“The Federal Government’s higher education reform package challenges the culture of education and any gains that are to be made are contingent upon universities achieving fast and flexible change in response to student needs,” said Charles Sturt University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter tonight. 

“These reforms, announced as part of the budget, release the controls on universities and will demand that we competitively market ourselves even more vigorously than we have done in the past,” he said. 

“The reform package will see the start of a new, competitive, market driven university sector,” said Professor Goulter. 

Areas CSU is examining closely are: 

• Commonwealth grants scheme to universities,
• The funding package for regional universities,
• Levels of support for students, and
• Range of compliance issues that may have significant costs.

“There does seem to be positive encouragement for the University’s research profile with the identification of water resources management as a key area targeted for funding.  In this area CSU has a major partnership with CSIRO which puts us in a strong position to compete for these new research funds,” he said. 

“We welcome the additional places for nursing and teacher education students in regional institutions, where CSU has clearly demonstrated that demand far outweighs available places.”

Professor Goulter emphasised the University must be able to continue its commitment to its equity groups, including Indigenous students, rural and regional students and students from low income families. 

Forty-five percent of the University’s students are drawn from a regional and rural background. 

“While we welcome funding to meet the needs of these students, the University is concerned that the number of new scholarships for these equity groups may not go far enough.

“We need to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our students in this new student focussed environment,” Professor Goulter said.