More uni funding required
Published on 13 November, 2008
CQUniversity Australia is calling on members of the community to ask the government to significantly increase the amount of funding Central Queensland receives to ensure its University continues delivering quality, local higher education into the future...
Central Queensland which generates 4% of the nation's wealth only receives about 1% of the Federal Government's annual Higher Education Budget for its university.
"The issue for government right now is whether the cost of appropriately funding a regionally-based university is the overall public interest," said Vice Chancellor John Rickard.
With the cost of running CQUniversity's regional sites at Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Noosa and Rockhampton rising significantly, the University has launched an information campaign at http://regionalfunding.cqu.edu.au to raise awareness of the lack of funds and the higher cost of delivering services in regional Queensland.
The government provides less than $1.70 per day per domestic student, or $2million, to help cover the costs of operating its regional campuses. The problem is they cost upwards of $10-to- $15million to run annually and that figure is rising.
"Clearly, given the level of funding, continuing operating an autonomous, multi-campus, university such as ours is a challenge," added Professor Rickard.
"Many people don't understand the urgency or the scale of the situation. That's why we've made the information available on the website and are asking people to learn more about it and tell their local representative why they think their local university needs to be maintained and sustained in Central Queensland."
The Government's Report on the Review of Higher Education, which will set-out the future direction for all universities, is expected to be released before the end of the year.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard, told ABC radio in October that "more needs to be done for Australian Universities," including CQUniversity.
"We recognise that universities are different; they come in different shapes and sizes. And one of the things that we've talked about [is] a funding system that recognises and indeed celebrates those differences," Minister Gillard said.