As part of the Budget on Tuesday night, Education Minister Dan Tehan (pictured) announced a number of funding promises for education services.
Selections from his media release on higher education follow
The Morrison Government’s plan for a stronger economy is guaranteeing essential education services through the delivery of yet another year of record funding for child care, preschools, schools and universities.
In this year’s Budget, a record $21.4 billion will be provided for state schools, Catholic schools and Independent schools for the 2020 school year – an increase in funding of $8.5 billion since 2013.
The 2019-20 Budget provides a record $8.6 billion for child care, including $8.3 billion for the Child Care Subsidy and $17.7 billion for the university sector.
The Government is ensuring this record funding delivers a quality education from early learning through to tertiary studies.
The Government will establish a Local School Community Fund, which will provide $200,000 to each federal electorate to support priority projects in local schools that benefit students and their communities.
“The Morrison Government also believes that no matter where they grow up, all Australians should have access to quality education. That is why we are targeting investments in regional, rural and remote Australia – from the Destination Australia program that encourages more higher education students to study outside of the capital cities to genuine needs-based funding for every student in every school.”
Higher education
- $93.7 million for the new Destination Australia program. This program will provide up to 4,720 scholarships of up to $15,000 per year for domestic and international students to study at a regional university or vocational education provider. This will ensure the entire country can experience the benefits of Australia’s $35 billion international tertiary education sector.
- $71.6 million to improve outcomes for very remote students by encouraging teachers to teach and stay longer in their schools through remitting the HELP debt incurred for recognised teaching qualifications of an estimated 3,100 graduate students who teach for a minimum of four years in very remote schools.
- $15.8 million to help the Government better understand and support students across tertiary education by extending the Unique Student Identifier from VET to all higher education students.
- $2.5 million to give students access to all of their higher education qualifications in a centralised digital tertiary learning repository. This initiative will be expanded over time to include VET qualifications and be linked to other portals.
- Increase the HELP loan limit to $150,000 for students studying aviation courses under VET Student Loan arrangements to address concerns about a skills shortage.
