It bodes ill for a nation that struggled through a skills shortage during its recent mining investment boom and faces another one as several massive energy projects start to go onstream.
It appears the funding cuts will particularly hit part-time and mature students – the ones the resources sector has been chasing to help fill its skills needs.
Australian government budget proposals include 20% cuts to the support it provides to university courses by an average 20%.
The concern though is that disciplines such as science and engineering may face even bigger cuts.
There are also plans to deregulate the amount Australian universities can charge for tuition fees.
Analysis from the Independent Commission on Fees in England – where universities were granted similar powers to raise tuition fees in 2012 and 2013 to offset funding cuts – showed a 40% drop in the number of part-time undergraduate students; a 14% decline in mature students and a 4% fall in the number of 18 and 19-year-old students entering university.
According to the Institution of Chemical Engineers – the international professional organisation for chemical and process engineers – the cuts could cause damage to the countries’ universities.
IChemE president Professor Geoffrey Maitland said Asian universities were advancing rapidly in their capabilities and standards of engineering education.
He said they were responding to a hunger for learning and qualifications among young people.
“Countries like Australia and those in western Europe have first-rate university systems but if they are not to fall behind, they should be building on their strengths and investing more, not less, in higher education,” Maitland said.
“The risk of losing ground is real and urgent and it’s time the government recognised the danger.”
Besides the university funding cuts, organisations including CSIRO, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian Research Council, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and cooperative research centres are facing budget cuts of about $420 million.
