Kickstart Victoria: Call for free public transport for students to help revive university sector
Making public transport free for all university students is one of the big changes education experts want implemented to help reignite Victoria’s higher education sector. Here’s what else they’re calling for.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Public transport should be free for all university students as part of a plan to help kickstart Victoria’s higher education sector, the head of the University of Melbourne has declared.
Vice-chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell also called for campuses and borders to be opened as soon as safely possible.
“We need to get our borders open as soon as it is safe to do so to facilitate the return of thousands of international students to Victoria.’’
Prof Maskell’s comments come as Victoria’s higher education leaders told the Herald Sun that the state’s universities and TAFE colleges were vital to deliver the training and skills for the jobs of the future that will rebuild the post-COVID economy.
Before the pandemic, higher education was Victoria’s biggest export industry, driving about $14 billion in revenue for the state and providing 80,000 jobs.
But Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, criticised the state government for failing to have an international education strategy.
“Given the mishandling of the hotel quarantine program here, it is perhaps not surprising that the Andrews government lacks the political will to focus on our state’s biggest export industry,’’ Mr Honeywood said.
“We will probably need to change our vehicle registration plates from ‘the education state’ to something else entirely.’’
Most students have been studying remotely since the pandemic struck in March, but the restrictions have caused major problems for those in the performing arts or involved in laboratory-based study.
The shutdowns of the retail and hospitality sector have also had a major impact on students’ ability to find part-time or casual jobs.
Ivana Pugliesi, a 22-year-old RMIT marketing student from Keilor, has been forced out of her casual retail work.
“My retail job had to close twice due to the restrictions,” she said.
“Casual workers are no longer getting shifts until the store can resume as normal.”
Ms Pugliesi said it was crucial for students’ wellbeing to get back to face-to-face learning when she noticed her motivation dropped after months of online learning.
“I’ve really struggled motivating myself to be productive and get assignments done and have been leaving them until last minute which is something I wouldn’t normally do,” she said.
“I find that face-to-face learning is so much more effective and engaging,” she said.
Ms Pugliesi said a safe return to campus would improve her and other students’ mental and emotional health by allowing them to connect with others.
International student fees have increasingly helped fund university research in the past decade, with the sector hopeful of some relief in the Treasurer’s federal Budget on Tuesday.
La Trobe University vice-chancellor John Dewar is also calling for the federal government to fund more student places to cope with increased demand.
“Like most universities, we are experiencing a massive growth in demand for our courses from domestic students – because school leavers are abandoning plans for a gap year, or because people out of work know that a degree is the best way to re-enter the workforce,’’ Professor Dewar said.
Sally Curtain, chief executive of Bendigo Kangan Institute, one of Victoria’s biggest TAFE colleges, called for funding to pay for digital skills and cybersecurity courses to reflect the new work from home environment.
Last week, the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne reported that more than 23,000 people would lose their jobs because of the pandemic, with about 40 per cent of them in Victoria, partly because of the reliance on international students and the impact of the second wave.
HAVE YOU SAY ON HOW TO KICKSTART VICTORIA
A major shake-up of university course fee structure hangs in the balance with the government’s Jobs-ready Graduates Package, which will more than double the price of some edgrees, needing one more crossbencher to pass the laws in the Senate.
The university reforms are expected to create shortfalls in key growing Victorian job markets, with no modelling offered to show the impact of changes that double the cost of some degrees.
SALLY CURTAIN
BENDIGO KANGAN INSTITUTE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Like every sector, COVID-19 has thrown the TAFE network unprecedented challenges.
Since March, TAFE students have navigated online learning, the frustrations of missing their
placements, and the worry of what the new workforce will look like when they eventually
emerge into it.
But what I have also seen in this time is the sheer determination and tenacity that our
burgeoning workforce has. I’m confident that Victoria’s post-COVID recovery is in good
hands – literally.
The trades students that will be building our houses, nursing our sick, fixing our cars, caring
for our children and designing our clothes will all play their part in bringing our economy back
on track.
Our new advertising campaign sums it up – they will be Our Heroes.
We are here to help them succeed.
As the Minister for Training, Skills and High Education Gayle Tierney recently said, the TAFE
sector will give Victorians the skills and training critical to our economic recovery.
Already some 30 projects are getting underway to upgrade and improve TAFE facilities. This
will help us all to meet the anticipated demand of new students.
For us at Bendigo Kangan Institute, it means establishing a new Sustainable Plumbing
Centre in Broadmeadows, supporting the industry’s increasing sustainability focus and meet
growing apprentice demand.
This is particularly important in Melbourne’s North and West, where the City Deal Plan aims
to create 300,000 new jobs, reboot business, increase social inclusion, and build on the
region’s existing strengths in manufacturing and logistics.
