VSU back on the agenda, post-election

Student services might get their own funding stream, with a more sympathetic Senate appearing likely after the election.

A re-elected Labor federal government will put the student amenities and services fee back on the agenda, education minister Simon Crean said last week. But with a hostile Senate garrisoned until at least July next year, a returned government would have to work hard to get the fee in place for 2012 - and 2011 appears out of the question. The fee was Labor's answer to the Howard government's contentious voluntary student unionism (VSU) legislation, which decimated funding for student associations and campus activities. Labor's proposal would allow universities to charge students $250 each to...