The University of Western Australia has revealed the extent of student fee hikes it will introduce under deregulation, setting the benchmark for UOW and the rest of Australia’s tertiary institutions.
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From 2016, UWA will set an annual flat fee of $16,000 for domestic students, regardless of their field of study.
The sum – $48,000 for a three year degree – has been taken by Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s office as proof that claims by Labor, the National Tertiary Education Union and the Greens of incoming $100,000 degrees were ‘‘reckless scaremongering’’.
However, courses at UWA include a two-year masters program.
According to an analysis by News Corp, when the cost of this is taken into account, a law degree at UWA will rise from $82,198 to $95,220.
The cost of a teaching qualification would rise from $30,544 (for a bachelor degree and a two-year masters) to $60,000.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird said the figures showed the opposition’s concerns about the extent of incoming fees hikes were ‘‘pretty accurate’’, and could hit hardest among the students – and fields of employment – that could least afford it.
‘‘This is exactly the concern that Labor has been highlighting – that all these base level degrees that are needed for people to get a start in a lot of professions important in our region, like teaching and nursing, are potentially going to be priced out of the reach of average people,’’ she said.
‘‘Part of the problem ... with deregulation is that there’s no evidence that the government’s been able to produce, from anywhere in the world, that it’s led to significant lowering of costs.’’
In response, a spokesman for Mr Pyne said: ‘‘It’s surprising Ms Bird thinks she knows how universities will respond to deregulation better than experts like Vicki Thomson, the executive director of the Australian Technology Network who said ... ‘Will fees go up? Some may, but others would also decrease as we have the freedom to determine the size of our institutions and the degrees that we offer’.’’
The University of Wollongong has offered no details on how its fee structure will change in response to the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, which is yet to be passed by the Senate.
UOW’s chief finance officer, Damien Israel, said university heads would scrutinise the detail of passed legislation before making changes.
‘‘If passed by the Senate, deregulation of the higher education sector will create more competition in the market and has the potential to lead to differentiated strategies across the sector,’’ Mr Israel said.
‘‘When reviewing our fees, our priorities are giving students a world-class education, ensuring that we can continue to make improvements to the quality of degrees that we offer and making university study as fair and accessible as we can.’’
