Group of Eight Damns the Federal Budget as Regards Higher Education with Faint Praise. (May 9, 2012)

The Group of Eight (Go8) gave Chris Evans as Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research "for his efforts to prevent Budget cuts in higher education and research," it went on to point out that the nation is still saddled with "inadequate finding per student and a deep hole in funding for research infrastructure."

The Go8's Chief Executive, Mike Gallagher, issued the following statement:

In a Budget environment where other portfolios had to make savings, the Minister has maintained funding commitments to Australia's universities.

We commend the Minister's success in protecting higher education from arbitrary cuts.

The Budget confirmed funding for the demand-driven system, indexation and research block grants. There is some new funding to support low SES and under-prepared students.

Universities need extra resources to support less prepared students to complete their degrees. The extra funding is a small first step in the right direction.

Despite the protection of funding in this year's Budget, universities will face some serious financial challenges in the next few years.

Funding per student is too low and remains under threat due to growing student numbers.

The Government has not responded to the Base Funding Review that it commissioned.

Funding for major research infrastructure under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) has terminated and has not been replaced. Meeting both of these challenges will be impossible without changes to financing policy.