Australian government policy on higher education: impact on accounting education

The Australian Commonwealth Government has embarked on a process of reform in higher education which comes after a period of severe cutbacks in the funding of education. The cutbacks were not limited to education but were part of the present Government's overall attempt to control total expenditure. The reforms fall into three basic areas: Amalgamation of institutions of higher education, the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme where students are required to contribute to the cost of their education and the Full Fee Paying Scheme where overseas students are charged a fee based on full average cost. This paper addresses the reforms and the impact of these reforms on higher education generally and accounting education specifically.