Senators dismiss ‘administrative nightmare’ concerns over accord

A Senate committee has shrugged off complaints that the Australian Universities Accord reforms will saddle the sector with conflicting responsibilities and an untenable administrative workload.

The Education and Employment Committee has downplayed concerns about government plans to force universities to administer “prac payments” to students on compulsory practicums, and to guarantee student representative organisations 40 per cent of the revenue from the compulsory Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF).

The committee has been examining legislation to introduce the first tranche of accord reforms. University representatives told it that they lacked the expertise to assess students’ eligibility for the practicum payments.

They also warned that some student organisations did not have the professionalism or governance structures needed to control tens of millions of dollars of SSAF funds.

Australian National University policy analyst Andrew Norton said that while the government was making universities more accountable for non-academic services, it was simultaneously diverting funding for those services to organisations over which universities had little control.

But the committee said a proposed three-year transition period would give universities time to adapt to the “complexities involved in overseeing student-led organisations” while complying with government obligations.

And it said a proposed 5 per cent loading to administer the prac payments was “sufficient” to cover universities’ “costs and burdens”.

“While the…bill does not address every concern or recommendation of the Universities Accord, it is a significant first step,” the inquiry report says. “The committee recommends that the bill be passed.”

Additional comments from the committee’s Liberal Party senators highlighted shortcomings in the reforms without opposing the bill’s passage.

“The prac payments are not being given a secure legal foundation,” they warned. “[There is] no legal or permanent basis for this payment. Student-led organisations do not have the capacity or expertise to deliver essential supports…such as mental health assistance and food banks.”

The Liberal senators said the inquiry had been conducted in an “information vacuum”, with “unacceptable time frames” and “a lack of respect by the government for many key stakeholders impacted by this bill”.

The Australian Greens said the reforms were “woefully inadequate” and the government should immediately commit to wiping all student debt, eliminating fees for universities and public training colleges, reversing the Job-Ready Graduates funding cuts and “significantly” expanding the practicum payments.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com