Peak bodies were restrained yesterday after the NXT announcement, with Universities Australia thanking “every senator who listened carefully to evidence about the damage that the government’s proposals, particularly the funding cuts, would inflict on Australia’s world class university system and the country’s future prosperity.”

The Group of Eight thanked NXT for “withstanding unrelenting pressure from the government to take a strong and ethical stand against the worst elements of the government’s education funding legislation.”

And looking to the next blue the National Tertiary Education Union warned any review; “must be more than just how cheaply we can educate & train more people.”