University students who study in areas of expected employment growth are to pay less for their degree as a way of incentivising students to make more job-relevant decisions about their education.
Announced by the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan and Minister for Employment and Skills, Senator Michaelia Cash, the new fees package will restructure higher education funding to align the cost and revenue of a university degree better.
The Ministers said students would pay 46 per cent less to study teaching, nursing, clinical psychology, English, and languages; 62 per cent less to study agriculture and maths; and 20 per cent less to study health, architecture, environmental science, IT, and engineering.
“To deliver cheaper degrees in areas of expected employment growth, students who choose to study more popular degrees will make a higher contribution,” Mr Tehan said.
“The student contribution for Law and Commerce will increase by 28 per cent (and) for the Humanities it will be 113 per cent,” he said.
“To power our post-COVID economic recovery, Australia will need more educators, more health professionals and more engineers, and that is why we are sending a price signal to encourage people to study in areas of expected employment growth.”
Mr Tehan said Australia was facing the biggest employment challenge since the Great Depression and the biggest impact would be felt by young Australians.
“Course fees for current students will be grandfathered, with the new funding model applied to students who commence their studies from 2021,” he said.
He said an additional 39,000 university places would be available by 2023 to meet the expected increase in demand due to COVID-19.
Mr Tehan said additional Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding would also be provided from next year to support growth in Commonwealth supported places at regional campuses and high growth metropolitan campuses.
