The vice-chancellor of an Australian university has criticised “elite” universities lobbying for the removal of tuition fee caps as “lacking integrity”. Rhonda Hawkins, acting vice-chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, is angry that the Group of Eight is publicly calling for the removal of fee caps at the same time as universities are attempting to agree a joint opinion on the policy, The Australian reported. Ms Hawkins has called for a more open debate on the issue. “The euphemisms about fee flexibility and fee deregulation have to be debunked. It is a fee increase,” Ms Hawkins said. “It lacks the integrity of an open and public debate.” Her comments came after the release of a report, Graduate Winners, by public policy thinktank the Grattan Institute, which called for a 50 per cent reduction in government subsidies for university fees. Author Andrew Norton, the institute’s higher education director, argued that the level of personal benefit emanating from a degree is greater than the public benefit and therefore the individual should pay the bulk of the cost.
Source: Times Higher Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=420838&c=1