The peak body representing Australian universities has urged the Turnbull government not to pursue a "dramatic overhaul" of the nation's higher education system as it prepares to legislate a new round of university reforms.
Universities Australia, in its submission for the May budget, also urges the government to abandon its proposed $3.2 billion in cuts to university funding because there is "no defensible case" for such a reduction.
The government last year released an options paper for higher education reform including proposals for a new tier of "flagship courses" with deregulated fees, uncapping postgraduate student places and recouping HECS debts from deceased estates.
A panel of experts is providing advice on reform and the government plans to introduce a new package of legislation by the middle of the year.
The government has ruled out the full deregulation of university fees, which proved politically toxic for the Abbott government.
Universities Australia, which originally backed the proposal for universities to be allowed to set their fees, is asking the government not to again attempt radical reforms to the higher education sector.
"While there may be a case for modest changes, the sector does not see a need for a dramatic overhaul," the group, representing the nation's 39 major universities, says in its budget submission.
"To play their crucial role in securing Australia's future, universities need a more stable policy and funding environment.
"Australia's universities have faced an unprecedented level of uncertainty in recent years.
"We welcome the government's assurance that it wants to end that uncertainty in 2017."
While noting the government's difficult budget position, Universities Australia says it must abandon its plan to reduce university funding by 20 per cent – one of the "zombie" measures left over from the 2014 budget with little hope of passing the Senate.
"The magnitude of any such cuts would put at risk the quality of the higher education provided by Australian universities and run directly counter to the government's ambition to reinvigorate the economy through education, research and innovation," the group says.
Universities Australia does back a further lowering in the HECS repayment threshold, which was last year reduced from an annual income of $54,126 to $50,600, and requiring high income graduates to pay back their loans faster.
The group also suggests it would support measures such as collecting HECS from deceased estates and introducing a new family income test so graduates with high-income partners pay back their loans even if they are not working.
"[I]mproved debt recovery could make HECS-HELP more sustainable for the long term, as well as removing some anomalies in the current structure of repayments," it says.
Universities Australia also urges the government not to strip $3.7 billion from the Education Investment Fund, designed to help pay for university infrastructure. In the December budget update, the government said it would shut the fund and redirect the money to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
