University of Adelaide must shave $13m over federal funding plans University of Adelaide Vice Chancellor Professor Warren Bebbington Source: adelaidenow UNIVERSITY of Adelaide will be forced to shave $12.9 million from its budget as a result of Federal Government funding cuts, leading its boss to call for a review of the way student places are funded. This comes as National Tertiary Education Union analysis shows funding per university student will fall on average by $332 in 2014 and will become progressively more severe. The union's calculations are based on the Government finding $900 million in savings on university funding to pay for its multi-billion dollar school funding reforms. Union figures show the cuts will hurt those studying agriculture, science, medicine and veterinary science - costing up to $680 per place. It means students would pay the same fees for reduced services because the union said universities would be forced to cut staff, increase class sizes and reduce student contact hours, counselling services and library hours. University of Adelaide vice chancellor Professor Warren Bebbington said there needs to be a review of the uncapped system - introduced last year - where the Government funds as many student places as an institution wants to teach. "This (cut) is in addition to the cuts announced last year and the deferrals in research funding this year, taking the total cut for Adelaide to around $20 million per year," Prof Bebbington said. Universities have already cut to the bone, so no more `efficiency' is possible ...  Prof Bebbington said he suspected there were more cost-effective and sustainable ways of achieving the Government's objective to lift to 40 per cent by 2025, the proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds with a degree. "This decision (to cut $900 million in funding) will do little to address the blank cheques being offered to universities who wish to continue to expand student numbers, whatever the level of preparation of the student to enrol," he said. Something clearly has to be done to manage the sinking entrance standards and spiralling costs of our uncapped university system. Union national president Jeannie Rea agreed that university budgets were already cut to the bone. "In comparison to other OECD countries, students in Australia already fork out large amounts in HECS and other fees and government investment in university education is low," she said.