REPORTS INTO TERTIARY EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR COUNTRY STUDENTS

The Federal Labor Government’s proposed changes to Youth Allowance reform ignored the findings of multiple reports into tertiary education opportunities for country students.

Précised below are the most relevant reports.

“The 2007 all-party Victorian Parliament Education and Training Committee Inquiry into Geographical Differences in the Rate in which Victorian Students Participate in Higher Education found that economic barriers are the main reason why less regional students attend university than their city counterparts.

“The Federal Government Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport’s inquiry into the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income Support for Students) Bill 2009 recommends that;

‘…the government create a ‘Tertiary Access Fund’ for rural and regional students to address the inequity of access to tertiary education between rural and regional students, and metropolitan students.’             

“The majority of submissions were on the proposed changes to the workforce participation criteria to qualify for Independent Youth Allowance and the significant impact that these would have on rural and regional students.”

A 2009 report on The State of Australia’s Young People by the Office by Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales Office for Youth, DEEWR found that ‘young people in rural and remote areas are at an educational disadvantage in terms of attainment, performance and participation – in comparison with their counterparts in urban areas’.

“A full report into a Liberal/Greens initiated Senate Inquiry into Rural and Regional Access to Secondary and Tertiary Education Opportunities, due to be tabled on 29 October and now extended until 11 December is expected to show students in rural areas are less likely to take up a tertiary education than their city counterparts.”

One of the key findings in a report published in May 2009 by Associate Professor John Polesel from the University of Melbourne Educational Policy and Leadership Unit titled Deferring a University Offer in Regional Victoria states; ‘In addition, financial barriers remained prominent among the reasons given by young people for having not taken up a place in education or training in the years of the survey (2008 and 2009)’.

The report was commissioned by non-metropolitan Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLENs).

The Labor Government cannot afford to ignore these reports, which clearly show that rural students have a lower tertiary uptake in comparison to those in the city.

Media contact:  Bill Sykes  0427 624 989

www.billsykes.com.au

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