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In 2014, the Australian Federal Government attempted to de-regulate higher education fees so as to allow universities to set their own tuition fees. The associated public debate offer critical insights into how the identity of a student as a 'customer' of higher education is understood and deployed when developing higher education policy. This paper uses the 2014 Australian higher education reforms as a lens through which to further scholarly research into the student-as-customer metaphor and to see how it is influenced by the perceptions and understandings of policy actors external to the higher education sector. These include politicians, special interest groups, the students and their parents and prospective employers.

This study reveals that the public/private nexus - both of funding and benefit - problematizes traditional conceptualisations of students and others as higher education customers. In turn, this restricts the ability or desire of policy actors to describe how the student functions as a customer as a consequence of market reform. This inability compromises the development of effective and sustainable higher education policy.

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This report details findings of the [National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education] NCSEHE-funded project, 'Calculating the costs of supporting people with disability in Australian higher education'. The project sought to investigate how the Australian Government and universities invest to support the inclusion of people with disability in higher education. The study recognised that higher education today enrols many thousands of people with disability, that many students with disability require supports to enable their successful participation, and that institutions have different strategic orientations that may influence disability inclusion.

This investigation aimed to provide: (1) critical information regarding the ways in which institutions support people with disability; (2) a better understanding of how policy incentives might best be focused to support the successful participation of people with disability in Australian higher education; and (3) a rationale to develop a rigorous assessment tool for calculating the full cost of supporting people with disability in higher education. As a result of this research, a number of recommendations are put forward.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less