Title Professor Awards Order of Australia | Name Bruce Chapman Role Australian economist | |
 | ||
Alma mater Australian National University
Yale University Occupation Economics professor
University academic Employer Australian National University
Crawford School of Economics and Government Known for Father/Architect of the HECS system Books What's Love Got to Do with It?: Homogamy and Dyadic Approaches to Understanding Marital Instability | ||
Education financing government as risk manager prof bruce chapman interviewed by dr jan libich
Bruce Chapman AM is an Australian economist and academic known for being the founder or architect of the HECS system. HECS is the Higher Education Contribution Scheme loans system. He is currently a professor at the College of Business and Economics, Australian National University. In 2001, he became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), "for service to the development of Australian economic, labour market and social policy". In 2017, Professor Chapman was appointed the inaugural Sir Roland Wilson Chair of Economics.
Contents
- Education financing government as risk manager prof bruce chapman interviewed by dr jan libich
- Education
- Career
- Publications
- References
Education
He was awarded a Bachelor of Economics at the Australian National University for his undergraduate degree. He earned his PhD in Economics from Yale University.
Career
In 1989, the Australian Federal Government led by Bob Hawke introduced the Higher Education Contributions Scheme (HECS), which was first intimated by Professor Murray Wells (The Australian, 15 April 1987, page 15). Bruce Chapman further developed the policy with the support of the then Education Minister John Dawkins (see Dawkins Revolution). He was also an advisor to the Keating Government in 94-96.
In the original HECS, an $1,800 fee was charged to all university students, and the Commonwealth Government footed the bill. It was a first of its kind loan scheme that used the tax system to collect repayments. The scheme has influenced other countries like the United Kingdom, Ghana, New Zealand and Hungary to introduce their own model of a higher education contribution scheme.
Since then he worked with governments on policies such as the Working Nation and the 2010 changes to Youth Allowance. The Abbott Liberal Government came into power in 2013 and tried to introduced reforms into the higher education sector. This included fee deregulation which Chapman has been gobsmacked that allows universities to raise fees in excess to the cost of teaching students. If the federal government does decide to uncap fees, he proposes a mechanism of capping of fee increases whereby the government subsidies tapers off when fee increases breaches a certain level.
In 1993, Chapman was elected the Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia.
In 2017, Professor Chapman was appointed the inaugural Sir Roland Wilson Chair of Economics; a foundation established in 1998 in the name of one of Australia's most prominent economist and public servants, Sir Roland Wilson (economist).