Fact sheet
- Demand driven funding for undergraduate student places Fact Sheet
(
PDF 440KB | 
RTF 75KB)
Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is demand driven funding for undergraduate student places?
From 2012, the Government will no longer specify how many undergraduate student places it will fund public universities to provide. Courses of study in medicine are the one exception. The Government will provide its funding contribution for every domestic student enrolled in an undergraduate course of study.
Under the demand driven funding system, public universities will decide how many places they will offer and in which disciplines. Universities will be able to make decisions about these matters based on student demand and the needs of employers.
Why is the Government implementing a demand driven system?
The Government is committed to growing the higher education sector because Australia’s economy requires more people to have a university degree and because it wants more young people have the opportunities afforded by a higher education.
The Government has set an ambitious goal for national attainment. It is seeking to increase the proportion of 25 to 34 year old Australians with a qualification at bachelor level or above to 40 per cent by 2025.
When did the legislation pass the Parliament
The Government introduced the Higher Education Support Amendment (Demand Driven Funding System and Other Measures) Bill 2011 into the House of Representatives on 26 May 2011. The Bill passed the House of Representatives on 23 June 2011. On 4 July 2011, the Bill was introduced to the Senate and was passed on 14 September 2011. The passing of this legislation, subject to royal assent, will allow universities and the Government to have in place funding agreements ready for the start of 2012.
Is the Government abolishing the Student Learning Entitlement (SLE)?
Yes.
The Government is abolishing SLE in the same legislation that provides for the Demand Driven System. This will ensure that higher education students no longer have a limit placed on how much study they can undertake as a Commonwealth supported student
From 1 January 2012, eligibility for a Commonwealth supported place will no longer depend on a student having sufficient SLE to cover their study.
A person who has used some or all of their SLE will no longer be limited as a Commonwealth supported student in the future.
What are the new HECS-HELP arrangements?
From 1 January 2012, the Government will be reducing the current 20 per cent discount on HECS HELP upfront payments to 10 per cent. It will also be reducing the 10 per cent voluntary HECS HELP repayment bonus to 5 per cent.
This change does not affect the funding going to Universities. The cost of the discount and bonus are met by the Government. The savings made by these changes have gone to increased funding for extra student places at public universities. These extra places will help ensure that all Australians, particularly those from low income families, have the opportunity to participate in higher education.
The changes to the HELP scheme are not included in the legislation for the demand driven funding of undergraduate student places. Legislation for the HELP scheme changes and other Budget related funding increases, such as maximum amounts for programs funded under the Other Grants Guidelines, will be introduced into the Parliament during the 2011 Spring Sittings.
How can I find out more details about the new arrangements?
Correspondence has been sent to Vice-Chancellors. Further information will be available on the Department’s website on the Resources for Administrator’s page.
[Return to Top]
For providers
Is the Government going to allocate undergraduate places?
No, the Government will not be allocating any undergraduate student places (or enabling places) for 2012, except for courses of study in medicine.
The Government is providing universities with greater flexibility to respond to student and employer demands.
The Government continue to have a role in the national oversight of our higher education sector. It is not absolving itself of responsibility for national outcomes.
The Government will remain actively involved in ensuring that the demand driven system produces the outcomes required and needed by the nation. It will be monitoring supply of graduates in all disciplines, making sure that growth in undergraduate places is sustainable and that high quality is maintained.
Will the Government allocate student places for any type of course?
Yes. The Government will continue to allocate Commonwealth supported places for non-research postgraduate courses of study and courses of study in medical.
Courses of study for which places are allocated are referred to as designated courses of study in the new legislation.
Undergraduate courses of study (excluding medical places) will be classified as non-designated courses of study.
How many postgraduate places will my university be allocated in 2012?
Targets for postgraduate student places will be retained in 2012. These will be outlined in your university’s CGS funding agreement.
Universities are expected to receive their draft funding agreements for 2012 around September 2011, following passage of the Government’s legislation.
What will happen to funding for over enrolments for Postgraduates?
Under the new arrangements there will be no allowance for over enrolment.
Universities will be paid for the places that they provide, up to any upper funding limit. The upper funding limit will replace current over enrolment provisions. This legislative mechanism will allow the Government to fund postgraduate places above current targets.
The legislation allows the Minister to set these upper limits for funding of universities in their CGS funding agreements. These are limits are referred to as a maximum basic grant amounts. A maximum basic grant amount can be set for designated courses of study and for non-designated courses of study.
The Government will not be setting any maximum basic grant amounts for non-designated courses of study for the 2012 year.
The Government will be setting maximum basic grant amounts for designated courses of study for most public universities. This will enable each public university to receives funding for the provision of postgraduate student places as estimated at April 2011.
How many medical places will my university have in 2012?
Current targets for Commonwealth supported medical places will continue in 2012. This will include any pipelines for additional places previously allocated by the Government.
How much funding will the maximum basic grant amount for designated courses of study provide?
