Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

(—) (): Indeed, I just outlined to Senator Lambie how the performance funding will work next year and that there will be a consultative process for the years after. I emphasise to Senator Lambie and to the Senate overall that the reason we are pursuing the performance funding mechanism is to put some level of accountability and responsiveness into university funding. At present, Australian universities can enrol as many students as they want in whatever disciplines they want and the taxpayer funding just flows through. We believe it's important there be some accountability—that universities are enrolling people in disciplines where graduates get a job; that students are supported through their studies to completion; that students are getting high-quality teaching and learning; that it's not unreasonable that some level of the guaranteed funding is conditional upon meeting minimum performance benchmarks; and that universities are held to account for ensuring excellence in their teaching and good outcomes for their graduates. That's why we're proposing that. We want to work with the sector to make sure it works effectively and it's developed in a way that achieves the outcomes the government has, which are for the best interests of students and taxpayers. (Time expired)