The Government is undertaking a range of further initiatives to ensure that the higher education system is sustainable. These include:

Consolidated indexation of programmes

As part of a Government-wide decision to streamline and simplify indexation for programmes, the CPI will be applied to all grants and student contribution amounts under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (this will save $202.8 million over three years from 1 January 2016).

A fair contribution from research students

Research Training Scheme (RTS) doctoral students will be required to make a modest contribution towards the cost of their degree through a small reduction in Government funding for the RTS. HELP loans will be available so that RTS students do not have to meet these costs up front. Universities may choose to offer scholarships to cover these costs (saving $173.7 million over three years).

Reward Funding

Universities will no longer receive Reward Funding payments for the achievement of enrolment targets. Competitive pressures driven by the higher education reforms in this Budget will provide incentives for universities to enrol students, including from disadvantaged backgrounds, as will the Higher Education Participation Programme (saving $121.1 million over five years).

Australian Research Council

A one-off efficiency dividend will be applied to the ARC, consistent with the approach adopted to generate savings for Australian Government departments and statutory agencies (saving $74.9 million over three years).