1.2.2 Demand-driven funding
The Bradley Review noted a hindrance to the growth of the higher education sector has been
the current model of government funding. Reform of the funding model was recommended,
to:
■ provide students with the choice of where to study (at recognised institutions);
■ allow government funding to follow the student; and
■ enable institutions to better respond to student demand by granting them the freedom
to enrol as many eligible students as they wish.
This demand-driven funding model will allow institutions the flexibility to decide the courses
they will offer and the number of eligible students they will admit. However, at this time, the
proposed new funding model is restricted to public higher education providers.
The Australian Government has announced that from 2012, Australian public universities (plus
the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education) will be funded for student places on
the basis of student demand.2
The current Student Learning Entitlement (which imposes a
lifetime limit of seven years of full-time study for Commonwealth supported places) will be
brought to an end from 2012 when the cap of the number of offered places will be removed.