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Student services to be boosted
8 November 2008
The announcement this week by Minister Ellis that she is intent on rebuilding student support services will be welcomed by everyone associated with universities.
Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) triggered polarised views about Student Unions or Guilds. The move to VSU was to address unfair compulsion, and questionable use of resources, especially for political purposes.
The introduction of VSU led to consequences, intended or unintended, that were detrimental to student life. For example, health, counseling, employment, legal, child care and welfare services were adversely affected. Some universities had evolved with a dependence on the Student Guild, not only in providing these services, but also contributing to capital developments.
In the wake of the VSU legislation, universities had to decide to provide full or partial support for these services from teaching and research funds, or even abandon support for them.
At USC there was never any doubt that we needed to keep in place almost all of the most important support services. In a student population where there is so much need, we could not abandon those key services that many rely on. The cost has been significant but worth it.
Minister Ellis has now, however, signaled that universities will, from Semester 2, 2009, be able to charge students up to $250 to contribute to campus services for students. Students in turn will be able to defer repayment of that debt in a HECS-style arrangement.
USC now awaits the detail of the proposed legislation, then gauge the prospect of it passing the Senate, and finally has to determine how it will respond if the new scheme is approved.
There are certainly many worthy causes to support on which students have frequently commented.
Sports facilities and sports clubs are seemingly high on the Minister’s agenda at this stage, although she has also indicated that there will be further discussions with students and universities on the protocols for use of the funds.
I hope there will be sufficient flexibility in those protocols for individual universities to respond to the particular circumstances in specific contexts. A Melbourne university might well have a different set of priorities from regional USC.
Students here are concerned about their first jobs and careers. They are concerned about public transport and parking. These kinds of student foci will I am sure be uppermost when discussions are commenced within the University.
We now hope that not too much time will elapse before we can begin to plan anew the way we can enhance the student experience at USC with this new form of support.
Professor Paul Thomas AM is Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.