Cyber Gets Funding in 2023/24 Budget

The 2022/23 Australian Federal Budget Papers are available online. Here are some items of interest on information technology and higher education. 

From Statement 1: Budget Overview, Page 31 (emphasis added):

"Small business cyber security program

The Budget provides $23.4 million to support small businesses to build resilience to cyber threats. Small and medium businesses are the target of 60 per cent of cybercrime, which is now costing Australia more than $33.0 billion in reported losses per year. The Cyber Wardens program will address this vulnerability by equipping small businesses with the foundational skills they need to improve cyber safety. This program will be delivered by the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia and will support more than 15,000 small businesses.

Investing in a stronger, more productive and safer digital future

Data and digital transformation continue to present new opportunities for governments, businesses, communities, and households to change the way Australians live and work. This Budget ensures Australians are at the forefront of the digital economy while protecting them from the potential risks of the digital transformation. The Government is investing more than $2.0 billion in 2023–24 in digital and ICT to deliver easy, accessible, and secure services for people and businesses.

Consumer Data Right

The Government is continuing its investment in the Consumer Data Right (CDR) with $88.8 million to support the CDR in banking, energy and the non-bank lending sectors, progress the design of action initiation and undertake a cyber security uplift. This provides Australian consumers, both individuals and small businesses, with a more secure way to safely share data online. The CDR gives consumers an enhanced ability to control and benefit from the sharing of their data. The CDR will empower consumers to make better informed decisions and find better prices from everyday utilities to the most competitive home loans for their circumstances."

Australian 2022/23 Budget Lacks Funding for More Flexible Telecommunications and Education Options

The 2022/23 Australian Federal Budget Papers are available online. Here are some items of interest on information technology and higher education. 

IT Items

The big ticket items for IT are $2.4B for NBN Co fibre to 1.5 million premises, and $757.7M for rural mobile and broadband. What this lacks is a strategy to incorporate new options, such as low earth orbit satellite access to small fixed locations, and direct to mobile phones. Also lacking is a way to encourage, or  require telcos to share mobile infrastructure in regional and remote areas, for more coverage, at lower cost.

Higher Education

The big ticket items for education are $921.7M for 480,000 fee‑free vocational education and training (VET) students, and $485.5M for 20,000 extra university places. The university funds will be targeted at First Nations, first in family, rural and remote students to do teaching, nursing, engineering, and other priority courses. The VET places will target jobs and regions in need, but there is no mention of priority for disadvantaged groups, as there is for the university places. That is unfortunate as VET is a good first step to higher education. 

One small program of interest is the $15.4M Startup Year, with 2,000 loans for recent graduates, postgraduate and final year undergraduate students per year. The students will do a one‑year accelerator program at a university.

I could find no mention of micro-credentials, or other more flexible forms of education in the budget. This lack of flexibility will continue to be a barrier for students from disadvantaged groups. It is all very well to be offered a place in a university, but if this is 1,000 km from home, because the university has cancelled the online study option introduced during COVID-19, then many rural and remote students will have difficulty attending. This also applies to those who cannot leave their job, children, aged parents, or cultural commitments, to study full time for years, to get a qualification. We need policies, and incentives, which see universities introducing the sort of flexibility, for short, part time, online courses, already in place in the VET sector.

Also there does not appear to be any funding to support Australia's international education industry, which faces threats from technological change, and geopolitical tensions. In 2016 I warned Australian universities to be ready to teach online, in case geopolitical tensions kept international students outside Australia. That didn't happen, but COVID-19 showed what could still happen to Australian education, if there is a military confrontation in our part of the world, with no warning, which stops students attending Australian campuses.

From Budget Paper No. 2, Part 2: Payment Measures:

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts

Australian Communications and Media Authority – spectrum management

The Government will provide $27.7 million over 5 years from 2022–23 (including $15.3 million in capital funding) for the Australian Communications and Media Authority to deliver a new spectrum management system and auction capability for spectrum licences.

Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia

The Government will provide $757.7 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to improve mobile and broadband connectivity and resilience in rural and regional Australia,.including:

• $400.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to support the roll out of mobile base stations to improve highway and underserviced community mobile coverage, and initiatives to improve the resilience of communications services to support the roll out of base stations to improve highway and underserviced community mobile coverage

• $200.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 for two additional rounds of the Regional Connectivity Program to fund the delivery of telecommunications infrastructure to improve digital connectivity in regional, rural and remote Australia

• $40.0 million over 3 years from 2022–23 for an improving mobile coverage round of the Mobile Black Spot Program to implement commitments for new mobile infrastructure to improve mobile coverage and reception quality across Australia

• $39.1 million over 5 years from 2022–23 for two additional rounds of the Peri‑Urban Mobile Program to improve mobile reception in peri‑urban areas that are prone to natural disasters

• $30.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 for the On Farm Connectivity Program to support farmers and agricultural businesses to purchase and install on farm connectivity equipment

• $20.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to conduct an independent audit of mobile coverage to better identify black spots and guide investment priorities

• $6.0 million over 3 years from 2023–24 for the Regional Tech Hub platform to provide free and independent advice on telecommunications connectivity and services in regional and rural Australia

• $2.5 million over 5 years from 2022 23 to establish a First Nations Digital Advisory Group to lead consultation with First Nations people on the design and delivery of digital inclusion initiatives.

This measure will redirect funding from the 2019–20 Budget measure titled Stronger Regional Connectivity Package, 2021–22 MYEFO measure titled Digital Economy Strategy – additional funding and 2022–23 March Budget measure titled Government Response to the 2021 Regional Telecommunications Review.

Improving the NBN

The Government will provide an equity investment of $2.4 billion to NBN Co over 4 years from 2022–23 to upgrade the National Broadband Network (NBN) to deliver fibre‑ready access to a further 1.5 million premises by late 2025.

The additional investment will support nearly 90 per cent of Australia’s fixed line footprint to have access to world class gigabit speeds by late 2025.

The Government will also provide $4.7 million over 3 years from 2022–23 to support the delivery of free broadband for up to 30,000 unconnected families with school aged students during the 2023 calendar year.

Post Secondary Education

Outcomes of the Jobs and Skills Summit

• $8.9 million over 3 years from 2023–24 to establish a Productivity, Education and Training Fund to support employer and union representatives to improve safety, fairness and productivity in workplaces

Startup Year – establishment

The Government will provide $15.4 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $2.8 million per year ongoing) to establish the Startup Year program to deliver income contingent Higher Education Loan Program loans to up to 2,000 recent graduates, postgraduate and final year undergraduate students per year. The Startup Year will support students’ participation in a one‑year, business‑focused accelerator program at an Australian higher education provider, which will encourage innovation and support Australia’s startup community.

Strengthening Australia’s Higher Education Sector

The Government will provide $491.8 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $570.1 million over 11 years) to boost higher education and strengthen Australia’s university system. Funding includes:

• $485.5 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $563.8 million over 11 years) for 20,000 additional Commonwealth supported places at universities and other higher education providers commencing in 2023 and 2024. These places are dedicated to students under‑represented in higher education, including First Nations peoples, those who are the first in their family to study at university, and students from rural and remote Australia. The places are for courses in areas of skills shortage, including teaching, nursing and engineering

• $3.6 million in 2022–23 to the Department of Education to develop a business case for a new university and schools payment system, to manage the timely and accurate administration of entitlements

• $2.7 million over two years from 2022–23 to deliver an Australian Universities Accord, a review of Australia’s higher education system by a panel of eminent Australians delivering recommendations to drive accessibility, affordability, quality, certainty, sustainability and prosperity.

The Government will also achieve savings of $144.1 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $484.9 million over 11 years) by ending the 10 per cent discount for students who elect to pay their student contributions upfront rather than defer payment through the Higher Education Contribution Scheme – Higher Education Loan Program.

