Att. Hon. Dan Tehan
Minister for Education

Dear Minister,

We are writing this open letter in response to the recent announcement by the Federal Government that student fees for university courses in society and culture, humanities, and communications will be drastically increased. You have justified this decision on the grounds of funnelling students into ‘job-relevant’ degrees. This is directly against the best advice and evidence that the skills provided by HASS study are increasingly important, in fact, essential to our future economy and society. Studying Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences equips students with highly valuable skills in critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication, advanced analysis and interpretation, and the ability to construct reasoned arguments and to question assumptions. These skills are important now more than ever as the world faces an uncertain future. The Arts and Humanities are the foundation of building a fair and prosperous society.