Ministers row over virtual college

Australia's political leaders have clashed over university access as the parties limber up for a general election predicted to be in November.

Kim Beazley, leader of the opposition Labor Party, opened the skirmishing with the announcement of plans for a new public online university. He said this would give an additional 100,000 students access to higher education if his party wins office.

Under the plan, tuition costs at the virtual university would be half those of on-campus study, Mr Beazley said. Predicting that the University of Australia Online would enrol 100,000 students by 2010, he told the National Press Club in Canberra that units undertaken online would cost half as much as under the deferred-payment Higher Education Contribution Scheme.

But federal education minister David Kemp dismissed the plan, saying Mr Beazley had provided no costings and had promised nothing more than the current rate of growth in student places. Dr Kemp said 35,000 extra university places had been created since the Conservatives were elected in 1996.

Mr Beazley disputed this figure, saying the number of government-funded places had actually fallen by 4,000 last year. He said Labor would "unlock the door of opportunity" for thousands of Australians who had the ability to succeed at university but who had been turned away by high fees and the difficulty of fitting study into a busy life.

"Australians living outside the main cities will have a better opportunity than before to study and interact with fellow students and lecturers without having to leave home," he said. "(The virtual university) will be a boon to parents wanting to upgrade their skills while raising children."

Admitting that online learning was not cheaper than on-campus study, Mr Beazley said substantial upfront investment would be needed to improve electronic access to libraries, ensure universities had reliable computer networks and provide academics with training in new teaching methods.

The Labor leader said the online university would create an education export industry and combat the exodus of Australian specialists by delivering more jobs with higher salaries. The parallel creation of an Institute of Online Teaching would harness the research and teaching talent of Australian academics.

But Mr Beazley made no mention of Australia's "open university", Open Learning Australia, which was a previous Labor government initiative. The OLA now enrols 10,000 mostly part-time students a year and is planning to move to online instruction for all its courses.

OLA executive director Jim Beck welcomed Labor's plans on the grounds that it would help meet unmet demand, improve access and help people upgrade their skills.

Professor Beck said Open Learning operated on the basis of cooperation between Australia's universities, which offer courses through the OLA, and he hoped Labor would adopt a collaborative approach with its online university.