By Sean Healy
SYDNEY — The administration of the University of Technology has announced it will not be introducing full up-front fees for any domestic undergraduate students in 1999. This follows similar decisions by other university administrations, including at the University of Queensland.
UTS vice-chancellor Tony Blake, one of the early supporters of undergraduate fees, has admitted, "There are not too many Australians out there with the capacity to purchase places or the propensity to do so".
Undoubtedly, a part of the UTS decision lies in its fear of further student protest. Last year, the administration backed away from fees after a four-day student occupation of the administration building, which ended when police with dogs evicted students.
But the UTS decision also marks the failure of the government's attempts to introduce fees for domestic undergraduates. When the undergraduate fees market was deregulated in 1996, the federal government claimed the fees would make up for large cuts in government funding.
In fact, those universities which opted to introduce undergraduate fees for 1998 (mainly the elite "sandstone" universities like Sydney and Melbourne) have only attracted 794 new students, and many of these, including nearly all at the University of Melbourne, are on full or partial scholarships. Far from generating revenue, these places will actually lose the universities $5 million this year.
The lack of fee-paying students will make universities even more desperate for additional funds. The Asian economic crisis has already affected overseas student enrolments: this year, study visa applications are down by 45%.
Worse is yet to come. According to Lord Dearing (who chaired the recent UK review into higher education), Australian universities can expect a further 25% cut in federal government funding over the next five years: 6% in direct funding cuts and a 20% shortfall through having to meet staff pay rises without government assistance.
Rather than forcing universities to back down on up-front fees and profit-driven education, the failure to generate much revenue from domestic undergraduate places will mean that the Coalition government will forcibly create a demand for such places.
Alongside more funding cuts, the government is considering more drastic measures, including the introduction of funding vouchers.