Tertiary medical training centres are becoming increasingly dependent on foreign students to fund the teaching of local students, according to the University of Melbourne's Dean of Medicine, Professor James Angus.

 

Professor Angus that Australia universities have come to rely on foreign students, many of whom pay up to $50,000 a year, to offset the lack of funding from the Federal Government .

 

The Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand Association has claimed that a funding increase of up to 50% is required to ensure that domestic students can be considered a commercially viable alternative to international students.

 

“The cluster funding for medicine is so low because universities have been underfunded since 1996 but the universities have still had to pay salary increases,” Professor Angus said.

 

“We probably started with an international cohort of 5% in 1996 and now that’s grown to about 25%. That’s an amazing change.”