Saturday, December 7, 2019

Higher Education Reform Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theHigher Education Reform Australia. Answer: Introduction Education is a process in which people are equipped with knowledge; it is a basic requirement for all economies. Education has a great influence on the nations economic performance. For instance it is the major factor behind the employment of workers in an economy; employment is done only to those who possess certain skill; those without are disregarded. Over the years, development were experienced until schools were established. The primary school education is basic to every Australian child; the Australian government has established many public schools to facilitate the accessibility of children to schools. It has also provided free primary education to ensure equality in the acquisition of education. The secondary schools is the subsequent stage followed by the tertiary education. After completion of secondary education, students proceed to the tertiary institutions where they specialize on the acquisition of specific skills. However, not many students have been able to join tertiary institutions; some of the factors limiting the entrance is poor secondary performance and the high fees payable in these institutions. The government has implemented some educational reforms with an objective to help most students to acquire tertiary education skills (Education.gov.au, 2017). Parents and students will require this information in getting awareness of how tertiary education could be achieved at the lowest cost. It will also help the government in budgeting for the funds set aside as a promoter to achieving higher education. Economic Analysis Zajda and Rust (2017) noted that globalization is a driver for higher education reforms. The access to tertiary education has been on a limited number of students. In order for the government to raise the number of students who join tertiary education, it has proposed reforms to cut the payable fees. According to Croucher (2017), the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) is part of the ongoing legislating initiative reform with an objective of promoting equity and accessibility in universities. The government has always offered support in paying some proportion of the school fees the university students are required to pay; this was to help as many students to attain the higher education at a lower cost. However, the number of university enrolment in Australian universities have gone down and thus need for more reforms to stimulate the enrolment. According to Doyle (2017), the pre-budget announcement was made by Simon Birmingham the Australian education mini ster in 2017. It propose an increase in university fees by 1.8% per year for the period between 2018 and 2021. Bexley (2017) noted that in overall this increase will be 7.5% and will raise the students fees by $2,000 to $3,600 for the four year course. The concept of demand and supply is applicable in this case analysis; by paying a larger proportion of school fees for the student, the government is only able to support a limited number of students. The reform proposed is to lower the proportion of school fees payable by the government; the surplus after the reduction would be used to fund more students and the enrolment rate would rise. The proposal requires that the student will pay a higher school fees if passed. There however exist a challenge in implementing this reform since there are many parties that are against it. Most importantly, the university students are not willing to accept any increase in their school fees as a support to promoting the reform. The analysis from Deloitte shows that there has been a 9.5% increase in the cost of providing university education as from 2011 to 2015 (Croucher, 2017). If the funding by the government was cut, the amount of money expected to be relieved for other students as at 2019 is pr ojected to be $380 million. The speculation of fees increase due to the increased teaching costs is 25%, but the proposed reduction in governments funding is 20%. The proposal to cut the funding has been in place since 2014. The idea has been criticized since then and thats the major reason why it has not yet been implemented. Massaro (2016) forecasted a reduced proportion of government expenditure from 0.5 to 0.4% of its total GDP. The budget has been rising every year since 2002 and is projected to continue rising. Its not clear whether this reduction will improve the higher education. Hare (2017) noted that the cut in funding will be performance-based. Recommendations The government should raise its budget on education expenditure as it is an important component of economic growth. The government could also invest in improving the information asymmetry in the labor market. This would help in ensuring that the university graduates do not take long before getting a job. This would facilitate the fast payment of the higher education debts; when these debts are payable, they are made available for funding the enrollment of other students. The government should analyze the impact of this reform implementation on both the present and the future students. It should consider whether the reform would increase or reduce affordability. Some students may enroll and end up failing to complete their studies owing to the rising school fees. Conclusion The government pays a big proportion of the school fees payable to the public universities. This is a good step to promoting higher education. Nevertheless, the cost of education provision has gone up and thus a need to raise the school fees. The government is also concerned by the fact that enrollment in universities has been lower and need to be improved. However, the government is faced by a budget constraint in the stimulation of this enrollment. It therefore means that the governments budget on higher education is insufficient and need to be raised. It is not easy for this proposal reform to be passed it is being argued to create inefficiency. It is not clear whether the cutting of government funding will be able to boost the enrollment in universities since some people may decide to avoid the increased fees by failing to enroll. Some graduates take long before they land into their first job which delays the payment of their debt obligations. References Bexley, E. (2017). Higher education reform: small changes for now but big ones to come. [Online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/higher-education-reform-small-changes-for-now-but-big-ones-to-come-76978 [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Croucher, G. (2017). 2017 higher education reform: cuts to universities, higher fees for students. [Online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/2017-higher-education-reform-cuts-to-universities-higher-fees-for-students-63185 [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Doyle, J. (2017). Students set to face higher uni fees under Government shake-up. [Online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-01/university-fees-to-rise-in-federal-government-education-shake-up/8487564 [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Education.gov.au. (2017). Higher Education Reform Package. [Online] Available at: https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-reform-package-0 [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Hare, J. (2017). Universities attack Birminghams higher education reform package. [Online] Theaustralian.com.au. Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/universities-attack-birminghams-higher-education-reform-package/news-story/614c9910b336ebefe31822265dda79fe [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Hill, J. (2017). Australian Education Budget May 2017. [Online] Towards the Final Hour. Available at: https://towardsthefinalhour.com/2017/05/australian-education-budget-may-2017/ [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Massaro, V. (2017). Higher education reform needs to have vision and be affordable. [Online] Theaustralian.com.au. Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/higher-education-reform-needs-to-have-vision-and-be-affordable/news-story/de4ecf1f9cee428d1591aa421fa897de [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Zajda, J. and Rust, V. (2016). Globalization and higher education reforms. Switzerland: Springer.

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