editorial Hello Possums,
2
We’re mere weeks into the new Abbott government, and already we’ve seen Education Minister Christopher Pyne signal some big changes.
competing on a much more even playing field to get into uni, and it’s working.
Specifically we’re looking at an end to the demand-driven system and a recapping of undergraduate places, an end to the student services and amenities fee, an abandonment of the current targets to get more disadvantaged students into universities, and the redirection of funding for research that the Coalition doesn’t think is useful.
It said that ‘It would be a policy tragedy to recap university places now. It would make Australia’s higher education system less fair, less efficient, and less productive.’
In short: we will decide who comes to this university and the circumstances in which they come. Put simply, this sucks. The basic fact that you don’t attend a well-off high school and therefore on average will have a lower ATAR shouldn’t be a barrier to you attending university. The uncapping of undergraduate places has meant that students are
Disadvantaged students are succeeding once they actually get into university, as shown by the Grattan Institute’s ‘Keep The Caps Off!’ report from earlier this year.
It doesn’t make sense that as a nation we would want to restrict access to tertiary education to those that can afford it. It doesn’t make sense from an economic standpoint, and it’s just not fair. On top of this, Pyne has indicated his wish to see an end to the student services and amenities fee (SSAF). The SSAF is critical for the survival of student services on campus, including the magazine you are holding in your hands. Before the Howard government passed Voluntary Student Unionism legislation in 2005, On
Dit was a weekly paper and Student Radio broadcast across many more hours each week than it does now. After the VSU legislation was passed, funding for student media was cut dramatically and On Dit became fortnightly. I guess we should be relieved that student media didn’t stop existing entirely here, as was the case at Flinders Uni. Currently, the funding for On Dit comes from the Union, who get most of their funding from the SSAF. So if the SSAF were repealed, On Dit would be in a very vulnerable position indeed. Enough politics though (for now). In this edition, we’re diving into some of the many groups and subcultures at university. It can be hard to understand what other students do on a daily basis. Hopefully as you’re reading this edition you’ll learn something about how the law school works (p22), what it is that med students do for fun (p16), or why postgrads always look so stressed (p32). Until next time, Casey (and Holly and Stella)