Bills Digest No. 57 2003-04
Higher Education Support
(Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill
2003
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Higher Education Support
(Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill
2003
Date Introduced:
17 September 2003
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Science and
Training
Commencement:
Various dates for the different provisions are set
out in the table in Section 2 of the
Bill.
This Bill
provides transitional arrangements resulting from the passage of
the Higher Education Support Bill 2003.
Commonwealth funding for higher education,
including the operation of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme
(HECS), is currently provided under the terms of the Higher
Education Funding Act 1988 (the HEFA). This Bill is part of a
package designed to replace this Act and establish the new funding
system that was announced in the 2003-04 Budget. The other bills in
the package are the Higher Education Support Bill 2003 and the
Higher Education Support Amendment (Abolition of Compulsory
Up-front Student Union Fees) Bill 2003.
Readers should consult the Digests for those
Bills for more detailed background.
Section 2 contains a table
which lists the commencement dates for the various provisions of
the Bill.
Comment: There appears to be
an error in the table as two different commencement dates are given
for section 4.
Part 1 of Schedule
1 contains provisions to ensure that students who are
enrolled in HECS liable higher education places before 1 January
2005 pay HECS student contributions at a level that would have
prevailed under the current system until the end of 2008, rather
than the new rates to be introduced by the Higher Education Support
Bill 2003.
Comment: there appears to be
an error in Item (1)(1)(k) which refers to item 4,
when it should be item 3.
Part 2 of Schedule
1 contains provisions to ensure that students who are
enrolled in postgraduate courses before 1 January 2005 and who have
obtained assistance under the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme
will continue to receive such assistance under the current terms of
their loans until the end of 2008.
Part 3 of Schedule
1 provides for accumulated HECS debts to be converted into
HECS-HELP debts on 1 June 2006.
Parts 4 and
5 of Schedule 1 provide that the
University of Notre Dame and Avondale College will continue to
receive Commonwealth grants in respect of existing HECS places
until the end of 2008.
Comment: under the terms of
the Higher Education Support Bill 2003, the University of Notre
Dame is a Table B provider and thus can only receive Commonwealth
Grant Scheme assistance for places that are allocated in respect of
national priorities. Avondale College is not listed in the Bill.
However, both institutions currently receive Commonwealth grants
for 655 HECS places.
Part 1 of Schedule
2 substitutes new funding levels for 2004 grants in the
Higher Education Funding Act 1988. These levels reflect
normal indexation arrangements as well as other funding adjustments
arising from the new funding system.
Parts 4 and
5 of Schedule 2 contain
amendments to the Australian National
University Act 1991 and the Maritime
College Act 1978 to change the structure and
responsibilities of the governing bodies of these institutions.
Comment: under proposed
s.33-15 of the Higher Education Support Bill 2003, providers must
satisfy Commonwealth requirements for their governance (to be known
as the National Governance Protocols) in order to receive
additional funding. These amendments will presumably ensure that
the two providers operating under Commonwealth legislation will
meet that requirement.
Part 6 of Schedule
2 will amend the Higher Education Funding Act
1988 to provide Marcus Oldham College with a maximum grant of
$2 095 000 for 2004.
Comment: Marcus Oldham
College receives annual payments for student places in agribusiness
which will not fit into the new funding framework. This allocation
is a one-off payment in lieu of future funding allocations.
Dr Kim Jackson
10 November 2003
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003
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