Family First demands free university with NBN

By Liz Tay on Aug 2, 2010 1:22 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

To justify $43 billion spend.

The Government must establish a free, online university to justify spending $43 billion on its high-speed National Broadband Network (NBN), according to minor political party Family First.

Family First leader Senator Steve Fielding stated last week that if the NBN were to go ahead, a Government-backed free online university should be set up for Australian citizens.

"With the rollout of any NBN, it makes sense to offer free university courses online which can be done according to a person's individual schedule," Fielding said.

"University courses shouldn't have to be done during set times if we can store and download lectures at breakneck speeds?

"There is no reason why we can't offer free degrees and use the new NBN to do it," he said.

A spokesman for Fielding would not provide estimates of set-up and ongoing costs of such a online university, stating only that it would be "funded by the Government".

"There would be less demand for student assistance from things like HELP and youth allowance and these savings would then be put into funding the online uni," the spokesman told iTnews.

Fielding said he would be reluctant to support the NBN "without a proper business case".

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who leads the Government's NBN plan, is yet to respond to a request for comment on the proposal.

Family First demands free university with NBN

10 comments in this discussion

"There are huge financial and logistical costs, but I like the idea! A sensible and productive use of the potential of the high speed NBN. If the DIY courses are designed well, with validity of ..."

By Pilotyoda

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Comments: 10

rycrozier Aug 2, 2010 1:41 PM	Conroy probably doesn't need to. Short of another miracle preferences deal, Fielding's support for the NBN may not be required after the next election. He certainly can't count on Labor preferences this time around.
Ace Aug 2, 2010 1:45 PM	..because spending $43billion isn't enough? Good grief, he should have stayed in Afghanistan.
carl Aug 2, 2010 3:14 PM	@Steve Fielding Do you even understand how HELP works? Its a loan that must be repayed it certainly doesn't suggest that students studying from home will save money by doing online courses. HELP will be repayed by the student when they finish. Don't forget university courses are not free the lecturers and tutors will need to be paid. which probably out weighs the HELP overhead costs. Youth Allowance questionable too since university student would more likely get AusStudy if anything at all.
RDEFCON1 Aug 2, 2010 3:24 PM	So who provides the course content for these miracle 'free' courses? And who grades the assessments? All I can say is 'you get what you pay for'. If the course is free, the quality will be next to nothing. Of course, that doesn't mean spending $43bn on an NBN will make it any good. When it's the government doing the spending... you often get far, far less than what you pay for.
rollerdoor Aug 2, 2010 3:48 PM	I think this is Fielding's way of saying I am going to do what the Liberals tell me to as usual.
JD Aug 2, 2010 3:54 PM	He talks about getting an ROI then wants to duplicate a service that is already provided. https://www.open.edu.au/ [edited for defamatory comments]. Edited by brettwinterford: 2/8/2010 08:09:24 PM
IanL-S Aug 2, 2010 4:18 PM	Online education content creation is incredibly expensive, as is the maintianing and updating the content. Then there is the need for assessment which cannot be solely involve automated making of online responses. Then there is the need to provide one-to-one assistance by qualified staff. The cost will be very significant ... it will make the cost of face-to-face teaching look insignificant.
umbria Aug 2, 2010 4:35 PM	Who wants a degree from Wikipedia University? The thing is, of course, that it will be possible for rural and remote students to attend and interact in lectures and tutorials at real universities without travel if the two-way video capability is established. They could still travel for workshops and exams, and part-time students could keep their day job before attending evening classes without a late-night commute home. In short, it sounds like he supports the NBN itself and is starting to see its trans-sector benefits in education, health, transport and social welfare.
jakiimmarlsen Aug 5, 2010 8:20 PM	Such a wonderful topic for me.I read this article and agree with this article.Thanks to talking us about this article. http://www.healthproductreviewers.com/review-of-acai-max-cleanse.html
Pilotyoda Aug 5, 2010 8:55 PM	There are huge financial and logistical costs, but I like the idea! A sensible and productive use of the potential of the high speed NBN. If the DIY courses are designed well, with validity of outcomes, and pathways to lead from the on-line course to university in mind should those studying wish to move to mainstream uni's, they get my full support. Whether you go to Monash, or any other university or on-line course, the taxpayer, through the government, foots a varying amount, with student contributions (and debt) a recent phenomenon. Without the bricks and mortar and physical services, the costs are much reduced, making such a proposition feasible. Although I wouldn't vote for Fielding in a pink fit, it is one of the few visionary things I have heard in the entire election debate.