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Uniken

Creator
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit
Call Number
Nf 378.944 UNI
Created/Published
Kensington, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales, [1975]-2015
Issue
1988, no. 10 (22 July, 1988)
Images
8
View Catalogue

Contents

UNIKEN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1
UNSW Council opposes graduate tax 1 , 2
Confidence of the University in Academic Board sought by new heads 1 , 2
First meeting of Academic Board 2
Architecture students win Urban Ideas Comp 2
New Professor of Landscape Architecture 2
UNSW student enrolment nearing 20,000 2
Mining with microbes 3
Parliament-an extended campus for Political Science students 3
New Council Parliamentary representatives 3
Advertising 3
Fowlers Gap on display 4
Microbiology and the challenging tasks ahead 4
Government announces NBEET appointments 5
Academic titles on display 5
Does your shower compartment leak? 5
UNSW weds prawns and power stations 5
International Ergonomics Congress 5
ERDIC seminar speakers 5
Briefs Creative Writers and Academics: An Australian Divide? 6
Software hand-over to Manufacturing and Automation 6
Memorial Concert for cellist 6
Bicentennial Conference on the Humanities 6
Library donations Donation of Yiddish Collection 6
Bicentennial gift 6
Diary covering 23 July-7 August 6
Advertising 6
The actor who was a good playwright 7
Thailand Uni honours UNSW biotechnologist 7
Intensive international AIDS course under way 7
Rhodes Scholar applications 7
Volunteers wanted 7
Ethics in the media debated 7
Arts Executive concert 7
Senate Committee inquiry into higher education 7
Sport New Scuba course planned by Underwater Club 8
Sportsfields among the best in Sydney 8
Feedback AIDS and the University 8
Students flock to Kensington Lectures 8
Postgrad Association News 8

Text

UNIKEN  

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  

No. 250 (No. 10 of 1988)  

Published fortnightly by the Public Affairs Unit  

Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NBF 4388  

22 July 1988  

UNSW Council  

opposes  

graduate tax  

The Council of the University  

of NSW has resolved to oppose  

the Commonwealth Govern-  

ment’s proposed graduate tax on  

higher education. At regular  

meeting of Council on 11 July  

the following motion was  

passed;  

Recognising that special tax on  

higher education students;  

• is likely to act as disincen-  

tive for any qualified people  

seeking to undertake higher  

education, particularly for  

groups previously under-rep-  

resented in the student popu-  

lation;  

• may undermine Common-  

wealth Government targets  

for growth in the number of  

graduates produced by higher  

education institutions; and  

• will create many administra-  

tive difficulties for individual  

institutions, and undermine  

the confidentiality of student  

records,  

Council expresses its opposition  

to the introduction of special  

tax on higher education  

students.  

The motion was put by  

Mr Antony Sachs, student-  

elected member of Council. Mr  

Sachs is an Arts/Law student at  

UNSW. The motion was  

seconded by Dr lan Somervaille,  

an academic-elected member of  

Council, who is also President  

of the UNSW Staff Association.  

student Background Paper  

on the Wran Plan has been  

widely circulated in the Univer-  

sity and was used in support of  

Mr Sachs’ motion at Council.  

The paper labelled the proposal  

for tuition tax on higher  

education as inefficient and  

unworkable, warning that it  

would result in an electoral  

backlash against the Common-  

wealth Government.  

Entitled Tax On Know-  

ledge, the Background Paper was  

compiled by Greg Giles and  

Peter Reeves of UNSW’s  

Students’ Union and Kerri  

Watson, of the University of  

Sydney’s Postgraduate Represen-  

tatives’ Association.  

‘Wran argues that growth in  

higher education enrolments  

cannot be funded from the  

public purse because of the need  

for reduction in public sector  

expenditure Why is it that  

growth in higher education  

cannot be funded by the Com-  

monwealth, but private school  

growth can. Clearly, this is not  

result of some mysterious  

economic law, but of political  

choice’, according to the authors  

of the Background Paper.  

‘The reason for allocating  

public resources to higher educa-  

tion is obvious higher educa-  

tion is community benefit  

and community rPgnrmdhilitv  

Both the public and private  

sectors gain directly from higher  

education by being supplied  

with highly trained workforce,  

which provides vital expertise to  

generate profits and oversee  

management. Business and  

industry also benefit by access  

to wide range of basic and  

applied research undertaken at  

public expense in the nation’s  

higher education institutions.’  

The Paper says business and  

industry’s contribution to higher  

education needs to be increased.  

It has urged the Government to  

establish committee composed  

of education, industry and  

government representatives to  

examine the most effective way  

of achieving this goal.  

The Paper adds; ‘Compared  

with the fees that existed in  

Australia before the Whitlam  

Government abolished them, the  

proposed contribution, at 20 per  

cent of course costs, is quite  

heavy. In 1973, fees represented  

around 15 per cent of course  

costs. The fee is also heavy com-  

pared with the zero tuition  

charge in Sweden, the Federal  

Republic of Germany and  

France, and the 13 per cent fee  

charged in Canada.  

