Reduce HECS to entice regional students: UNE

University of New England (UNE) vice chancellor Professor Jim Barber says the federal government should forgive its HECS debt to regional university students as it drives the sector towards a free market. He said the move would result in a $4000 HECS saving per student per year – a strong incentive that could help regional universities capture their share of students when uncapped places are introduced in 2012. “What the government’s done has been to deregulate supply, but it’s done nothing about demand or price. That’s hardly a free market,” Barber told Campus Review at the inaugural Regional Tertiary Education Conference in Coffs Harbour.By his calculations, the HECS change would require little more than adjusting the cash contribution government pays out to regional universities anyway to cover deferred HECS payments. Barber said he would support the call by the Group of Eight and others to lift the price cap on places at all universities. “We should deregulate price, but we should deregulate it not just for the student, also for the government, because there are two parties contributing to the cost,” he said. “My overall proposal would be lift the cap off price and forgive the HECS debt of students attending regional campuses. So the student pays a higher price if they wish to attend certain universities, the government pays a higher price if the student wants to attend a [regional] university.”In his address to conference delegates, Barber said market competition was dominating higher education policy to the possible detriment of regional universities, which anticipate struggling under the new system. “Apart from some one-off assistance to help regional universities compete, existing policy settings display a distinct lack of interest in the fortunes of regional universities,” he said. “The government is clearly not averse to promoting regional development, but in the case of higher education policy, appears dazzled by the lustre of the free market.”He issued a challenge to policymakers to develop a higher education policy that was distinct to regional Australia, saying it was something that had never been done. Such a policy would recognise and value the multiple economic, social and cultural contributions regional universities made. “What would happen if a regional university shut down? That’s entirely possible under the Bradley Review,” Barber said. In the case of UNE, he argued that closure would significantly impact up to 300 students per year who could not afford to relocate to attend university. Further, 78 per cent of UNE’s on-campus graduates secured their first job in a regional area; 72 per cent of all graduates attending UNE from surrounding areas returned to regional areas for their first job – 43 per cent to their home regions.And losing UNE would drastically change the demography of Armidale, turning it into a “retirement village”, said Barber. “In contrast, a regional education policy would actively encourage students to choose regional universities and would reward universities for contributing to regional development priorities,” he said.