Teacher Shortages

The Government will provide $310.4 million over 9 years from 2022–23 (and $7.9 million per year ongoing) to attract and retain high‑quality teachers and improve student outcomes. Funding includes:

• $160.1 million over 8 years from 2023–24 for up to 5,000 bursaries of $10,000 per year to students, with an ATAR of 80 or above, who undertake a teaching degree. Bursaries will be available to undergraduate and postgraduate students with an additional $2,000 made available for students who complete their final year placement in a regional area

• $78.8 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to expand the High Achieving Teachers program to support an additional 1,500 high achieving professionals to transition into teaching through employment‑based pathways

• $60.6 million over 9 years from 2022–23 (and $7.1 million per year ongoing) to implement the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review’s recommendations, including the expansion and development of new micro‑credentials courses in classroom management and phonics

• $10.9 million over 9 years from 2022–23 (and $0.8 million per year ongoing) to the Department of Education for administrative costs associated with this measure.

Vocational Education – fee‑free TAFE and TAFE Technology Fund

The Government will provide $921.7 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to strengthen Australia’s Vocational Education and Training system and address skills shortages. Funding includes:

• $871.7 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to provide 480,000 fee‑free Technical and Further Education (TAFE) and vocational education places in industries and regions with skills shortages

• $50.0 million over two years from 2022–23 to establish a TAFE Technology Fund to modernise IT infrastructure, workshops, laboratories, telehealth simulators, and other facilities at TAFEs across Australia.

Around 180,000 fee‑free TAFE and vocational education places will be delivered in 2023 in areas of highest skills need as part of a one‑year National Skills Agreement with the states and territories commencing 1 January 2023, which was an outcome of the Jobs and Skills Summit.

Australian Budget to Popularize Shorter Courses at Private Providers and Online Learning

The 2021‑22 Federal Budget contained some measure related to higher education. Of particular interest are two relatively small amounts for increased short courses and offshore education:

"$26.1 million over four years from 2021-22 to assist non-university higher education providers to attract more domestic students through offering 5,000 additional short course places in 2021

• $9.4 million in 2021-22 to provide grants of up to $150,000 to eligible higher education and English language providers to support innovative online and offshore education delivery models"

From Budget Paper Number 2, Part 1: Receipt Measures, Australian Government, 18 May 2021, URL: https://budget.gov.au/2021-22/content/bp2/download/bp2_02_receipt.pdf#page=7

Short Courses Opening Up Higher Education to Private Providers?

The "short courses" referred to are not that short, being bachelor and graduate certificates, which require one semester (about 12 weeks full time) to complete. These have proved popular with students and I think they are a good idea. But I am not sure universities like students getting the idea a six months course will do to get a job, rather than a three year degree. Also universities will have to cope with students turning up years later and ask for a semester's credit off a degree for having completed a certificate. This is not unreasonable as the certificates, at least the initial ones, were created by universities repackaging courses from existing degrees.

However, what might cause universities most concern is that this additional funding is only for non-universities. Apart from direct competition for students, this may create a demand for students from these non-universities for credit at universities. 

Innovative online and offshore education delivery models?

The small allocation of funding for "innovative online and offshore education delivery models" might be useful beyond the English language providers it is targeted at. Australian education providers have a problem with international students unable to get to Australia, due to COVID-19.  This may become worse, far worse, if current relations with China deteriorate further. Australian higher education providers, not just for English courses, need to urgently find new ways to deliver programs and to new markets. Australian universities also need to provide more attractive flexible delivery methods, as students do not want to come to campus every day, and may decide to study elsewhere. 

Education in the 2019/2020 Australian Federal Budget

Some higher education items from the https://www.budget.gov.au/:

