UK cuts could help Australia

Changes to UK higher education could help shift the international education balance back in Australia’s favour, without unbalancing research. Forthcoming changes to the UK’s higher education system could give Australia a competitive edge in education exports without affecting the potential for research partnerships, experts say. Last month the UK Government said it would accept key recommendations from the Browne review of university financing, with universities permitted to raise their annual tuition fees to £6000 ($A 9780) and more to compensate for massive cuts to university teaching grants. But the cuts don’t extend to research, even though many government departments will have their budgets slashed by around 20 per cent over the next four years. Commentators say the fee hikes could play into Australia’s favour, particularly given that they will also apply to students from the European Union who pay the same fees as the UK’s “home” students. “Prima facie you would say, here’s an opportunity for Australian institutions to re-look at their UK strategy,” said Austrade’s senior trade commissioner in London, Kym Fullgrabe. Fullgrabe said Austrade would wait until the “dust settles” from the spending review before examining the details. The fee increases will require parliamentary approval, and Liberal Democrat backbenchers from the governing coalition have already signalled their opposition. “But if fees for university students are going up the extent that reports suggest – and if universities are getting their budgets cut to the extent being reported – you would have to think there is a slight opportunity for Australian universities to take a closer look at some high-quality students looking for alternatives.” Fullgrabe said it wasn’t clear how much fees would increase, and whether any rise would be sufficient to counterbalance the strong Australian dollar. But he said UK press coverage of the spending cuts had been negative. “It’s almost hysterical, in terms of hundreds of thousands of pounds to study in the UK. If I was a parent of students here, or a student myself, that would be enough to make me start thinking of alternatives where I might be able to attain the same outcome, with less pain in the wallet.” The worries extend overseas, with the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA) taking calls from its members in the UK. “They hear rumours of fees increasing to this and that, and don’t know whether it will affect students who start their degrees in 2012 or people who have already started,” said ANSA adviser Mariette Christopherson. Norwegians pay full international fees to study in UK universities because Norway isn’t an EU member. But Christopherson said she assumed there would also be an increase in international fees, which are uncapped and already range up to £18,000 ($A 29,000). The Norwegian Government provides generous grants and loans to cover its overseas students’ fees and living costs, calibrated to the expense levels in each country. “At the moment the grants and loans just about cover study in the UK depending on where and what you’re studying,” said Christopherson, who studied there herself. “If fees increase by £5000 ($A 8,000) a year, it will be impossible. Unless additional grants are introduced for students to the UK, that would drastically reduce the numbers – we would see a redirection of students away from the UK.” A redirection of European students could hurt the UK, where about 5 per cent of students are from other EU countries. But Europe offers some obvious alternatives, with courses in English increasingly available in Germany, France, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. And universities in some of these countries don’t charge tuition fees from anyone. Fullgrabe said the potential enrolment opportunities for Australia shouldn’t be overstated, with exchange rates and the “tyranny of distance” still negative factors. But he said Australian universities should be heartened by the UK’s decision to bypass research in its spending cuts. Fullgrabe said a strong UK research sector was in Australia’s interests. “It’s a healthy ground for us to facilitate greater flows of corporate finance into Australian research teams, and spinoffs into Australian companies, as well as greater cooperation between research teams in Australia and the UK,” he said. Partnerships with UK research groups can open the door to research funds from the EU, and from individual European countries. But Fullgrabe said their real potential was in opening doors to the corporate dollar. “Big UK and European corporates have R&D budgets in the billions, and two to five billion dollars is a lot of money,” he said. “There’s a lot of synergy between the Australian and UK research sectors. There’s a lot of transfer of personnel. Many UK universities have Australians in key positions, and vice-versa. You’re not starting with a blank piece of paper, where no-one knows anyone.” John Ross is in Europe courtesy of a travel award from Universities Australia and the National Press Club, and is being assisted within Europe by Austrade.