Cost of an arts degree set to DOUBLE while students will pay less to study nursing and IT as government drives people into 'job-relevant' degrees in massive university overhaul
- Nursing qualifications will cost $3,700 a year while humanities will cost $14,500
- IT, science and engineering degrees are set to drop by at least $2,000
- Price drop is an attempt to push students to degrees with better job prospects
- Education Minister Dan Tehan says there will also be 39,000 new places at uni
The price of an arts degree is set to double while students with better job prospects will pay less for their education in a huge university overhaul.
Education Minister Dan Tehan will today announce school leavers will get financial incentives to choose 'job-relevant' degrees such as IT, health, teaching, science and mathematics from 2021.
Nursing qualifications will cost just $3,700 per year while IT, science and engineering degrees will drop by $2,000 per year.
Meanwhile humanities degrees are expected to jump from $6,804 per year to $14,500.
Nursing qualifications will cost just $3,700 per year in the huge university overhaul
Education Minister Dan Tehan is set to announce that school leavers will get financial incentives to choose degrees such as IT, health and mathematics from 2021
Humanities degrees are expected to jump from $6,804 per year to $14,500
The cost of a maths or agriculture degree will fall by 61 per cent, while students in humanities will pay 113 per cent more.
Teaching and nursing degrees are expected to drop by 45 per cent, while a law degree will cost 28 per cent more.
There will also be 39,000 new places available to prospective students next year, with Mr Tehan expected to say it will 'give students a choice'.
'Their degree will be cheaper if they choose to study in areas where there is expected growth in job opportunities,' Mr Tehan will say in a speech to the National Press Club.
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Teaching and nursing degrees are expected to drop by 45 per cent, while a law degree will cost 28 per cent more
The overhaul comes as Australia's employment rate hit a two-decade high, surging to 7.1 per cent in May.
Up to 227,700 Australians last month either lost their job or felt so bleak about their prospects they gave up looking for work following the COVID-19 shutdowns.
'We are facing the biggest employment challenge since the Great Depression,' Mr Tehan will say.
'And the biggest impact will be felt by young Australians. They are relying on us to give them the opportunity to succeed in the jobs of the future.'
New official payroll figures show 980,000 jobs were lost between mid-March, before the coronavirus shutdowns, and the end of May.
The official jobless ranks are now the highest since December 1993.
Following the grim economic news, Prime Minister Scott declared: 'This is the biggest economic challenge this country has ever faced.'
He said the figures were 'heartbreaking,' adding: 'The sad truth is these numbers are not surprising in these circumstances.'
Mr Morrison said these 'are our dark times'.
'I can see that ray of light … but we have to keep moving towards it and work harder each and every day.'
Inner-city Sydney and Melbourne have been the worst-hit by COVID-19, with new Australian Bureau of Statistics maps showing one in ten or 10.6 per cent of jobs in these areas were lost in just 11 weeks.
IT, science and engineering degrees will drop by $2,000 per year as school leavers get financial incentives to choose 'job-relevant' degrees
The changes come as Australia's employment rate hit a two-decade high, surging to 7.1 per cent in May
On the Gold Coast, 8.8 per cent of jobs were lost between March 14, before the border closure and coronavirus shutdowns, and May 30, the ABS payrolls data showed.
Tasmania's south east lost 10.5 per cent of jobs as Hobart and Launceston both saw a 9.3 per cent employment plunge.
Melbourne's north west and Victoria's south west, taking in Warrnambool on the Great Ocean Road, both suffered a 9.4 per cent decline while inner-city Perth suffered an 8.5 per cent drop during that period.
Job losses in these areas were well above the national average of 7.5 per cent.