By 2036 this part of Melbourne will have a population larger than South Australia. That
community will need homes and schools and infrastructure – things that TAFE training can
help with.
Taking the TAFE journey to employment is not inferior – it’s just a different tertiary path.
For many, it’s also a cost effective option. Incentives include the Free TAFE scheme and last
year Bendigo TAFE and Kangan Institute collectively enrolled 3,665 Free TAFE students.
We also have the benefit of being agile. We’ve pivoted quickly to address new employment
needs. Bendigo TAFE now runs an Infection Control Skills program which delivers free,
accredited short courses to help those in retail manage the ongoing risks of coronavirus.
So what does the Victorian TAFE network need to play its part in kickstarting Victoria?
It needs you. We are ready to support you train or retrain and become Our Heroes, so we
can collectively rebuild from this pandemic.
Big idea: Free essential digital skills courses available through TAFE.
The future workforce will work remotely more often, requiring diverse digital skills and an
understanding of cybersecurity.
PROFESSOR JOHN DEWAR
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY VICE-CHANCELLOR
Victoria’s universities will have a big role to play in helping the State to bounce back from COVID-19. We stand ready to help train our future workforce, whether they are young people fresh from school or those displaced from work by the pandemic who need to find a new career. Our researchers will work with industry to help find solutions to pressing business or technical problems; and we will stimulate innovation and economic growth through our accelerator and other innovation programs, and by making our deep expertise and facilities available to those who need it. Support in five key areas will help us to play our role in helping Victoria get back on track.
First, we need the Federal Government to fund additional student places to cater for increased demand. Like most universities, we are experiencing a massive growth in demand for our courses from domestic students – because school leavers are abandoning plans for a gap year, or because people out of work know that a degree is the best way to re-enter the workforce. Education Minister Dan Tehan plans to increase student places from next year, but nowhere fast enough to keep pace with likely demand.
Second, we need investment in major infrastructure projects. La Trobe has signed up to the North and West Melbourne City Deal and the Albury-Wodonga City Deal, collaborative projects that are identifying priorities for investment the State’s fastest growing regions in the North and West of Melbourne. We also need funding soon for the Suburban Rail Loop, which will unlock a network of education providers and key businesses along Melbourne’s spine. All of these will support our University City of the Future at Bundoora, which is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
Third, as highlighted by former Victorian Premier and La Trobe University Chancellor John Brumby last week, we need to support people who have bright ideas. This will help to keep creative projects in Victoria and boost the State’s exports. A billion-dollar Breakthrough Fund will foster innovation – and universities can get on board by helping to create new industries for which new skills will be needed, and by helping our industry partners to solve problems and establish new markets for their products.
Fourth, we need support for closer integration between university and TAFE in regional areas. This will give people in the regions access to choices and pathways that are comparable to what’s available in Melbourne. As Victoria’s only statewide university, we see the gaps in educational attainment between the city and the regions, and we want to work more closely with TAFE to close the gap and support the development of a regional workforce for the future.
Finally, we could really amplify our contribution to the economic recovery if there were more support – in the form of infrastructure, people and improved public transport links – for the innovation ecosystems around our universities. La Trobe is already supporting business innovation through an Accelerator Program and other initiatives. This activity has enormous potential and our commitment to develop our Bundoora campus into a University City with a major Research and Innovation precinct will generate $3.5 billion in gross regional product over the next decade.
Big idea: We need to build innovation ecosystems around each of our university campuses to connect those who create ideas with those who can take them to market.
PROFESSOR DUNCAN MASKELL
VICE-CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
To kickstart Victoria we must bring our universities back to maximum capacity as “engines of discovery” and major economic contributors to the state. We must get our students back on campus safely, enhancing the cultural and economic benefits they bring to Victoria and we must invest in research to build a better future.
Our universities have, remarkably, stayed open and provided full teaching programs in response to the restrictions necessarily imposed to manage the COVID-19 crisis, allowing students and researchers to continue with their higher education.
Now, we need to get all students back on campus safely, attending COVIDsafe teaching sessions, continuing important research and immersing themselves in campus culture. Universities offer an environment that attracts talented people from around the world. Internationalism is a key strength of Australian universities and diversity is important for our culture.
Universities are drivers of economic activity. Every overseas fee-paying student will spend about $2 in the broader economy for every $1 they spend on fees, stimulating our retail, rental accommodation, tourism and labour markets. Education is ranked as Australia’s largest service export, with overseas students contributing about $38 billion to the economy and supporting 240,00 jobs nationally. In Victoria, higher education is our largest export industry, generating about $14 billion for the state and supporting around 80,000 jobs. Last year, more than 250,000 overseas students made the decision to come here to learn and be part of our community.
We need to get our borders open as soon as it is safe to do so to facilitate the return of thousands of international students to Victoria. Importantly, all governments - Federal, State and Local - must work together in a co-ordinated approach with business and industry to invest, drive recovery and help get students back to our city and rural campuses.
