Since taking office the government has talked up reforms to higher education as its blueprint to transform universities for decades to come. 

The reforms are known as the “Australian Universities Accord”, in which a government-appointed panel delivered a meaty 400-plus page report, outlining 47 recommendations.   

After consulting far and wide, it was imagined the best ideas would win out and unite competing interests. 

But, this didn’t quite eventuate.

The problem isn’t disagreement, but rather incremental proposals still thin on detail, leaving little space for either discord or harmony. 

Many recommendations have been left unanswered, particularly on reducing long-term financial costs for students. 

Not to mention the big picture challenges like solving the universities’ inability to fund research without relying on international student fees. 

Spending is earmarked at $1.1 billion over five years, and while any new funding is celebrated, in a sector with an estimated worth of $37 billion, it’s unlikely to effect the generational change the government’s touting.  

The budget also promises an additional Accord spend of $2.7 billion beginning in the 2028-2029 financial year, or a hypothetical third term of the Albanese government. 

It seems a commitment so far into the future, it might just come with an entire shaker of salt. 

Here’s what the government is spending the money on

The $1.1 billion is mostly chewed up by three initiatives. 

$427.4 million is set to address “placement poverty” caused by mandatory unpaid placements across many degrees. 

Starting from July 2025, 68,000 students studying nursing, teaching and social work, and 5,000 VET students will get $319.50 a week.

The Accord recommended immediate relief for these students and the government delivered, albeit with a chorus of complaints from the students who missed out.

There’s $350.3 million to expand access to courses helping students qualify and better prepare for university. 

As well as improving equity and giving more people a chance to study, it’s intended to ensure more students complete their degrees. 

The papers also confirm an already-announced $239.7 million to change HECS indexation so annual indexation is applied on either the lower amount of the consumer price index (CPI) or Wage Price Index (WPI).

The HECS measure has been backdated to wipe an estimated $3 billion in student debt. 

It was a clever move to stop debts growing faster than wages, and, subject to legislation being passed, wipes $1,200 off the average debt. 

Ok, what has the government missed?

The government’s own Accord report recommended five separate measures to reduce ballooning financial costs for students. 

The government has acted on one of these measures — HECS indexation — and has written to banks on the way they treat HECS loans when students apply for a mortgage. 

Three others seem to have been ignored or deferred. 

The most significant is to reduce rising degree costs caused by the coalition’s job-ready graduates (JRG) legislation which increased the price of degrees like humanities. 

The government criticised this legislation — passed by the previous coalition government — first in opposition, and now in government, yet nothing is done to curtail it.  

Instead, Labor enters its third year in office armed with an expensive sector-wide review, while student debt grows thicker around the waist.  

What else has the government said?

The government will establish a new, beefed up regulator to oversee the sector, operational by July 1 2025.  

Called the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC), it is intended to bring much needed strategic vision and coordination, and more guidance to a sector used to light-touch regulation. 

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It’s also promising a “needs based” funding system from January 2026, to boost numbers of students from First Nations families, low SES backgrounds, with disabilities and from the regions.  

It’s impossible to say what the commission or the new funding model will look like, given details will only be announced after consultation with “relevant stakeholders”. 

There’s logic in waiting for the commission to tackle the bigger picture problems but it adds to what are already considerable delays. 

For two years the government has deflected questions on what’s needed for serious structural challenges facing the university sector, citing the Accord. 

The government received the report in February, and again urged patience as it formulated its first response in the budget. 

Now we see that stage one consists of modest HECS relief, limited “placement poverty” funding and courses to help students get into university. 

There’s a commitment but no detail for a new regulator and needs based funding. 

All worthy measures but hardly the generational “accord” promised by the government. 

At least not yet. 

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