Universities seeking Government funding are to be judged by the success of their graduates getting jobs under new rules unveiled by the Minister for Education.
The Minister, Dan Tehan, said universities’ performance would be assessed across four measures.
He said these were graduate employment outcomes, student success, student experience, and participation of Indigenous, low socio-economic status and regional and remote students.
“Graduate employment outcomes will account for 40 per cent of funding, with the other three measures weighted at 20 per cent each,” Mr Tehan said.
“Starting in 2020, performance-based funding will determine more than $80 million in Commonwealth Grants Scheme (CGS) funding, growing over following years to 7.5 per cent of CGS for domestic non-medical bachelor level students at public universities.”
He said the performance-based funding model that had been finalised made an explicit link between funding and one of the key goals of every university — to produce job-ready graduates with the skills to succeed in the modern economy.
“The productivity gains from improving graduate employment outcomes and lifting completion rates are worth an estimated $3.1 billion a year by 2030,” Mr Tehan said.
“This uniquely Australian funding model will allow for adjustments to shifting national priorities and changes to the higher education landscape over time.”
He said reviews to ensure the model was fit-for-purpose would continue with more scheduled for 2020 and 2023.
