Overview: In the past 15 years, there have been five major national reviews of higher education with a primary focus on financing, so why is there still a political impasse over higher education reform?

In the latest Mitchell Institute discussion paper, Mitchell Professorial Fellow Peter Noonan seeks to contribute to the development of a long term, sustainable and predictable funding model for higher education. He does this by:

• assessing the benefits and risks of the proposed changes, drawing on previous higher education reform processes and proposals;
• examining the process undertaken by the Government to date in the development of its reforms; and
• proposing the establishment of a new independent higher education funding oversight body to develop and oversee a sustainable higher education funding system, incorporating variable student fees and public subsidies.