ANOTHER top university has declared it would like to transform itself into a user-pays US-style institution.
In a push from the major universities for the Howard Government to further deregulate the tertiary sector, the vice-chancellors of Queensland and Monash universities yesterday welcomed Melbourne's plan for a radical shift to a two-tiered degree system.
Queensland's John Hay said: "I actually prefer the American system where they have a general first degree and then do specialist degrees or professional degrees at graduate entry.
"I would eventually go down that line if I could, but ... it might take a very long time." The vice-chancellor of Monash, Richard Larkins, said it would not follow Melbourne's plan "in a big way", but similar strategies were in place.
We do have some options along those lines with law, and we're certainly keen to start a graduate entry program in medicine at our Gippsland campus," he said.
Melbourne University's proposal would see students there complete a three-year general degree, such as arts or science, before specialising in a professional graduate program such as law or medicine.
The move has angered student groups, which say it would result in the full privatisation of Australian higher education.
"This is a cunning way of forcing any student wanting to obtain specialist skills and knowledge into a full-fee-paying place," said David McDonald from Melbourne University's student union.
Federal Labor spokeswoman on education Jenny Macklin also criticised the Melbourne plan.
"Further Americanisation of our university sector will put a decent and quality higher education out of the reach of many Australians," she said.
But Professor Larkins said the plan was more "a continuation of the process of diversification of our system -- which in itself is a good thing".
This is a path Queensland started on six years ago when it made its specialist courses available at undergraduate and graduate levels, vice-chancellor John Hay said.
"People like me have been saying for almost two decades now that the American system is the better model," he said.
"Let us move down that line. But the reality is that it has to be done in stages.
Queensland University also supported Melbourne's call for the federal Government's loan scheme to be extended to keep up with the shift to fee-paying postgraduate courses.
"The amount of money available through Fee-Help is only $50,000, so we would look to see more help in that direction," Professor Hay said.
He would rather pursue the US system to provide students with a "wider, broader education", he said, but it would require a radical change in the funding structure of higher education.
And Professor Hay backed Melbourne University's call to set its own fees and for a lifting of the current 35 per cent cap on full-fee-paying domestic students.
Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson said he would consider Melbourne University's call for the cap on domestic full-fee paying students to be lifted. "But under no circumstances at the expense of Australian government-funded places in Victorian universities," he said.
Source:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E12332,00.html
Hmm, I personally think such reform may result in student migration to foreign country. AZU, how is the student's reaction there?