In 2012, the Government intends that a provider’s maximum basic grant amount for the designated courses of study will be based on current postgraduate funding, plus funding for allocations of CGS medical places. In 2012, a university’s maximum basic grant amount for designated courses of study will be sufficient to pay for:
- 2011 postgraduate and medical target load; plus
- any 2012 pipeline for allocated postgraduate and medical target load; plus
- existing over enrolment at the postgraduate level as at the April 2011 Estimates.
What existing postgraduate over enrolment will the Government fund in 2012?
The Government will provide funding for postgraduate over enrolments in 2012 based on the April 2011 postgraduate over enrolment estimates. This may include over enrolment that was not funded within the 10 per cent over enrolment cap.
The funding limit that a provider will receive for allocated places will be calculated using estimates provided by a university as at the 2011/12 Budget (i.e. estimates provided in March/April 2011).
What will the long-term plans for postgraduate places be?
The Base Funding Review is currently investigating the public and private benefits of postgraduate by coursework study. The outcomes of that review, which reports to Government in October 2011, will be considered in the context of the 2012/13 Budget along with future arrangements for postgraduate by coursework places.
What consultations will be undertaken on Commonwealth supported postgraduate places?
In additional to the work of the Base Funding Review, the Government will undertake consultations on principles for the allocation of Commonwealth supported postgraduate places for postgraduate courses and issues related to the future funding framework for Commonwealth supported postgraduate places.
The Government is proposing to release a short consultation paper to seek advice on these matters from the sector.
What are the new arrangements for regional loading?
The Government provided an additional $109.9 million over four years for regional loading in the 2011 Budget, increasing total funding to $249.4 million over four years. This will strengthen regional higher education by helping to overcome the higher costs of regional campuses.
The Government will also improve the way the regional loading is allocated to universities. Funding will be targeted to the campuses that need the most support and will be provided through a transparent process that responds to student demand.
The methodology for the calculation of regional loading will be updated in the CGS Guidelines to take effect from 1 January 2012.
Are there any changes to medical, enabling and transitional loading paid under the Commonwealth Grant Scheme
Medical, enabling and transitional loadings will continue to be paid in accordance with the CGS Guidelines.
What are the arrangements for non-Table A providers with current allocations of Commonwealth supported places from 2012?
Current arrangements will continue to apply for non-Table A providers that have been allocated Commonwealth supported places.
[Return to Top]
For Students
What will happen to enrolment levels at universities after the caps on undergraduate places are removed?
There will be more opportunities for people to study at university.
This year there are more than 480,000 undergraduate student places at public universities. Next year there will be over 500,000. In total the number of undergraduate student places will have increased by 20 per cent between 2008 and 2012
In the future, each university will decide how many places they can offer in each undergraduate course of study. Some universities will increase their enrolments substantially and others have already decided to maintain their current enrolment levels.
Does this change mean I will be able to get into any course I want to study?
No.
Universities will still set admission requirements. They will decide how many students they can enrol in each course. However, tertiary admission scores will not be inflated due to restrictions on the number of student places in a course.
The Government expects universities to maintain their quality. It expects universities only to enrol students who are capable of meeting the standards required for a higher education qualification.
If my university has a large increase in the number of students, how will the Government make sure student-staff ratios don’t increase and the quality of courses doesn’t suffer?
The Government is not just allowing universities to increase their student numbers. The government is providing its full funding contribution for every domestic student enrolled in an undergraduate course of study.
The Government increased funding to universities by 30% in real terms between 2007 and 2011.
In the most recent Budget, the Government provide an additional $1.2 billion for demand driven funding of undergraduate places, bringing the total cost of this reform for 2010 to 2015 to $3.97 billion.
Australian universities are responsible for maintaining the quality of their academic standards, but the Government has in places measures to ensure Australia has a quality higher education sector.
In 2011, it is establishing a new national regulatory and quality agency for higher education, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
TEQSA is an independent body with powers to regulate higher education providers, monitor quality and set standards. Its primary task is to ensure that students receive a high quality education. TEQSA joins together the regulatory activity previously undertaken in the states and territories with the quality assurance activities previously undertaken by the Australian Universities Quality Agency.
The Government requires each university to have, and publish, a grievance procedure to deal with student complaints. Should a student be unhappy with the quality of their course, they are able to follow the university’s grievance procedure in the first instance.
I used my SLE and had to become a fee-paying student. Now that SLE will be abolished, can I have a refund of my tuition fees?
No, the legislative changes are not retrospective.
Students who had used all of their SLE and were subsequently enrolled in a fee-paying place cannot receive a refund of the tuition fees they have paid in the past.
A person who has used some or all of their SLE will no longer be limited as a Commonwealth supported student in the future.
How will the Government make sure my university provides adequate student services for the increased number of students?
The Government is committed to ensuring that important services and amenities are available to students. It has introduced a Bill to Parliament that will enable universities to charge a student services and amenities fee in order to fund particular services that are listed in the Bill. Under the proposed legislation, higher education providers will be able to decide to charge students up to $263 per student for 2012 (indexed annually). Eligible students will be able to pay the fee through SA-HELP, a HECS-style loan program.
The Bill also requires universities to comply with new benchmarks for the provision of information on and access to basic student support services of a non-academic nature, and requirements to ensure the provision of student representation and advocacy.
[Return to Top]