Students promise "Month of Mayhem"

Students across Australia have promised a "month of mayhem" in 
protest against the Howard Government's higher education reforms. 
Students at university campuses are currently deciding on the 
actions they will take which could include a mock toll booth that 
would charge students fake money to enter the library.

National Union of Students (NUS) President Jodie Jansen said in 
announcing the month of protest, "Universities should have taken 
a stronger public stand for more government funds rather than 
increase the burden on students."

Students took to the streets in Sydney on April 20 blocking 
traffic on Broadway to protest against the University of 
Technology decision to increase fees by 25 per cent. The 
University of Sydney and the University of Newcastle have also 
recently followed suit.

Ms Jansen said the NUS did not support violent protest action but 
she could not rule out the possibility of students blocking roads 
as a form of protest.

Meanwhile a new report into the Federal Government's higher 
education package has found that the fee charges could price poor 
students out of paying their way into university.

Australian National University professor of economics, Bruce 
Chapman labelled the new loans scheme introduced by the reforms 
as "regressive".

The report, to be released later this month, states that many 
courses will cost more than the $50,000 cap placed by the Federal 
Government through the Higher Education Scheme (HECS). This will 
no doubt force students into paying the difference between the 
cap and the total fee for the course.

The National Union of Students has come out in opposition to full 
fee-paying places saying that it is fundamentally unfair. "It is 
quite obvious the Government has got it the wrong way around. 
They've capped the loan when they should have capped the fees", 
Ms Jansen said.

The Chapman Report argues that some universities will gain 
greater benefits than others in having the discretion to set the 
price of full fee-paying courses.

It also seems that the students are not the only ones to be 
taking action this month. Academic staff at three Victorian 
universities are considering rolling industrial action over an 
impasse concerning enterprise bargaining agreements. Action could 
include strikes and work bans to run throughout the month of May.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) Victorian Branch 
Secretary Matthew McGowan said Victorian Universities were 
playing a "wait and see" game with the union to assess what their 
counterparts in NSW and Queensland were agreeing to before 
signing agreements.

"We are completely fed up with this tactic and now we are letting 
them know that we are fed up", Mr McGowan said.

Mr McGowan said the main sticking point at each university was 
the regulation of academic workloads, followed by salary 
increases and Indigenous work placements.