitude of the changes to university funding announced by the
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research, Dr
Craig Emerson, was "regrettable".
"While the indexation has not been affected, the productivity
dividend announced by the Minister is essentially a temporary cut
in indexation," Professor Glover said.
Find out more >
Executive Director's Comment
18 March 2013
Demand driven system fuels growth in science and technology students
It is going unnoticed that the demand driven expansion of
universities places is raising the number of students studying
science and technology degrees and health profession degrees at a
much higher rate than the growth in business, law and arts
degrees.
Download PDF (288kb) >
The past three months have seen further development of the Government's reform program across many areas...
Read Newsletter >
IRU, established in 2003, is a group of universities sharing common origins as research intensive universities, most of which were established during the 1960s and 1970s a previous period of expansion in Australian Higher Education.
Read Newsletter >
