CANBERRA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Australia's world-class universities will be hit with almost 1 billion U.S. dollars' worth of funding cuts under the federal government's higher education changes, data revealed on Sunday.
According to Universities Australia, the peak body for higher education, universities will lose around 1.2 billion Australian dollars (950 million U.S. dollars) in funding between 2018 and 2021 if the government's proposals pass through Parliament.
In Australia's two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, the cuts would make up around half the total national cuts at 635 million Australian dollars (503 million U.S. dollars) - at 341 million Australian dollars (270 million U.S. dollars) and 294 million Australian dollars (233 million U.S. dollars) respectively.
According to the data, Western Sydney University, the University of Sydney, Melbourne's Monash University and the University of Melbourne would be among the worst off, with cuts ranging from 58 million Australian dollars (46 million U.S. dollars) over four years to 46.5 million Australian dollars (36.87 million U.S. dollars).
The higher education package was revealed by the government in May, but to almost no fanfare as it was released just after the government's controversial high school funding reforms known as Gonski 2.0.
Speaking to Fairfax Media about the figures on Sunday, Universities Australia's chief executive officer Belinda Robinson said the billion-dollar cuts strike "at the heart of higher education legislation."
"As our economy changes and old industries face new threats, Australia needs to keep - not cut - our investment in universities to create new jobs, new industries and new sources of income for Australia," Robinson said.
"And funding cuts that erode quality risk undermining the 24 billion Australian dollars (19 billion U.S. dollars) in export earnings that our universities help to bring into Australia by educating international students."
The federal opposition was also quick to criticize the government's approach to tertiary education, with Labor's education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek declaring the government's priorities "are all wrong."
