Higher Education Legislation

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Regards

The House of Representatives Industry, Science and Innovation Committee has announced an inquiry into the contribution that Australian universities make to Australian research training, and the challenges those universities face in recruiting, training and retaining quality research staff.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has applauded higher education policy announcements by the ALP today. “The higher education sector needs a long term vision to reverse 11 years of neglect. All of the opposition parties have now made pubic investment in education a priority. The ALP have confirmed the link between education, equity, opportunity and long term prosperity in Australia” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer said.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has welcomed higher education policy announcements issued today by The Greens. “Taking action on Indigenous participation, a focus on university communities (fixing VSU) and the plight of casually employed teaching and research staff are highlights of The Greens’ Higher Education policy released today” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer said.

CAPA welcomes the long term vision found in The Greens Higher Education Policy. Other significant policy statements outlined by The Greens today include:

The National Governance Protocols were implemented under the Federal Government’s reforms in higher education and became effective in June 2004. The Protocols were to improve governance practices at universities by providing standards to ensure that governing bodies were effectively overseeing the operations of universities.

A new report by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has established that, one year after implementation, voluntary student unionism (VSU) has resulted in a critical diminution of service delivery and significant loss of staff and representative capacity in postgraduate student organisations across university campuses.

General comments:

Many of our initial concerns arising from the Issues Paper have been taken into account. In particular we are very pleased to note that the CTS is now available for part-time students, and for those not in receipt of an APA. The
breadth of the training has also improved. We remain concerned about how distance education students may be catered for.

Comments on specific items in the draft guidelines:

8.90.1 and 8.95

Introduction

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute its views on the DEST discussion paper. CAPA is the national peak body of postgraduate student organisations representing Australia's 257,700 postgraduate students, including 47,300 research students and 261,500 students undertaking coursework qualifications.

General Comments

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Senate Inquiry into the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2005 Measures No. 4) Bill 2005. We value this opportunity for public consultation, and submit the following response on behalf of all students enrolled in Australian postgraduate degrees. CAPA is the national peak body representing Australia's 257,000 postgraduate students. It has affiliated postgraduate associations in 34 of Australia's public higher education institutions and in all States and Territories.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is the national peak body representing Australia's 257,000 postgraduate students. These students are engaged in both coursework and research programs and include 84,600 international students. CAPA welcomes the invitation to make a submission to this inquiry. We also refer the Committee to our submission to the current Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2005 Measures No.