Universities Australia is urging its member organisations to act to stop sexual assaults
9 News Canberra
Watch video: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1073087576178468&id=766239413529954
‘Student welfare’ at heart of university guidance on how to respond to sexual offences
Natasha Robinson, ABC
Universities should train all frontline staff as first responders to sexual assault or abuse as part of measures to protect victims on campus.
That’s according to new national guidelines agreed to by the nation’s universities.
The representative body Universities Australia has officially released the guidelines today, a year after a nationwide survey by the Human Rights Commission exposed the extent of abuse on campuses.
[…]
“It’s definitely one of the strongest statements we’ve seen made in the sector to date,” Natasha Abrahams, president of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, said.
“I think the guidelines send a very strong signal about what universities, in principal, are not willing to tolerate.
“Having said that, I think it remains to be seen at each university how processes are borne out on the ground. There’s going to be no excuse to deal with this issue poorly in the future.”
Financial costs deter thousands of masters students
Geoff Maslen, University World News
Most masters students work part-time or rely on their parents to pay the tuition fees and living expenses. Many find the effort of combining work and study too arduous and drop out. But some, including Queensland student Mick Fox, persevere.
[…]
So he now spends much of his time trying to balance part-time work, study and ‘jobseeker activities’.
When he asked for help from the government’s employment agency, he was told he should give up his studies, get a full-time job and go back to university when he had earned enough to survive as a student.
“I am the first person in my family to undertake university study and, coming from a low-income background, it seems that the system is not there to support you. Instead, they want to place you in any form of employment even if it’s unsuitable while leaving higher education to those who can afford it.”
Fox is a vice-president of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), which is campaigning for greater support for postgraduates who are not eligible for scholarships or government allowances.
Read more: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180704090900292
Attachment – Submission to Inquiry into Funding Australia’s Research
Overview –
CAPA makes three recommendations to the Funding Australia’s Research inquiry:
1. For Australian research funding to include an automatic entitlement to a four-year full-time (tax free) living stipend for all enrolled doctoral students;
2. That some research funding should be reserved for applications led by junior researchers; and
3. That research funding allocations should incentivise applications which include research students and ECRs.
Related content: Hansard transcript of the inquiry’s public hearing, at which the CAPA President was a witness, is available here.
Earlier this year, the Government proposed changes to the HECS-HELP system, including a lowered income threshold for making repayments, and a cap on HECS-HELP borrowing. Both of these changes go against the spirit of the HECS system, which is predicated on enabling access to education for all Australians regardless of ability to pay upfront.
These changes were expected to be passed by the Senate this week, meaning they would have come into effect from Sunday. However, this did not happen. The legislation was bumped off the Senate agenda in favour of other legislation of higher priority.
For an explanation of the legislation, please see our briefing paper from earlier in the year (note that since then, a small change has been made to the legislation – the borrowing cap will now replenish upon repayment, rather than being a lifetime limit). In collaboration with the National Union of Students, we commissioned research which found that the borrowing cap will impact over 30,000 Australians in the coming years – you can read or watch a summary of the research.
You may have seen some media reporting earlier in the week that the legislation has already been passed. This reporting is incorrect. As the Senate is now closed for the winter break, this means that the soonest the legislation will be voted upon will be August 13. This gives us more time to lobby senators to oppose the legislation; however, it appears to be almost certain the legislation will pass.
The passage of the legislation depends on the votes of a small number of independent senators. This legislation has been dragging on for months now, but it is crucial to continue applying pressure to the independent senators to let them know that students care about this issue. Your ongoing efforts on opposing the legislation are much needed.
Please see the Bury the Bill campaign page for a list of senators to contact, as well as materials to assist you in doing so, such as a form letter and a petition.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) calls on the Minister for Social Services Dan Tehan to expand study assistance eligibility to all Masters degrees. Today, the Minister for Social Services released this year’s edition of the list of Masters level courses for which domestic students can obtain Austudy or Youth Allowance.
Unfortunately, the list is largely unchanged from the previous iteration, and continues to exclude many students from receiving study payments.
Currently, postgraduate students can only be eligible for study payments if their course is the minimum legal or accreditation requirement for their profession, or if it is deemed to be the fastest pathway to their profession. Many public universities have low numbers of eligible courses, for example, at the Australian National University, just 9% of postgraduate coursework degrees are on the list of courses for which students can seek study payments.
The yearly list is a source of confusion and despair for many postgraduate coursework students, who find themselves ineligible for study payments.
CAPA urges the Minister for Social Services to implement the recommendation of the 2008 Bradley Review of Higher Education to extend study payments to all domestic students enrolled in postgraduate coursework degrees.
“Postgraduate study is becoming increasingly necessary in order for young Australians to gain employment, but this has not yet been recognised by the Government,” says CAPA National President Natasha Abrahams.
“The current study payment system is a patchwork that is difficult for students to navigate, and leaves many with no support whatsoever. Eligibility for study payments should be based on financial need, rather than an arbitrary list of courses which make the cut.”
END
For comment: CAPA National President Natasha Abrahams
M: 0430 076 993
E: president@capa.edu.au
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the Higher Education Standards Panel’s scrutiny of attrition rates in the Improving Retention, Completion and Success in Higher Education report released earlier today.