1. $3.9B cut from the Education Investment Fund: The EIF was established in 2008 to "transform Australian tertiary education and research", but is was never clear how. The money will instead be spent on natural disaster recovery.Vocational Education and Training"
2. Scholarships for students at regional campuses: $93.7M over four years from 2019-20. It sould be noted this applies to universities, and vocational education. Also it is for regional campuses, so these could be branches of capital city university, or commercial VET providers. With education now being provided primarily via the Internet, a "campus" can be a small shopfront. 
3. Unique Student Identifier (USI): $18.3 million over four years for a centralised digital training record, for both VET and university students. The USI currently applies only to the VET sector. The Australian Government is likely to find universities less cooperative with the USI than the VET sector. Worryingly, when I just tried the USI website, it was not responding.
4. Additional Identified Skills Shortage Payment: 80,000 additional apprentices over five years, with employers eligible for $4,000 incentive payment, and apprentices  $2,000 "at key milestones".
5. Pilot Skills Organisations: $41.7 million over four years for "industry partnerships to trial new ways to update and develop vocational education qualifications", in human services care and digital technologies, and cyber security. Perhaps this is referring to "micro-credentials"?
6. National Careers Institute (NCI): $42.4 million over four years to raise the profile of the VET sector, and  a "single web portal, informed by the latest research". 
7. Training Hubs:  $50.6M for ten hubs to provide job opportunities for young people and "strengthen local economies".
8. Higher Education Loan Program ─ partial cost recovery delay:  "The Government will delay the introduction of partial cost recovery arrangements for
   the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) to provide additional time for the sector to prepare for the new arrangements. The new arrangements will now commence from 1 January 2020 instead of 1 January 2019. The measure is estimated to reduce revenue by $3.6 million over four years from 2018-19. "
9. Extension of Temporary Graduate visa period for regional graduates: From November 2021, international students who complete a higher education in a regional area can can apply for an additional year's work visa. This is expected to provide  $14.0M.
10. Online Safety Grants Program:  $10.0M over four years for online safety education for children. This funding is only for non-government organisations.
11. Harry Butler Environmental Education Centre:  $25.0M to Murdoch University to "grow understanding of the positive relationship between economic development and environmental sustainability".
12. Expanding Questacon’s Education Outreach:  $15.1M to expand Questacon’s education and outreach activities.
13. Improving STEM Gender Equity in Australia: $3.4M to fund the Science in Australia Gender
    Equity program for three years; and "a digital content National Awareness Raising Initiative, led by the Women in STEM Ambassador."
14. Making Innovation Games National: $3.6M to "bring together small and medium businesses and students to solve real-life, practical business issues".
15. Adelaide Space Discovery Centre: $6.0M to "to provide education and mission simulation to support training"
16. Indigenous students: $276.5M to "support to undertake and complete study to help close the gap in
    education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students
17. Extinguish Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt for teachers in very remote locations: $70.6M.

Changes to Australian Higher Education in the 2014/2015 Federal Budget

Just about every year since the Australian Federal Budget was first put on the web, I have done a quick search though the documents to find matters of interest in information technology. This year, here are some comments on the education aspects of the budget.

Last year the Government "recommitted" to "Remote Indigenous Internet Access", but but without an explicit amount of money committed to the program. This year, apart from the NBN I could not find any similar programs, for indigenous or other communities.

NICTA’s funding, of about $40 M per year for IT research, will end after 2015–16. NICTA has a significant number of PHD students jointly with universities, who presumably continue to be funded.

In addition changes to higher education will also require new IT systems. The deregulation of tuition fees from 2016 will require minimal direct changes. However, there is likely to be a reshuffling of campuses, with some major city universities closing regional campuses (as University of Queensland has already decided to close its Ipswich Campus).

The opening financial assistance to students studying diplomas may change the way higher education is delivered in Australia. Students who would have previously enrolled in a bachelors degree at a university, may opt for a shorter and cheaper diploma at a state government TAFE or private Registered Training Organisation (RTO), then top up their education with a part-time blended or fully on-line degree. These diplomas will mostly be delivered online. This will require an expansion of IT systems to support the new education options, but more significantly require a retraining of academics to design and deliver them. IT courses are likely to be one of those disciplines most changed.

For the last few years Australian universities have been struggling with how to think about new education options, as well as how to deliver them. The system to evolve will likely see the city research universities charge a premium to their on-campus students, while regional universities concentrate on low cost blended and fully online education.  Even the typical "on-campus" student will be 80% on-line: sitting in a classroom or lab one day a week. One term used to describe this was UWA Academic Staff Association's Humboldtian model of the university.

However, certificates are not included in the new higher education funding scheme. The shortest program the student can get funding assistance for is a diploma, which normally requires one year full time study. Certificates, which require six months full time study are very useful, as they allow students to quickly get a qualification for a job. Where institutions offer four terms a year, a part time student can do a certificate in one year. I did my Graduate Certificate in Higher Education this way, mostly on-line.

Cuts to federal school funding may also see an increase in demand for new IT systems by state governments to reduce costs and increase efficiency, with new ways to teach.