Haven’t been writing this blog for quite a while as I was
quite dismayed by the political situations in both Australia and Hong Kong. So
I thought I would just shut up and stay objective if possible. However, the
recent education bill reform in Australia is another extremely disappointing
development for Australia and I find it hard to stay quiet.
Education for me is a basic human right. It is the
responsibility of the government to ensure that everyone has a fair share of education
to be equipped for the world out there. The recent education bill represents a
blatant arrogance, ignorance and an unwelcoming elitist agenda presented by the
Coalition Government.
The base argument was to save money, which was already
admitted by Joe Hockey, the Treasure that a budget emergency does not exist as
claimed. So that was the first lie
underpinning the bill. The argument of by deregulating universities fees it
increases the competition in the higher education sector and thus warrant better
education for students is totally unfounded. At the moment preference for
university is already tightly gripped by the Group of Eight. While in the
higher education sector there are already talks around merging regional
universities to make them more cost efficient, by deregulating the university
fees it will not be the Group of Eight that could be affected but the smaller
universities or even the so called Gumtree Universities (universities in the
second tier). Power will be further consolidated as smaller universities have
to close down because they do not have the same money drawing power as the
Group of Eight both in terms of financial income from tuitions and
philanthropy. There will only be less university places for general Australians
who want a tertiary education, thus further driving up the cost because of
demand and supply and guess who would be eventually benefited? For me this is
never about students but about a bunch of politicians, who themselves had
enjoyed a free education wanting to save money for their annual 7% rise in both
salary and pay package while courting the Group of Eight to hopefully get
something out of that (maybe a free honor or degree?).The people who are going
to be worse off in this change will be students who could not pay the price and
who live in regional Australia.
The counter argument about more scholarships for students –
well we have seen how Tony Abott’s daughter got a full scholarship without
going through any competitive process herself. So where is the guarantee that
these scholarships would actually go to the students who actually need them?
There was no regulation or legislation to determine how these scholarships should
be handed out, there are no KPIs set up for universities to provide evidence
for transparent reporting that these money actually went to students in need.
Are we just creating a false picture that with more scholarships more students
in need will be benefited? Also would there be legislation or regulation
telling universities how should the money be allocated across disciplines?
Without all these control mechanisms, the money could have well gone to
restricted “pal-ish” disciplines and the end results could be smaller faculties
that do not have the same influential power would fall victim and be closed
down. If that happens how could knowledge and culture in Australia be enriched
via our tertiary education system?
Another item I personally find extremely disturbing is the
funding towards private college. It has long been arguments that by doing so
then people have choices. But then if the government wants public universities
to take care of themselves because of funding issues, why is it that private colleges
that are supposed to be running as private education businesses be subsidised
by tax payer money? If they want to run a private business, disregarding the
nature of the business, they should always take their own risks and not receive
any tax payer money. Tax payer money should always be reserved for public
universities who have the duty to provide basic tertiary education. If parents
think they want to send their kids to private colleges, it is up their ability
to pay the tuition no matter how much it would cost them. Having my tax money
allocated to private businesses for their own business interest is, in my
opinion, a violation of trust as a tax paying citizen of this country. I do not
know how much connection Chris Pyne, Tony Abott or other cohorts of the
Coalition government have with the private education business, but this kind of
move proposing funding private education businesses using tax payer money does
smell rats for me. And the whole scenario of public universities needs to take
care of themselves but we are extending funding to private colleges running as
private businesses is condescending, contradictory and hypocritical.
I am glad that bill had been voted down but the worry is
that Chris Pyne did not see the flaws and hypocrisies in his bill (or maybe he
did but doesn’t care) and determines to push forward.
Imagine an Australian society that only elitist groups could enjoy tertiary
education no matter they are fit for such education or not, what would it be
like? It will not be hard to find out once such a self-interested bill is being
passed and I hope I would not need to see this within my lifetime.
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