Universities are often seen as bastions of ‘progressive’ thinking. The majority of academics are left-leaning, at least outside of the Accounting and Finance departments. Universities are also largely ideologically aligned with Labor and the Greens. This much has been made clear from universities’ stance on the Voice to Parliament referendum and in relation to the anti-Israel protests that have swept campuses across Australia.
Universities might have hoped that their progressive bona fides would curry favour with the prevailing socialist-left Labor Party. However, their hopes have been dashed, with caps set to be imposed on their international student enrolments.
Labor has now betrayed universities, just as Labor has done the rest of Australia.
Albanese, Chalmers, and the ALP have form. Albanese and Chalmers misled Australians about the Stage 3 backflip and Labor’s subsequent tax hikes. They still falsely sell this as a ‘tax cut’ when it actually hikes taxes by failing to extend the LMITO and reversing a tax cut. Albanese and Chalmers misled Australians about their superannuation tax grab. They disingenuously gloss over the tax on unrealised capital gains and the bracket creep they aim to impose. Albanese repeatedly proffered misinformation about the Voice to Parliament. The ALP promised to reduce power prices when they knew full well they would not (and could not) do any such thing. Labor is the party of lies. Universities have now also been hit.
Labor is set to impose a hard cap on international student numbers. The details are in flux. But, whatever the ultimate result, it is potentially financially disastrous for universities. Perhaps Labor has started negotiations at an extreme point so universities can walk them back and Labor can pretend they gave universities a ‘win’…? Or perhaps Labor truly does want to restrict university numbers. The point stands: universities are worse off than they were before.
All Australians should be concerned because Labor’s move bodes poorly for all Australians.
The biggest issue is this is symptomatic of how Labor operates: Labor divides the electorate into small slices which it plays against each other. Labor likes to create minorities, which it then ‘others’, or scapegoats, or castigates.
Labor has done this with successful and ambitious people. They have done this with mining and resources, the finance industry, property developers, and anyone they can disingenuously paint as successful while ignoring the individual’s hard work. Labor is the tall poppy syndrome made manifest.
University academics have seemingly been willing participants in Labor’s disingenuous game of scapegoating. Now it has backfired. Universities are the minority to be thrown under the bus for political points.
This time it is so that labor can pretend to do something about the ‘housing crisis’ when the real solution is to encourage and enable more people to invest so that everyone can grow wealthy if they exert the effort. Labor, however, is seemingly wedded to the idea of making people wage slaves, demonising investment, and seizing the results of people risking their own capital. So, constructive win-win solutions appear off Labor’s radar.
The second issue is that international students add immense value to local students and to Australia. International students pay high fees and they subsidise local students. Without international students, local students would face worse university outcomes because universities could not afford to offer them better ones. This is because, inter alia, universities would not be able to afford to pay for high-quality industry-focused academics. These academics would simply leave for industry for a better life and more money. In so doing, university education would become worse.
Academic research would also suffer. Many Australians might have been led to believe that research does not matter, but international-standard academics produce research that is both theoretically and practically important. For example, the research can inform how to improve corporate governance so as to maximise shareholder wealth. It can involve cancer research. It can involve pharmaceutical research. We are all aware of nonsense research. And, nonsense research will amplify and dominate if university funding falls.
International students also add significant cultural value to Australia. Australia is richer for having more people from more countries. If Australia is concerned about inflation from international students, the better solution is to enhance visas: let international students work more freely and widely. In so doing, they would enhance production and increase productivity. This helps to alleviate some of the inflation pressure that international arrivals otherwise create.
Many people will have little sympathy for universities. Conservative academics (yes, they do exist) might have a sense of ‘I told you so’ when it comes to Labor’s scapegoating. Indeed, many people might wonder whether universities have been so captured by the left that it would be better if they lacked the funding to pursue their ideological causes. But, the international student cap hurts everyone.
University Vice Chancellors have been stuck in the middle, often as victims of this system. Vice Chancellors must placate an intransigent set of activists. They must attempt to reign in dogmatic ideologues and prevent the lunatics from taking over the asylum. It is a difficult job for which they are grossly underpaid, especially given the size of the institutions and the workload involved.
Universities must however learn that Labor is not to be trusted. Labor seemingly will willingly mislead people and dupe them into their support only to throw them under the bus when politically convenient.