The Higher Education Standards Panel’s report, and the Minister for Education’s acceptance of its recommendations, are important first steps in raising the profile of why some students struggle to complete their studies.
CAPA appreciates the panel’s recommendation that each educational institution should have a mental health strategy. Students frequently tell us about the long waiting lists for counselling, and the inadequacy of emergency mental health care services available on campus. Any mental health strategy must be supported by a genuine commitment and adequate resourcing, including appropriate staffing levels of university counselling services.
Furthermore, CAPA advocates that targeting the underlying causes of distress and mental health issues in students should be made a priority. For example, for doctoral students, the key issues are financial stress, difficult supervision relationships, career uncertainty, and problematic departmental cultures.
“Postgraduate students consistently tell us that the main obstacles to completing their studies are a lack of financial stability, and mental health issues. In addition to this, many students have indicated that these two factors feed into one another,” said CAPA National President, Natasha Abrahams.
“It is crucial for the universities and the Federal Government to work together to provide support for postgraduate students. A multi-faceted approach is necessary if they wish for these students to thrive in their time at university. This includes the long-overdue expansion of study payments to postgraduate students.”
CAPA notes that the panel’s report finds off-campus students are over twice as likely as on-campus students to withdraw from their studies. Many external students would prefer to study on-campus, but cannot due to their work commitments. Offering income support to domestic postgraduate students in need would give these students more freedom to study on-campus and fully participate in university life, thus improving their student experience and ultimately their study outcomes.
For further comment:
CAPA National President
Natasha Abrahams
M: 0430 076 993
E: president@capa.edu.au
Download: Research summary – Capping HELP, What’s the problem?
The Government has not given up on their proposed changes to student loans, which are now expected to be voted on in the Senate in late June. This year, CAPA has worked collaboratively with our undergraduate counterparts, the National Union of Students (NUS), in order to push back against the damaging changes to student loans which include a lowered repayment threshold and a borrowing cap.
Together with the NUS, we recently commissioned research on the impact of the borrowing cap. We found that the cap will have an impact on a large number of students who want to pursue many professional or technical careers. With 70% of domestic postgraduate students paying full fees, it is imperative to consider the impact of the proposed cap on full-fee paying students; whereas the Government’s statements have focused on the impact on the minority of students accessing subsidised degrees. We found that for six of the most popular postgraduate study pathways, that combined make up 37% of domestic postgraduate coursework enrolments, the government’s planned cap would take them close to or over the cap for three (Accounting and Banking, Law, Business Management). There are currently almost 40,000 students undertaking these study pathways, indicating that around this number of students will be impacted by the legislation in the next few years. Domestic students will not be able to choose these study pathways and careers in future unless they can afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars for tuition fees upfront.
This research was funded by the Graduate Student Association at the University of Melbourne, the University of Western Australia Student Guild, and the University of Melbourne Student Association. A summary of the research findings can be downloaded here, and the full paper is currently under review for publication.
A story on the research was published in the Sydney Morning Herald online, raising the profile of this important issue.
CAPA and the NUS will continue lobbying to prevent the passage of this legislation.
Lifetime cap on student loans would hit up to 30,000 postgraduates: analysis
Michael Koziol, The Sydney Morning Herald’
The Turnbull government’s proposed lifetime cap on student debt would hit up to 30,000 current postgraduate students who will need to pay upfront or look for work rather than finish studying, according to new analysis.
A report commissioned by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations argues a growing number of students will come into conflict with a new $100,000 lifetime loan limit to be imposed from next year.
Student researchers demand payment for work
Loren Smith, Campus Review
New statistics show the most research-intensive group is postgraduate research students. So, they want to be paid for it. According to ABS figures released last week, 57 per cent of postgrads are devoted to research. By contrast, just 30.5 per cent of academic staff spend time on this task, and other staff, 12.3 per cent.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), in calling for funds from the government, advised that postgrads are denied study-related social welfare assistance.
Read more: https://www.campusreview.com.au/2018/05/student-researchers-demand-payment-for-work/
Call for postgraduate research students to be paid
University World News
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has renewed its call for research students to be paid for their work, as the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures confirm that postgraduate students comprise the majority of human resources dedicated to research.
Read more: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180524144603116
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) renews their call for research students to be paid for their work, as latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures confirm that postgraduate students comprise the majority of human resources dedicated to research.
According to yesterday’s ABS release on resources devoted to research and development, the contribution of postgraduate students remains steady at 57% of total time spent on research.
Despite postgraduate students putting in the majority of research-hours, in many cases, they are not paid for their work. Domestic research students are not entitled to any Centrelink study payments regardless of level of poverty, and can only obtain income support through securing a competitive scholarship.
CAPA once again calls on the Government to begin to address this situation by committing to income support payments for all domestic postgraduate students.
“Postgraduate students are integral to Australia’s research output. It is unacceptable that research and development relies so heavily on exploiting students through unpaid labour,” says CAPA National President, Natasha Abrahams.
CAPA furthermore notes that international research students are working under even more difficult circumstances. Those who do not have a scholarship are not only contributing to the national research output without pay, they are also forking out for extortionate course fees. A longer-term solution would involve all doctoral students receiving living allowance stipends to support their research activities.
For further comment:
CAPA National President
Natasha Abrahams
M: 0430 076 993
E: president@capa.edu.au
