What do budgets, Burnley and the housing crisis have in common?

Okay, the only thing they really have in common is the University of Melbourne, but the first one has had serious implications for Burnley students and all students seeking affordable accommodation over the years, not to mention a number of other things. But let's first consider this year's budget.

At the annual Planning and Budget Conference at Mt Eliza, where I found myself two days after returning from five weeks in the wilds of Oregon (I'll refrain from drawing comparisons between the 'wilds' here), a new budget model was proposed. The idea behind it is to make it more transparent - that is, the faculties want to see what they're earning, what they're giving to 'the centre' to run the place and maintain central support for libraries, IT, etc, and what they're sharing between faculties (have/have not dichotomies are useful to understand the sharing concept). But part of becoming more transparent in this model is the notion of 'space charging'. So now all faculties are charged a market rental price for the spaces they inhabit. In theory, this makes one think about how space is used and therefore use it as wisely and efficiently as possible. I'm sure that will largely be the effect, too. However, we 'auxiliaries' such as UMPA and UMSU are exempt from the space charging - thank goodness given that our spaces would apparently command nearly a quarter of our entire budget if we were charged for them! I shudder to think what would be lost...

Aside from space charging, the key message at the conference was how tight this year's budget really is. All areas of the University are being asked to 'contain costs', which in some cases will play out as 'reduce costs through redundancies'. The 2009 outlook is a result of no indexation of federal government grants, the end of domestic fee-paying undergraduate places (excellent news for Australian students, except there is no clear plan for the government to replace the lost revenue with another stream), and no apparent increase in the demand for postgrad places. Further, the University is fearful of a plateau or possibly even decline in international places (you can only grow for so long, plus our strong dollar makes us less attractive). Finally, there are major increases in energy and water costs, as well as staff salary increases as per the EBA. Phew. UMPA managed to weather the storm with no funding cut for 2009 from the University, and we live in hope of something from the federal government, though it's still unclear what that may be.

As for Burnley - these budgetary constraints, the introduction of the Melbourne Model, and VSU have led to a decline in student numbers and a virtual eradication of student support on the campus. But through the passionate efforts of an UMPA Councillor doing the Master of Urban Horticulture at Burnley, Paul Coats, UMPA has established a new office out there, with plans for some community-building events and vastly improved communication with the Burnley postgrads. The new office was officially launched last night by Minister for Education Bronwyn Pike, with speeches by the Dean of the Melbourne School of Land and Environment (formerly the Faculty of Land and Food Resources) Professor Rick Roush and myself to let students know of their newly improved support. They have a great space, with lounge areas, ping pong tables and a pool table, all adjacent to the lovely new cafe run by Burnley student Tansy Good (who also happens to be a highly renowned Melbourne chef for those unaware...). We hope to see Burnley prosper as it shifts to a graduate and research focus, and look forward to improved communication with grad students out there.

Finally, the crisis in housing availability and affordability has been widely discussed after a group of students from the Student Housing Action Collective (SHAC) took over the old counselling offices in 272-278 Faraday St last week (the terraces had been vacant since 2005). SHAC has set out their requests in a proposal and petition to be considered by the University Council on Monday the 1st of September. You can read and sign the petition here, but you might also like to drop in for a cup of tea and a chat, or donate something useful to the cause. I took them pumpkin soup last week, and am thinking maybe minestrone this week. :-) Here's hoping the University comes up with a creative, proactive approach to supporting students through Melbourne's .3% rental vacancies as prices go up 10-20% a year!

pax.