Graduate model not the panacea

A general shift of first professional qualification to postgraduate level unravels the rationale for HECS. A logical option would be to replace HECS with FEE-HELP for all students, but that would be a big inter-generational cost shift. The deterrent effect of higher costs could exacerbate the challenge to traditional professions by para-professionals in health and other fields.

Talented students may be further attracted to growing areas of demand, mainly at undergraduate level, in security services, new media and entertainment, alternative medicine and therapies, hospitality and tourism.

Despite the availability of a tuition subsidy at a regional public university for general studies, students may prefer a city-based quick-to-market vocational degree customised with employers through a private provider with FEE-HELP.

The undergraduate-postgraduate coursework boundary problems are less important and not a sound basis for differentiating institutional missions. Few can define the difference in educational content between bachelors and masters degrees; the bachelor can be more rigorous, whether the master is six months or two years.

The pressing need is to concentrate funding for research degree places on the basis of research performance and allocate some scholarships with stipends directly to the nation's best students, to use where they will.