Australia¡¯s opposition has made tertiary education policy an election issue by promising 20,000 additional university places as part of its A$1.2 billion (?636 million) ¡°A Future Made in Australia¡± plan.

The new places will ¡°help fix areas of skills shortages¡± by training Australians in areas including engineering, nursing, technology and teaching, Labor Party leaders said.

Places will be prioritised at universities offering more opportunities for under-represented groups such as indigenous Australians, people located outside city centres and first-in-family students.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised to revive a university sector ¡°that this government has wilfully and wantonly smashed¡±.

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The plan focuses mainly on bankrolling more places and facilities at technical and further education institutions (TAFEs), the country¡¯s public training colleges. But higher education groups welcomed the pledge of extra university places.

¡°We believe that there is unfinished business in equity and participation and we welcome the prioritisation of under-represented groups,¡± said Innovative Research Universities executive director Paul Harris.

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Universities Australia said that the new places must be securely funded. ¡°We¡¯ve got a whole tranche of new students coming on board,¡± executive director Catriona Jackson told the ABC. ¡°Political parties of any stripe should see universities [as] a fundamental part of our economy. This should be a bipartisan commitment.¡±

But acting education minister Stuart Robert scoffed at the policy. ¡°Labor¡¯s got to explain¡­why it¡¯s not fully funding university courses,¡± he told the ABC. ¡°They¡¯ve got hundreds of millions of dollars for two years of university degrees, but most of them go for three years.¡±

Australian National University higher education expert Andrew Norton said there was ¡°no obvious downside¡± in Labor¡¯s proposal. But writing in?, he said that the plan was conceptually similar to the government¡¯s ¡°flawed¡± Job-ready Graduates reforms.

¡°The key difference between the parties is the amount of extra funding for the chosen universities rather than the underlying criteria for how it is distributed,¡± he said. ¡°Demand-driven funding, as Labor promised in 2019, is the most effective funding policy response to the problems it sees.¡±

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Professor Norton said Labor¡¯s withdrawal of support for demand-driven funding reflected the pandemic¡¯s?effects on federal government coffers, coupled with a looming bulge in school leaver numbers.

¡°The so-called ¡®Costello baby boom¡¯ students will reach university age in the mid-2020s. They create a real need for more student places, but also mean demand-driven funding could drive a big increase in higher education spending,¡± he wrote.

The new policy emerged on the eve of the first significant arrival of international students in Australia in 21 months, with a flight chartered by the New South Wales (NSW) government delivering 250 students to Sydney Airport.

¡°We are delighted that¡­the inaugural flight under the NSW pilot program has been a success,¡± said Barney Glover, convener of the NSW Vice-Chancellors¡¯ Committee.

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Independent Higher Education Australia said that the arrival was ¡°fantastic news¡± for the students and sector. ¡°Enrolments and staffing levels will take several years to fully recover, but this first arrival is an important step in¡­demonstrating that Australia is open for business,¡± said chief executive Simon Finn.

The government has also announced the appointment of former regional development minister Fiona Nash as the inaugural regional education commissioner. Ms Nash, a long-standing advocate for tertiary education opportunities in rural areas, worked as a strategic adviser at Charles Sturt University after losing her Senate seat over a technicality in 2017.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com