AnalysisPolicy & ReformTop Story
Free university education: Kiwi feat or a red herring?
When Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand's Prime Minister in October last year, many were surprised because of her youth, inexperience and femininity. Staunchly Labour, she moved quickly to enact her 'progressive, anti-capitalist' agenda. Among her reforms was making all forms of higher education completely free – initially for students' first year.
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I was a beneficiary of the Whitlam era and I thought it was great. My dad was on the basic wage and my mother did not work. We lived in a housing trust home in a low class area. I got a scholarship and a cadetship to go to uni. I was paid to go to uni and there were no fees. In that era only about 10% of students went on to do uni. So you basically went to uni if you had the ability and academic standards were high for both entry and graduating.
Unfortunately Whitlam also used university entrance to reduce the unemployment rate and so pushed more young people into uni courses. This increased the tax burden and so fees and HECs were later introduced leaving a financial burden for the graduates. It also resulted in more graduates and lower academic standards such that degrees are now less meaningful.
University students are no longer considered an asset to the country. University attendance is now considered a privilege for which you have to pay. Parents want their kids to go to uni, but it may not be the best option. There are trade shortages and my perception is that many of the young people do better in the trades than those who go through low value university courses.
I think we have gone backwards.
It just seems incredible that people still talk about Uni education as being ‘free’. We either pay for it in fees, or via the tax system – unless all the lecturers want to work for nothing.