Jason Clare launches new education body to tackle skills gaps

The Albanese government has announced the biggest cut to student debt in Australian history while revealing plans for a powerful new education oversight body.

Skills shortages and student demand for degrees will be prioritised by the new Australian Tertiary Education Commission, as the Albanese government funds university places for 200,000 more domestic students across the next decade.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation to parliament on Wednesday to establish the ATEC to take control of policy setting for the higher education sector, in line with the government’s Universities Accord.

For the first time, the ATEC will calculate the actual per-student costs of teaching and learning across different degrees, Mr Clare will tell parliament when he introduces the Universities Accord (ATEC) Bill.

The new independent agency will report to Mr Clare on student demand for degrees and vocational training courses, workforce demands for skills, and the system’s capability to meet Australia’s workforce needs.

The financial sustainability, governance, size and diversity of the higher education system also will be assessed by the ATEC.

Mr Clare will tell parliament the ATEC will be responsible for new “mission-based compacts with individual universities”, setting out the number of domestic and international students in line with the government’s strategic direction. However, the details will be set out in “future legislation”.

The Australian Tertiary Education Commission will calculate the actual per-student costs of teaching and learning across different degrees, Mr Clare will tell parliament when he introduces the Universities Accord (ATEC) Bill. Picture: Alamy

The ATEC will produce annual State of the Tertiary Education System reports, starting next year, to report on progress on tertiary participation targets.

It also will report on “the extent to which the higher education system is meeting Australia’s current and future students, skills and knowledge demands”, Mr Clare will tell parliament.

Like Jobs and Skills Australia, the ATEC will be an independent agency that reports directly to Mr Clare and Skills Minister Andrew Giles. It will be guided by a ministerial statement of expectations, which has yet to be revealed, and the ministers will set key performance indicators. The ATEC will produce its own annual report and publish its work plan.

Its staff will be directed by the three ATEC commissioners, governed by a service-level agreement with the Department of Education. “Its operations will be transparent (and) it will be required to consult,” Mr Clare will tell parliament.

He will praise the work of the interim commissioners – Universities Accord chairwoman Mary O’Kane, Jobs and Skills Commissioner Barney Glover and Indigenous Commissioner Larissa Behrendt – although the trio will have to apply for permanent jobs, which will be advertised.

Mr Clare will flag his concern that 69 per cent of Australians from wealthy families have a degree, compared with only 19 per cent from very poor families.

He will criticise the “misconception that it’s OK if kids from poor families don’t go to uni because they go to TAFE”.

And he will cite statistics that only 59 per cent of young people from poor families have a university degree or TAFE qualification, compared with 87 per cent with wealthy parents. “In other words, more than 40 per cent of people from poor families don’t have the sort of qualifications that so many people are going to need in the years ahead,” he will say.

The government will wipe $16bn from student debts across the next two weeks.

The government will also wipe $16bn from student debts across the next two weeks, by cutting outstanding debts by 20 per cent for 1.5 million Australian university graduates on Thursday and another 1.5 million next week.

“It’s the biggest cut in student debt in Australian history,” Mr Clare will say. “We promised it, Australians voted for it and now it’s happening.” He will announce funding for an extra 200,000 university places for Australian students across the next decade.

“Next year we will allocate 9500 more commencing places to universities across the country than in 2025 … (which) means more Australians will start uni next year than ever before,” he will say. “In 2027, we will allocate an extra 16,000 commonwealth supported places … over the next decade we expect to fund an extra 200,000 commencing places at university.”

Mr Clare will reveal that more than 67,000 university students have already applied for the government’s “paid prac” – a weekly taxpayer-funded payment of $332 for university students required to undertake unpaid work placements as part of their degree, introduced in July.

“More than 80 per cent of those applications have been processed, and more than 80 per cent of those have been approved,” he will say.

The eight new medical schools announced by the Albanese government will result in 1790 more medical students studying each year, “when fully rolled out”.