Student places to be tied to targets in major university funding change

Detailed summary

High-quality research, success for Indigenous Australians and quality teaching will be among the benchmarks for universities.

The number of places at universities will be tied to targets, in a radical departure from the demand-driven model that aligned government funding with student choice.

Universities will be marked against goals, including teaching quality, equity, research, and success for Indigenous Australians, under an agreement released on Thursday by the newly formed Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

The ATEC would use universities’ performance on these measures to inform decisions about “the allocation of student places, supporting the sector to meet national and regional needs” as well as building a skilled workforce and meeting student demand.

Agreed upon by Australia’s 42 universities and the ATEC, these “mission-based compacts” will guide universities for 2027 before a three-year deal on the way forward is reached from 2028.

In a speech at the University of Sydney on Thursday night, ATEC chief commissioner Barney Glover said: “The compacts represent a genuine shift in how we manage this system.”

ATEC also released the number of students allocated to each university next year under a controversial new funding system that caps domestic student numbers.

Critics have repeatedly warned that the new policy will limit student choice as tightened numbers make it impossible for some students to gain entry to their chosen course at their chosen university.

Higher education expert Andrew Norton said the policy known as “managed growth” aimed to divert enrolments to less popular universities.

“It puts system stability above student demand,” Norton said. “While the government says it wants to increase the number of university students, the reality is that it is putting new obstacles to study in place.”

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