The Australian Labor Party needs a generous and fair higher education policy package to take to the next election, according to the Australian Democrats.
The Australian Democrats have welcomed the Labor Party's commitment to shortly announce new policies to complement their universities White Paper, released earlier this year.
"Labor's White Paper was a step in the right direction but did not go far enough in addressing key issues of indexation of grants to universities, fees for domestic students, and support for student services," Democrats Higher Education spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said today.
"Treasurer Peter Costello's claim that the HECS is a generous scheme compared to others around the world, and using the United States as a comparison, is disingenuous.
"The United States higher education system, which the Coalition Government occasionally seems keen to model, would have to be one of the most inequitable in the world.
"Yes, HECS is fundamentally better than the US system but that ignores the fact that the Coalition has made changes that have increased the cost of degrees for students, especially many of the professional qualifications that Australia needs more of.
"I hope that Labor, in considering an alternative policy, will call for all grants to universities to be appropriately indexed for inflation, abolish full-fee degrees and reduce the HECS burden for domestic students, and repeal the Coalition's Voluntary Student Unionism legislation," Senator Stott Despoja said.
|
