The group of academics and post-graduate students have formed a new opposition group to university fee deregulation proposals set out in Treasurer Joe Hockey's recent federal budget.

Academics in the group include Professor Desmond Ball, Professor Geremie Barme, Professor Mark Elvin, Dr Susan Harris-Rimmer, Professor Andrew Hassell and Emeritus Professor Nicholas Tapp.

Professor Margaret Thornton will be one of the representatives of the group to meet the vice-chancellor, Professor Ian Young, on Thursday morning to present the petition.

In a statement, Professor Thornton said she was concerned the proposed "equity" scholarships ignored current barriers to accessing higher education.

She said "research indicates that fee deregulation is likely to entrench inequality in Australian society rather than ameliorate it".

Professor Simon Rice of the ANU College of Law, also a signatory, said the petition was a "question of values".

"I believe tertiary education is an essential service to the Australian public that the government is obliged to provide," Professor Rice said.

When asked whether the group stood with students whose protest interrupted Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's Monday evening appearance at a conference at ANU, PhD student Hannah McCann said "we have common ground".

"We are against cuts and against increased interest rates on HECS loans," Ms McCann said. "Of course there are similar concerns amongst staff and students. We have different tactics and actions."

Ms McCann said she believed there was a chance the vice-chancellor, a key "cheerleader" for the deregulation of student contributions to university fees, would change his tune.

"He’s shown in the past months that in fact he has started to waver and there is a definite chance he will back down," Ms McCann said.

At a June debate at the ANU Professor Young said some elements of the plan would need to be "re-thought".

He singled out the proposed changes to the HECS interest rate, the way the commonwealth contribution would be cut and cuts to Higher Degree Research students as problematic.