EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Guidelines issued under subsection 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003
Amendment No. 10 to the Commonwealth Grant Scheme Guidelines No.1
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations
Subject: Higher Education Support Act 2003
Amendment No. 10 to the Commonwealth Grant Scheme Guidelines No.1
Authority
Section 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (the Act) provides that the Minister may make guidelines providing for matters required or permitted by a specified chapter(s), part(s) and/or section(s) of the Act, or which are necessary or convenient to be provided in order to carry out or give effect to a specified chapter(s), part(s) and/or section(s) of the Act. In particular, item 2 of the table at section 238-10 specifies that the Minister may make the Commonwealth Grant Scheme Guidelines to give effect to matters set out in Part 2-2 and section 93-10 and section 93-10 of the Act.
Purpose and operation
This legislative instrument amends the Commonwealth Grant Scheme Guidelines No.1 which was registered on 12 December 2006 and which commenced on 13 December 2006 (see F2006L04079).
The purpose of this amendment is to amend Chapter 3 of the guidelines to reflect the current national priorities for the allocation of Commonwealth supported places and to clarify that Commonwealth supported places at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) will be considered to be Commonwealth supported places at Charles Darwin University (CDU) for the purposes of calculating the enabling loading and transitional loading in 2012 and subsequent years.
From 2012, the BIITE will deliver higher education in partnership with CDU. Under the partnership, BIITE and CDU will deliver co-badged undergraduate and postgraduate by coursework qualifications through their joint Education Investment Fund project, the Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Education. BIITE will not enrol any enabling, undergraduate or postgraduate by coursework students from 2012: all co‑badged students will be enrolled through CDU. BIITE remains a Table A provider in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA).
Explanation of amendments
Item 1 – amends paragraph 3.5.1 in Chapter 3 – National Priorities
Chapter 3 of the guidelines specifies the outcomes in the provision of higher education which are national priorities. Paragraph 3.5.1 lists those national priorities for which Commonwealth supported places are made available.
Item 1 amends paragraph 3.5.1 to amend the national priorities to reduce duplication and include an additional priority, that support will be provided for persons in an increased number of courses of study at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA).
The amendments to the national priorities provide for the increased allocation of Commonwealth supported places to support persons undertaking Natural and Physical Sciences, Information Technology, Health, Education and Society and Culture courses of study at UNDA. These are the Field of Education types described in the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) determined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The places allocated to UNDA are for courses of study that are described under these broad disciplines.
The previous sub-section relating to the provision of support for persons undertaking teaching courses at Avondale College has been removed as it is covered under sub‑paragraph 3.5.1(a) which provides for the general increase in the number of persons undertaking teaching courses across all higher education providers.
Item 2 – inserts new paragraph 6.10.5 in Chapter 6 – Enabling Loading
Chapter 6
New paragraph 6.10.5 clarifies that Commonwealth supported places at the BIITE will be considered to be Commonwealth supported places at CDU, for the purposes of calculating the enabling loading in 2012 and in subsequent years.
Item 3 – inserts new section 11.3.4 in Chapter 11 – Transitional Loading
Chapter 11
New section 11.3.4 clarifies that Commonwealth supported places at the BIITE will be considered to be Commonwealth supported places at CDU, for the purposes of calculating transitional loading in 2012 and in subsequent years.
The new section also makes it clear that any adjustments to the amount of transitional loading that was paid to the BIITE in 2011 or previous years will be a benefit or liability to the BIITE and not CDU.
Commencement
This legislative instrument will come into effect on the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Application
This legislative instrument shall apply in relation to the year commencing 1 January 2012 or a later year.
Consultation
The expansion in national priority courses for the UNDA is a result of extensive consultations with UNDA, by telephone and in writing, regarding its position with the implementation of the demand driven funding system from 2012.
The Department has spoken to the BIITE and CDU about the funding arrangements for Commonwealth Grant Scheme loadings in 2012. The Department wrote to the BIITE and CDU on 21 November 2011 to advise each institution in writing of the funding arrangements for 2012.