Renowned RMIT TAFE writing program dead

I built a Masters of Creative Writing (Research) and expanded the full fee short course programs. But building programs with an eye to industry needs fails hopelessly when confronted by ignorance and fiscal vandalism.

It takes courage to stand up and say, "No further!" That is what the staff should have said. It's like standing up to the school bully after school. It takes guts.

I remember in my last few weeks of teaching at RMIT, I asked a couple of lecturers for written references but they shied away, fearful of what the new head of school might do. I'd worked with them for seven years. You just don't know how people are going to react when fear stalks the room. The path of least resistance is a slippery slope.

But consider the cost of doing nothing. Where once students paid $500.00 to study full time, they will now pay, with tuition fees, almost $6000 per year. Remember, this was a TAFE program. Squealer from Animal Farm always spoke of change as a 'readjustment', never as a 'reduction'. You pay more and get less. Know the feeling?

Higher education students now owe the Gillard Government about $20 billion in university loans and HECS fees. The average HECS debt is $14,000 per student. A few more will now contribute that that debt.

I now work in organisational demographics and population studies and while there will be a 'rush' to get a university place, this will not last. The Gillard Government's policy to increase participation by 40 per cent in the 25-34 age group is admirable, but it is destined to failure.

From about 2020 there be less students enrolling in university (even with the Government's student enrolment push), as we simply don't have the birth numbers to sustain mass-market domestic entry of 40 per cent. There will be a large cohort of older students in their 50s and 60s looking to change careers.

Many will already have degrees. Some might undertake Masters degrees but others will want to study a variety of subjects such as short story writing, screenwriting, playwriting, desktop publishing, non-fiction writing and editing. These were PWE subjects.

There are threats that the Baillieu government will cut $230 million in TAFE subsidies over the next four years. This means staff cuts, campus closures and a fall in the number of courses available.

Former ALP Skills Minister Jacinta Allan, who was the progenitor of this debacle, will go down in history as the ALP member who killed TAFE in Victoria. The Victorian Minster for Higher Education and Skills, Peter Hall, is the man charged with digging the grave.

Too often we live with the little compromises we make. We form a committee when we should act. We take something good, water it down or disband it, and then pine when it's gone. It's far better to fight and in fighting, find out what one stands for rather than settling for a pale, broken thing.