HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE, AUSTRALIAN EDITION: Professors Decry Spending Cuts:

A thousand academics have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, published in newspapers across the country on Wednesday, urging her not to go ahead with the cuts in the May budget.

Last month the federal government said it would slash $2.3 billion from universities, as it scrambles to find money to pay for increased spending on schools. . . . Ms Gillard has said the planned cuts mean university funding will still increase, just at a lower rate.

But the NTEU says core funding per student and support for basic research continues to decline while the massive expansion in student numbers from uncapping government-supported places has not been properly funded.

Gillard is a lefty, but other constituencies are more important in the pre-election runup.