• Universities Australia has supported the $1 billion in funding given to universities under the Federal Budget.
• However, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said the funding doesn’t address the jobs and funding crisis among universities.
• “The extra $1 billion announced for research funding is a short-term ‘sugar’ hit that is here this financial year but gone the next,” NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said in a statement.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Universities Australia has welcomed the federal government’s $1.5 billion in funding for universities, but the National Tertiary Education Union believes more can be done.

Under the Federal Budget announced on Tuesday, universities will be given $1 billion to fund research, as well as $550.3 million for an extra 12,000 university places for students in 2021, another 50,000 short courses and projects for local communities.

Universities Australia Chair, Professor Deborah Terry, said the funding was important for Australia’s economic recovery, adding that it will “stabilise university research capacity and jobs”.

“The Government clearly understands you can’t have an economic recovery without investing in research and development,” she said in a statement.

“This will ensure world-class research and discovery can continue on Australia’s university campuses. That means universities can play their part in the national effort to rebuild the economy.”

Terry also praised the funding allocated to university places and short courses.

“This means there are new places for young and older Australians to study and improve their skills right when Australia needs them most,” she said.

However, with the coronavirus pandemic hampering the university sector, The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said the Budget doesn’t give any relief to universities.

NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said in a statement “universities are in the midst of their worst ever crisis” with the Budget giving “scant support” to the sector.

“The extra $1 billion announced for research funding is a short-term ‘sugar’ hit that is here this financial year but gone the next,” she said in a statement.

“It will go some way towards reducing the $7.2 billion research funding shortfall as a result of the collapse of international student income, but unfortunately it is only a temporary measure which will not allow universities to give thousands of researchers more permanent jobs.

“This shortfall must be addressed if Australia is to accelerate its economic recovery.”

Barnes added that the Budget failed to address the jobs and funding crisis that universities are facing and that “Australia’s universities desperately need a rescue package.”

“Livelihoods and careers have been demolished in the past six months with 12,000 jobs lost and $3 billion in revenue disappearing.”

And while the union acknowledged the extra 12,000 university places, it raised concerns that it will be “funded at considerably lower rates than existing students.”

In June, Universities Australia found that Australian universities could lose $16 billion by 2023 as a result of the pandemic. At the time, Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy at Australian National University, told Business Insider Australia the main reason for the financial strain was because of the drop in international student numbers.

In July 2019, 143,810 international students arrived in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. But this year, there were less than 40.

The pandemic has also seen many job cuts across universities, with institutions such as the University of New South Wales, the Australian National University and RMIT University cutting positions.

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