The Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA) welcomed the measures contained in the Higher Education Support Amendment (2009 Budget Measures) Bill by Federal Parliament on 8 September, that aim to improve access to tertiary education by students of low socio-economic status (SES), but warned that universities would need to take care in implementing the proposed ‘student-centred system of funding’ so as not to diminish the perceived quality of degrees offered.

ALSA also applauded the government’s indexation of government university funding as a means of reversing the funding cuts of the Howard Government, but pointed out that more still needs to be done. Given that universities were already underfunded in 1998, additional funding is needed in order to financially equip universities to improve the quality of education beyond its 1998 levels, the skills base of the Australian population and the international competitiveness of Australian universities.

The changes aimed at improving access to higher education to lower SES students include $108 million provided over four years to universities who establish partnerships with low SES schools, and vocational education and training providers and further financial incentive of $325 million will be given over four years to universities to increase their enrolment of low SES students and to support SES students completing their chosen degree.

Vice-President (Education) Fiona Cunningham commented ‘such initiatives will support increased enrolments by low SES students in law, which is vital to the future diversity of the legal profession and access to legal services by all sections of the community.’

ALSA has previously expressed concerns that the high cost of a law degree and practical legal training, coupled with inadequate government support for student living expenses hampered equitable access to tertiary education. The fact that law school student bodies are not representative of the wider community due to such concerns reduces the future quality of justice and legal services to be delivered when those students graduate.

In addition to introducing a ‘student centred system of funding’, where universities rather than the government will be able to decide how many government-funded places to offer in an approved course, the Bill will also establish an independent Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency in an effort to improve the quality of higher education.

Despite the establishment of this independent regulator, ALSA is concerned about the effect of these changes to the quality of education received and graduates produced if universities choose to expand the number of places for competitive entry degrees such as law. The quality of such degrees may be perceived as lower by the legal community if there are large increases in student places, and those perceptions may be correct if teaching resources, support services and facilities are stretched among more students, resulting in a lower quality education for those students.

President of ALSA, Jonathan Augustus, urged universities not to rapidly increase the number of places in law prior to the proposed review of the amount of funding each discipline receives.

‘Under the Commonwealth Grant Scheme, law receives the lowest funding per student, leading to law having the worst staff-student ratios of any degree.’

‘Deregulating student places in tertiary education will not necessarily improve Australia’s skills base if quality is sacrificed to quantity,’ he concluded.

Media Contact

Fiona Cunningham
Vice-President (Education)
0431 483 027
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it