Students seeking subsidised university places will have another institution to choose from, thanks to funding allocated through Australia¡¯s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (Myefo).

The University of Notre Dame Australia, a private Catholic institution in Perth, will effectively become part of the public university network after education minister Dan Tehan announced its reclassification as a ¡°Table A¡± higher education provider.

At present, Notre Dame is categorised as a Table B provider along with the private Bond and Torrens universities and the specialist University of Divinity. Table B providers¡¯ students have access to government-backed loans to cover their fees, but they only attract subsidies for certain ¡°priority¡± courses.

The shift to Table A means that all Notre Dame¡¯s domestic undergraduates will attract subsidies, saving more than 2,000 students thousands of dollars each while giving the university more flexibility to focus on its own priority disciplines.

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The move also gives Notre Dame access to dedicated pots of money like the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Participation and Partnerships Programme, which channels extra funds to Table A institutions that embrace socio-economically disadvantaged students.

And it renders Notre Dame eligible for allocations from the A$900 million (?505 million) National Priorities and Industry Linkages Fund, a cornerstone of Mr Tehan¡¯s recently approved Job-ready Graduates reforms.

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Mr Tehan said that the university¡¯s ¡°promotion¡± to Table A status recognised its ¡°focus on student outcomes and industry engagement¡±. He said that Notre Dame would attract an additional A$27 million in subsidies over the next four years.

The move is one of a handful of university-related measures bankrolled through Myefo, which normally occurs about seven months after the federal budget. This year the gap was reduced to two months, after the pandemic forced the budget¡¯s postponement from May to October.

Other newly funded measures include a A$159 million discount scheme for students who pay their fees in advance, and A$29 million to reduce the tuition fees of counsellors and youth and community workers.

Australian National University policy expert Andrew Norton described Notre Dame¡¯s elevation to Table A as a ¡°logical step¡±. He said that it had a similar mission and ownership arrangements to the Australian Catholic University (ACU), a long-standing Table A provider established about a decade earlier, and Notre Dame¡¯s failure to attract similar treatment was a ¡°historical anomaly¡±.

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¡°Notre Dame has long had significant public funding and acted as a de facto public university, an ACU of the west,¡± he said.

But Professor Norton criticised another federal government cash splash coinciding with Myefo, after the minister announced a contribution to a A$20 million upgrade of a small Catholic-owned liberal arts college in Sydney¡¯s west.

Mr Tehan said that the A$5 million allocation to Campion College would boost educational choice. He said the government supported private institutions as well as public universities and training colleges. ¡°Private education providers offer an alternative that improves standards and competition across the board,¡± he said.

Professor Norton said that the legislative basis of the allocation was unclear. ¡°An ad hoc grant of A$5 million to another Catholic institution creates rather than corrects an anomaly,¡± he said.

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¡°While there is a case for bringing more non-university higher education providers into the public funding system, this should be done based on clear criteria rather than through special deals that appear to favour one religion.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com