Media Releases 2005

5 December 2005

Rational approach on student services and amenities Bill needed

Amendments to the student services and amenities Bill are proposed by Australia’s Vice-Chancellors which would allow universities to:

• charge a fee to sustain campus life,
• ensure that membership of student organisations is voluntary,
• guarantee that no funds from compulsory student services and amenities charges are used to
• support student political activities, and
• subject the process to stringent financial control and external auditing.

At the recent Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) meeting, AVCC members − the heads of 38 of Australia’s universities − endorsed this proposal.
“The AVCC calls on Parliamentarians to take a rational approach when the Bill is debated (listed for debate in the House of Representatives this afternoon) and recognise that universities need to provide services and amenities,” AVCC President Professor Di Yerbury said.

“Certain services and amenities in an affordable and convenient form are needed to support students at university, especially on campuses where there is a dearth of nearby facilities.

“University is not, and should never be, simply about a student attending academic classes. It’s about developing the whole person, academically, socially and culturally.

“Passage of the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Abolition of Compulsory Up-front Student union fees) Bill in its current form would be the death-knell of many essential services on campuses throughout Australia,” she said, “while others could not be maintained at their current level and affordability.”

“In 2005 universities collect approximately $170 million in student services and amenities fees. Less than 15 % of those funds ($25 million) are expected to be directed to student associations and political activities.

“Under the Vice-Chancellors’ proposal, universities will be able to collect the $145 million needed to sustain essential student services and amenities, while subjecting the process to financial control and external auditing,” Professor Yerbury said.

The AVCC calls upon Parliamentarians to seek an amendment to the current Bill to allow universities to charge a student services and amenities fee. This will ensure that Australian university students continue to have a rounded educational experience that academically, socially and culturally better equips them for competing in the global workplace.

AVCC Student Services and Amenities Proposal is available here.

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