Chair of Group of Eight Calls for Full Deregulation of University Fees. (December 1, 2006)

    Glyn Davis, Chair of the Group of Eight and Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University has called on the Federal Government to deregulate the price of degrees and let universities charge what they like.

Harriet Alexander reports in today's Sydney Morning Herald that Professor Davis said in a lecture at Flinders University last night that universities were losing students to private colleges, which were able set their own fees and tailor their courses accordingly.

He told his audience government, "Ministers fear a public backlash should fees rise; so instead students pay for inadequate funding in unseen ways - in larger than desirable class sizes, overcrowded facilities, rundown buildings. Yet the flight to private providers suggests students would prefer to pay for a quality education."

And the Go8 chairman reiterated that the method the federal government uses to index the funding of Australian universities is inadequate, "Under the current regime, a university dedicated to providing Commonwealth-supported places in the arts, health sciences and many other valuable disciplines would quickly become insolvent."

He then challenged the Federal Minister for Education declaring  universities would not be able to conform to the ideal of diversity that had been touted by Julie Bishop because for universities to remain solvent they all wanted to offer degrees that attracted full-fee paying students which allowed them to cross-subsidise other courses. "The minister has been very critical of the fact that there are 37 [bachelors of commerce degrees] offered in Australia and the truth is we've got to offer courses that make money as opposed to the ones that can't make money."

Starkly put the Federal Government continues to micromanage the university sector keeping it to heel, under funds it but doesn't allow universities to respond to market demand when determining the number of student places in each course and setting their own fees and reviewing the funding formula for Commonwealth-supported places.

According to Ms Alexander, "He said he was not recommending universities raise the price of their degrees, rather that they should be allowed to do so if the Government did not meet the cost of them and there was demand to do so. 'There are two variations that make up what we charge for university [courses]. One is what the Government puts in for each course and the second is what the students pay, and together they're not enough to cover the real cost.'"

Whether or not Ms Bishop makes a useful response to Group of Eight's Chairman remains to be seen.