Submission—Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024

On 9 September 2024, the Academy made a submission on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024.

Download submission (PDF, 220KB)

In the submission, the Academy noted:

• the provisions of the Bill are measured, and elements like HELP adjustments and the Prac Payment will benefit science students at universities
• the Bill fails to address urgent issues for university science, such as the systematic underfunding of undergraduate science and fixing Australia’s broken university science research funding systems
• the Bill begins implementing the recommendations of the University Accord’s final report. However, the response to date has not addressed two broad themes that were key to the Accord’s final report: funding for undergraduate science and the state of university science and research. This Bill makes no attempt to fix the egregious elements of the Job Ready Graduates scheme passed by the Australian Parliament, which cut funding for undergraduate science.