Universities fear freeze on grants

Warwick Daily News 21 October 2012

Australia’s university sector has hit out at "ever-diminishing budget certainty" and fears a freeze on grants for higher education in the lead-up to the federal government's Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), writes Daniel Burdon for Warwick Daily News.

Higher education group Universities Australia voiced its concerns on Wednesday about the sector's ability to plan and invest, with doubt regarding the veracity of the federal government's forward estimates. Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson said a "short-term, stop-go approach to funding and public investment" was becoming an increasingly alarming feature of the modern budget process.

As the government continues to look for savings, in the lead-up to the release of the MYEFO, Robinson said the stop-go approach was also "seriously eroding confidence in the policy-making process. Clearly, universities are worried about this particular MYEFO process, but there is a deeper issue around the recent and concerning trend towards ever-diminishing budget certainty," she said.
Full report on Warwick Daily News site

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