Uni head lobbies for right to set own fees

THE university sector has opened up debate on allowing universities freedom to set their own tuition fees to drive competition.

THE university sector has opened up a debate on allowing universities some freedom to set tuition fees to drive competition and boost revenue to the sector.

Universities Australia chairman and Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis told the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday that the Gillard government's new demand-driven system had created a "half" market where universities could compete for domestic students on quality, but not on price.

He said one of the "tough" questions facing the sector was what the mix of contributions should be between government and students. He noted that student fees in Australia were already higher than other developed countries. Last year, a government review found that funding for many disciplines was below cost.

"How do we avoid slow decline when government will not provide sufficient funding for universities, yet fear the backlash of raising undergraduate fees?" Professor Davis said.

How to solve that problem was one of several issues on which the sector was seeking to agree ahead of the next election, he said.

Professor Davis argues, in an opinion piece with Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven in The Australian today, that universities should be allowed some flexibility to compete on price, subject to regulation. "If we are to have an open market, then universities must be able to compete, at least to a reasonable extent, on price. By all means, constrain them by ceilings, equity and sensible regulation. Accept that some will be uninterested or incapable. But if there is a way of getting more total funding into a genuinely diverse, cash-hungry, expanding system, do it," they say.

Peter Dawkins, vice-chancellor of Victoria University, which is focused on expanding participation in Melbourne's disadvantaged west, said fee deregulation would have to be accompanied by increased government funding for students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Macquarie University vice-chancellor Steven Schwartz said he favoured some fee deregulation but argued those universities that could charge higher fees should lose some of their government money, which could be diverted to the rest of the sector. "That way, resources increase across the entire sector."

Earlier, Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans reiterated that there were no plans to deregulate fees or increase the student contribution. He rejected concerns the expansion of student places would put quality at risk, noting the government had boosted indexation payments to universities that would increase funding by more than $3 billion by 2015, and since 2008 had put $4.8bn into new infrastructure.

University offers have risen by 4 per cent this year to 220,000.