Just as important is the social and cultural diversity that these students bring, enlivening our city and state. These bright students are our leaders of tomorrow. Governments do not spend money on our universities; they invest in the future.
Investment in all forms of research is also crucial. One clear place where this needs to happen is the remarkably successful Melbourne Biomedical Precinct. The hospitals, institutes, University organisations and businesses present there deliver both outstanding patient care and brilliant research and innovation, while providing training to some of the country’s brightest minds. The immediate discovery outputs from this world-leading ecosystem are very clear during this pandemic crisis, but there is also considerable economic value generated for Victoria. As a state, we must continue to invest to create and build our research and innovation precincts of tomorrow.
Our universities are uniquely positioned to deliver for Victoria. At the University of Melbourne, we will soon open ‘Melbourne Connect’, a new innovation precinct that will bring together world-class researchers, government, industry, SME’s, start-ups, higher-degree students and artists to power new industries and create jobs. There are also outstanding opportunities at the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), Australia’s first hospital-based biomedical engineering research, development and education centre. And the redevelopment of Fishermans Bend will bring a new University of Melbourne engineering and design campus, allowing students to collaborate with industry and tackle real world challenges. In the Goulburn Valley, we can harness technological applications in agriculture to enhance innovation in food supply.
We need to continue to build on our great reputation in Victoria, educating outstanding graduates for Australia and the world, known for their capacity to lead in a time of rapid transformation, while doing the brilliant research that leads to the innovation necessary to build a brighter future.
There is much to do to get Victoria moving and universities have a key role to play.
Big idea: Open the borders, get students safely back on campus. Provide university students free public transport across Victoria to boost access, jobs, tourism and spending. Offer greater incentives for business to invest in research.
PHIL HONEYWOOD
CEO OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
Few Victorians realise that international education is our state’s largest export industry and we urgently need to get overseas students back to Melbourne and our regional communities.
According to the ABS, in 2019 more than 700,000 full tuition fee-paying overseas students studied at our nation’s education institutions and contributed $39 billion to our economy.
The industry employs 200,000 Australians. International students come from many countries with the top five being China, India, Nepal, Philippines and Colombia.
They pay four to five times more for their tuition fees but do not take away places from domestic students. They rent thousands of apartments in our CBDs, spend millions on food and entertainment and their families and friends often travel as tourists to Australia to visit them.
Figures released by our Home Affairs Department highlight that 84 per cent of these students return to live in their home country at the end of their study experience in Australia.
Far more important than the money these young people invest in our economy, is the cultural and soft power benefits they are potentially delivering for our state’s future.
As host city to so many young foreigners, Melbourne gains something special from their love of different foods, fashion and the sheer buzz they bring to our vibrant community.
Many come from small business and entrepreneurial family backgrounds. If they have a great experience while studying here then they will think well of us, return to visit as tourists and in many cases get involved in joint trade and investment opportunities.
For all of these reasons, our state has for many years enjoyed the largest market share of overseas students compared to Australia’s other states and territories.
Unfortunately, we are now in danger of losing that market edge to competitor study destination countries as well as to other parts of Australia.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic both the UK and Canada have kept their borders open to full fee-paying overseas students.
Last week both the South Australian and Northern Territory Governments announced they would now allow some hundreds of international students to return to their universities to complete their studies.
The NSW government is just waiting for Victoria’s case numbers to flatten before making a similar announcement. Of course, in each case the students will undergo rigorous pre-departure COVID testing. On arrival they will go straight into a minimum of two weeks quarantine.
Ironically, our state government wrapped up its International Education Advisory Council last week. Unlike all other states and territories we currently have no Victorian international education strategy.
Other interested organisations, such as the Melbourne City Council and Committee for Melbourne, are now trying to fill this policy vacuum.
Given the mishandling of the hotel quarantine program here, it is perhaps not surprising that the Andrews government lacks the political will to focus on our state’s biggest export industry.
However, if they keep putting off a recovery plan for the return of international students to our state, then they may inflict long-lasting damage to our education institutions, our CBD retailers, rental housing and even our regional tourism industry.
By then we will probably need to change our vehicle registration plates from “the education state” to something else entirely.
Big idea: Bring all key international education stakeholders and all levels of government together to agree on a “road to recovery” plan that will re-establish Victoria as the nation’s recognised education state.
MORE KICKSTART VICTORIA:
THE PLAN TO REBUILD VICTORIA AFTER CORONAVIRUS
HOW $1.5B BUDGET INJECTION WILL SPARK VIC JOBS BOOM
REBOOTING MAJOR EVENTS KEY TO VICTORIA’S RECOVERY
Originally published as Kickstart Victoria: Call for free public transport for students to help revive university sector