Thursday, 22 May 2014

Dear colleagues,

The Federal Government recently handed down its first budget which contained a number of very significant changes to the way higher education is delivered in Australia.

We anticipated the budget would contain some measures to allow universities across the country to become more globally competitive and provide more choice to students. However, the level of change contained in the budget was beyond our expectation.

The government has set out a bold reform agenda by announcing the deregulation of university fees, changes to the way students repay their higher education loans, and the introduction of new competition in the market.

However, it will remain a priority of this university that students regardless of their wealth can learn with us. I see this as an opportunity to expand our equity and access programs.

I have publicly welcomed these changes, as have many Vice Chancellors from universities across the country, as they have the potential to deliver long overdue reform to the higher education sector. We believe the greater autonomy will help us better compete in a globally competitive market by being able to conduct more high impact research, enhance our student experience and attract the best academics from around the world.

These changes are important to us achieving our goal of becoming one of the world's top 50 universities by 2050.

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