The Federal Government has released the final report of the Base Funding Review, offering a series of recommendations for public investment in higher education and other key proposals to ensure the sector remains internationally competitive.

 

“The report was led by an expert panel chaired by Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, who consulted widely and considered in-depth information and analysis from experts in the field,” Minister for Tertiary Education Senator Chris evans said.

 

“Research evidence on the public and private benefits of higher education in Australia led the Panel to conclude that it would be appropriate for students to contribute 40 per cent of base funding for their study with the balance of 60 per cent provided by government,” the report reads.

 

The report recommends that the Federal Government endorse a number of key principles which aims to secure funding security of the higher education sector.

 

The recommendations include:

  • base funding model should be streamlined and simplified
  • base funding should reflect relative costs for different disciplines
  • base funding should enable institutions to pursue innovative methods of teaching and learning

 

“I particularly welcome the report’s recommendations with respect to ensuring that more students who commence university study are better supported to complete their studies,” Senator Evans said.

 

“A focus on retention and completion will be key to ensuring both that the Government gets better value for its investment in higher education, but also that students are not leaving their studies early having incurred HECS debts which may take some time to pay back.”

 

The full report can be found here