He has also received some private support from a small number of vice-chancellors who, for a variety of personal reasons, had not come out publicly against university deregulation.

Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Ian Young, meanwhile, said new amendments would vastly improve equity measures under a deregulated system and should receive political support.

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne tabled amended legislation in the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning, sacrificing more than $3 billion in projected savings in order to try and get the bill through.

Mr Pyne said the new bill was effectively the same as the previous one but with some important changes, including giving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission the power to monitor university fees and ensuring domestic student fees were lower than their international counterparts.

The government has also dumped plans to charge higher interest on student loans and introduce a five-year interest rate pause on HECS debts for new parents –concessions which provide just $451 million rather than the $3.9 billion included in the Financial Impact Statement of the original legislation.

Professor Parker said he did not believe the amendments would win over opponents of the bill even as they allowed the government more time to negotiate with reluctant crossbenchers.

"The amendments don't change the fact that this is fee deregulation nor do they change the increase in student debt."

He said the amendment to ensure domestic students paid less than international students could be cynically circumvented by any institution.

"How much lower do they have to be? One dollar? And it doesn't take a genius to imagine someone may well just raise the cost of international fees in order to get around it."

"At its heart, this is still bad legislation and we now have more time for the public to become alarmed about it, so all my senses tell me it will still remain unpopular and divisive."

Professor Young said it was not surprising the legislation had failed in its original form and the Group of Eight and Universities Australia had supported amendments on equity grounds prior to it getting knocked back.

"It will be better to take those amendments through the Senate, it is a better and fairer package, and the government has listened to the views the sector has made."

But while it was easier to sell, Professor Young did not "underestimate the challenges" of getting university deregulation signed into law.

"But we can't give up. We need to articulate that this is the right way for Australia to move forward and hopefully win the argument."

Professor Parker has spent the past few months being the only university chief to publicly condemn the changes – saying his eight years of experience in the job had perhaps given him the experience and strength to criticise the government.

On Monday he delivered an impassioned speech at the National Alliance for Public Universities Forum held at the University of Sydney

He predicted the demise of Universities Australia, saying it had necrotising fasciitis and had lost its moral compass in failing to criticise the reforms.

"This will blight the lives of a generation, unless Australia comes to its senses," he said in a speech that has received widespread national media attention.