Education minister Christopher Pyne just proclaimed his intentions to massively deregulate Australian universities in order to move towards the notorious American model of education.
Pyne, the Liberals, and the most elite vice chancellors want to:
-Deregulate fees, in order to be able to force massive fee increases onto students
-Bring private universities and TAFEs under the same umbrella as public universities, creating more "market competition" for courses. This will mean that poorer students will have to "choose" to study at less resourced institutions
-Get rid of quotas and measures to ensure that students from low SES backgrounds are able to study and remain in study
-Cut 2.3billion from university funding, including massive cuts to student welfare, and then demand that students pay more to compensate.
The National union of students unequivocally rejects this agenda.
Come out on May 21 to stand against the privatisation and degradation of our universities. OUR EDUCATION IS NOT FOR PROFIT