Lecturers seek Pounds 1bn increase

Lecturers in the pre-1992 universities are calling for an increase of more than Pounds 1 billion per year in future government spending on higher education.

This sum would include raising the unit of resource in line with inflation, paying for extra student numbers and support staff, addressing pay inequalities, reducing casualisation and introducing a premium for recruiting more international students.

It would also include money to boost research infrastructure and to reward improved results to the research assessment exercise.

The Association of University Teachers will release full details of its submission to the government's next comprehensive spending review after Christmas.

It says that while the first CSR, which covered the funding period 1998-in Australia99, concentrated on spending on research equipment, the second should pay more attention to resources for learning and teaching.

The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals has called for an increase of Pounds 5 billion in government money over the next CSR. But the AUT claims institutions could find an extra Pounds 150 million per year from their own surpluses.