Public trust in universities eroded as Australians see profit, not education, as their priority

New research has revealed that Australians, regardless of who they vote for, think most university degrees are too expensive, with only 3% of Australians agreeing that making a profit should be a primary purpose of universities.

However, more than half believe that it currently is a primary purpose.

The research also found fewer than half of Australians believe educating students is currently a primary purpose of universities, despite 80 per cent thinking it should be.

“University fees are totally out of step with community expectations. Despite only one in 20 Australians believing degrees should cost more than $10,000 a year, highly popular degrees such as arts, commerce, and law now cost about $17,000 per year,” said Jack Thrower, senior economist at the Australia Institute.

“High university fees are leading to mounting student debts, which are taking ever longer to pay off.”

A raft of scandals has plagued the higher education sector in recent years, from wage theft and conflicts of interest to excessive spending on marketing, travel, and consultants.

That is despite Australian Vice-Chancellors being among the highest-paid in the world.

“The university sector’s rolling scandals and ongoing governance crisis are causing it to lose the trust of the general public. Over half of Australians think that making a profit is a primary purpose for universities,” Mr Thrower said.

“To regain public trust, the sector needs to fix its governance, such as by making sure universities are overseen by those with the most at stake in their future: students and staff.”

Co-chief executive of the Australia Institute, Dr Richard Denniss, has highlighted how not only is Australia charging students tens of thousands of dollars for their degrees, some universities are faking up financial crises to justify cutting back on the quality of their offerings.

“The Australian National University has been telling its students and staff that it has no choice but to cut spending on a wide range of subjects and services but their own audited accounts make clear the university is rolling in it,” Dr Denniss said.

He also pointed out that students are being charged high amounts to attend university, while the same governments that gives tens of billions of dollars worth of Australian gas away for free.

“HECS repayments contribute more to the Commonwealth Budget than the Petroleum Resource Rent tax,” Dr Denniss said.