‘The already substantial cost  

of tertiary study makes the  

introduction of fee or tax, at  

any level, quite unfair. In under-  

taking study, students are penal-  

ized by huge losses in income.  

Wran notes that students lose  

income of an average of $60,000  

'l'hilp ttnHinnn  

‘The fact remains that the  

people most likely to be  

dissuaded from undertaking  

study because of high levels of  

cost and debt are those who are  

the most marginal to the system;  

poorer people, older people,  

people with dependent children,  

women, Aboriginal people and  

some categories of migrants.’  

On the question whether the  

tax will make the system more  

equitable, the Background Paper  

gives resounding ‘no’. It argues  

that the introduction of fees or  

tuition charges in any form  

erects barriers to participation in  

education and training and acts  

as disincentive to those least  

able to pay.  

‘The Wran Committee has  

presented evidence on the socio-  

economic background of higher  

education students which pre-  

sents misleading picture of  

the effect of fees abolition on  

social composition. The Com-  

mittee has argued that there has  

been no change in this back-  

ground since the abolition of  

fees sufficient to justify the con-  

tinuation of free education.’  

However, according to the  

Background Paper; ‘Much of the  

background evidence does not  

support this conclusion. Given  

the factors influencing partici-  

pation such as the decline in  

student financing and the down-  

turn in the economy, it is diffi-  

cult to prove that the abolition  

of fees has had no positive  

Confidence of  

the University  

in Academic  

Board sought  

by new heads  

The first elected President and Deputy President of the Academic  

Board have clear goal they would like to achieve: to make the  

Board’s advice so worthwhile that it cannot be ignored.  

The President (Professor Derek  

Anderson, School of Biological  

Science) and Deputy President (Dr  

Jane Morrison, Senior Lecturer and  

Head of the School of Spanish and  

Latin American Studies) believe that  

it will be important in the early life  

of the Board to gain the confidence  

of the University including its own  

Board members.  

The Academic Board, the senior  

academic body of the University,  

has replaced the Professorial Board  

which held its last meeting on June  

and was formally disestablished on  

30 June.  

Professor Anderson said the  

Board still had to get its committees  

in place and determine an order of  

priority for an agenda already packed  

with pressing issues.  

At the inaugural meeting of the  

Board on July, members agreed to  

the formation of four standing com-  

mittees Policy Advisory Com-  

mittee, Postgraduate Studies Com-  

mittee, Undergraduate Studies Com-  

mittee and the Academic Services  

Committee. Membership of these  

committees is expect to be settled  

at the next Board meeting on  

August.  

‘Compared with the old Professor-  

ial Board, we now have much leaner  

Board which should be more effec-  

tive. The committees will play vital  

role in achieving the transition from  

the old Board’, says Professor  

Anderson.  

[The former Professorial Board com-  

prised 170 members compared with  

55 members on the Academic Board.  

There were 14 Standing Committees  

of the Professorial Board.]  

‘The committees will be teasing  

out the important issues that must  

be discussed and, more importantly,  

suggesting the most constructive  

options on courses of action to be  

taken.’  

Dr Morrison pointed out that the  

Board was not only leaner version  

of the Professorial Board but that it  

was also more representative of the  

whole academic community includ-  

ing undergraduate and postgraduate  

student representation.  

Both Professor Anderson and Dr  

Morrison expect that range of  

student matters will come before the  

Board involving such things as  

student/staff relationships and post-  

graduate work.  

Professor Anderson believes that  

the Board will be ‘walking tight-  

rope’ during the formative stages of  

its development. There is certain to  

be some debate about what areas of  

academic enterprise the Board should  

really be involved in.  

‘lt can be argued that some  

matters are solely in the domain of  

the University’s senior executives or  

best handled by the Vice-Chancellor’s  

Advisory Committee (VCAC) while  

other matters are clearly the Board’s  

responsibility’, Professor Anderson  

said.  

Dr Morrison says that the respon-  

sibilities of the new Board will be  

evolving over the next months. ‘ln  

this period, expect that there will  

be some significant changes in the  

Board’s role, but also think that we  

must avoid change purely for  

change’s sake.’  

Continued on page  

Will these students be among those who will be subject to the Commonwealth  

Government's proposed graduate tax? During the recently completed June/July  

examination period, students sat for total of 36,500 exams.  

Public Affairs Unit  

The first elected President of the Academic Board, Professor Derek Anderson  

Public Affairs Unit  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252342210

APA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved April 4, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252342210

MLA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 4 April 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252342210>

Harvard/Australian citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 4 April 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252342210

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
  | author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
  | title=Uniken.
  | year=1975
  | section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
  | issn=0312-7877
  | issue=1988, no. 10 (22 July, 1988)
  | location=Kensington, N.S.W
  | publisher=University of New South Wales
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252342210
  | id=nla.obj-252342210
  | access-date=4 April 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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