The former Coalition government's higher education reforms are an "abysmal failure" which led to massive cuts to science during the pandemic, the Australian National University's vice-chancellor says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Professor Brian Schmidt said the job ready graduates package, which hiked up the cost of humanities degrees, actually made it harder for universities to fund places in areas of need, such as science and engineering.
"I think the jobs ready graduates package in terms of trying to direct students has been an abysmal failure," he told the Universities Australia conference in Canberra.
"What happened, of course, is that there will be almost no change from the students. What has really happened is on the supply side, those of us who are providing places.
"It suddenly has become actually very hard for us to provide ... university engineering places, for example, where they want. So I've been having to kind of squeeze the domestic numbers there but quite frankly, I'm quite happy to take humanities [students]."
The ANU college of science alone had 103 jobs slashed as the institution restructured in response to the pandemic's financial shocks.
READ MORE:
Professor Schmidt said the job ready graduates package did not encourage students to switch to cheaper degrees in areas of skill demand because of Australia's income-contingent loan scheme.
"I think we live in an open society where we want students to have that choice. So I think I would say it really goes against a pretty foundational part of what we would say is part of our democracy," he said.
Professor Schmidt said skill shortages would become more acute, especially in computer science, cyber security and engineering.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretary-general Mathias Cormann said Australia was leading the world with the higher education funding reforms.
"The recent changes to the Commonwealth grants scheme for the job ready package are also the first of their kind across the OECD that will help attract students to fields with good employment outcomes linked to national priorities and skill sets," he said in a video address from Paris.
He said universities would need to diversify international student cohorts and course offerings to increase participation in underrepresented groups.
Universities Australia chair John Dewar said in a National Press Club address even with the job ready graduates package and the Albanese governments pledge for 20,000 extra university places, the system will be 19,000 places short by 2027 as the Costello baby boom comes of age.
He said it was too soon to gauge the full impact of job ready graduates but the peak body welcomed the review of the package this year.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.