Higher Education Reforms in Australia

Question: Discuss about theHigher Education Reforms in Australia. Answer: Introduction The Australian governments is obliged to ensure that the level and quality of education is high in every economy. The government has mostly focused its development on the primary and secondary schools but fewer reforms have been implemented towards improving the tertiary education level. Higher education in Australia has not been obtained by many people as there are unavoidable challenges that pose discouragement (Education.gov.au, 2016). The quality of higher education is important as it determines the major skills held by those who enter the job market. The article analysis will identify a major challenge facing this education level and will identify the various policy actions the government have taken or should take to face it. Other than this paper being of importance to the policy makers. It will also be of importance to the private universities and colleges that are not regulated by the government. The government should initiate as many reforms as possible on higher education t o raise affordability and access. However, the government face challenges upon implementing these reforms as some people are not ready to accept them. For instance, students are not accepting the idea of government deregulating the higher education fees. This paper will improve the awareness to this group on why the government is taking such a policy implement. The article that will be analyzed is Fronting up to Tertiary Education Reform 2016 by Jennifer Hewett. Article Analysis The article is emphasizing on the need for reforms on the university education. According to Hewett (2016), some of the factors that may be leading to the dire need for regular improvements in education and training are; under-employment, low wage growth and globalization which is leading to automation of jobs (Zajda and Rust, 2016). Some students are taking courses which after completion they struggle a lot to get a job. Whereas the Australian government may brag of having a high quality of education, the delivery from much of the system is not as expected. She noted that university also face funding crisis because of their identity and claimed that this is where the government should focus reforms. The income level mostly determines whether a student is going to enroll to a public or a private university. Fees have been lower in the public than in private universities, however this does not guarantee a higher quality of education (Preston, 2014). In the article, it was noted that f uture jobs and countrys economic needs should be considered by institutions in the advancing of affordable and quality education and training. The tax raised by the government is not sufficient to efficiently fund the attainance of higher education. This raised the need of the government to deregulate the fees. This was by reducing the quantity of funds advanced to each student. High funding of higher education students has lowered the enrollment of students into public schools. The economic argument for this is that in comparison to the funds available for funding these students, the higher the amount per student, the lower the number of students funded. The aim of deregulation was to ensure that the number of students who receive the funding increase (Yaxley, 2016). If the funding per student is cut, more students will be able to access the funding. Hewett noted that the decision of the government committing to cut the universities funding by 20 % was not welcomed by many (Conifer, 2016). Aph.gov.au (2016) and Hare (2016) stated that cutting funding would result in student paying more than what they paid with higher fundi ng. Tanya Plibersek an opposition spokesman argued that most higher education graduates are loaded with unnecessary lifetime debts but however, costs of obtaining educations should not obstruct a bright student from accessing the best education (Hewett, 2016). It was noted however that getting improvements on education requires much more than increment or reduction in funding (Zajda and Rust, 2016). Besides the recognition of the essentiality of the collaboration between the industry and university research in improving new business opportunities growth and the commercialization of ideas, the government has put much effort towards it. The vocational education sector is also an important sector that has been given less attention whilst it the sector with the highest of those seeking higher education (Higheredstrategy.com, 2017). It adds much to the skilled workforce. In an attempt to boost enrollment in private and into registered training organizations, the government has raised the level of their funding to enable them offer various courses and make it affordable (Aph.gov.au, 2016). Recommendations Funding for higher education is a sharp reforms. Since the government is concerned on eliminating structural unemployment where job exist but those seeking to be employed dont possess the skills, it should focus not only on increasing the funding, but also to ensure the education quality is observed. The need to improve the vocational training institutions should be embraced as it has been observed to be occupied by many who are seeking to acquire various skills. The government should monitor and value all the courses offered to students to ensure that they will be marketable in future and in line with economical changes. This would help in addressing the underemployment problem. The government should increase its funding to private and vocational training institutions. It should also increase its effort on collaborating the industry with the university research as it has been considered to the growth of many new business opportunities through commercialization of ideas. Conclusion The government is concerned on the issue of availability of funds to support higher education. The amount of loan advance to the students has been very high and its still rising. With a lower funding per student the government could increase the number of students who access the loans. Vocational training institutions have been given less attention whereas this is the sector that natures the most skilled laborers. Some learning institutions offer some courses that are of less demand in the market and not in line with the economic changes. The funding by government has been mainly on public universities and lower in private universities and non to the vocational training institutions. Well this is argued to change in order to increase the attainance of higher education. References Aph.gov.au. (2016). Reform of the higher education demand driven system (revised) Parliament of Australia. [Online] Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/pubs/rp/budgetreview201415/higheredu [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Conifer, D. (2016). Budget 2016: University fee deregulation scrapped but universities still facing big cuts. [Online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-03/morrison-abandons-uni-fee-deregulation/7380564 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Education.gov.au. (2016). Consultation on the future of higher education reform | Department of Education and Training. [Online] Available at: https://www.education.gov.au/news/consultation-future-higher-education-reform [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Hare, J. (2016). Higher university fees loom for students. [Online] Theaustralian.com.au. Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/higher-university-fees-loom-for-students/news-story/41074ea0907fca991b2f21306216d529 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Hewett, J. (2016). Trying again on education reform. [Online] Financial Review. Available at: https://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/fronting-up-to-tertiary-education-reform-20161116-gsqshs [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Higheredstrategy.com. (2017). The Monash-Warwick Alliance. [Online] Available at: https://higheredstrategy.com/category/international/page/6/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Preston, B. (2014). State school kids do better at uni. [Online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/state-school-kids-do-better-at-uni-29155 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2017]. Yaxley, L. (2016). Government committed to university funding cuts. [Online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/government-committed-to-university-funding-cuts/7299508 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Zajda, J. and Rust, V. (2016). Globalisation and Higher Education Reforms. 1st ed. Switzerland: Springer.