By CHRISTIANE BARRO

Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s continued push for the deregulation of university fees sparked another day of protest in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday.

Students from universities around the state including La Trobe, Monash, Melbourne and RMIT gathered in Melbourne’s CBD to protest against Mr Pyne’s proposed funding cuts.

Chanting “no cuts, no fees, no corporate universities” and “our education is under attack, what do we do, stand up, fight back”, students expressed their dissatisfaction with the potential policy changes.

After months of protests and despite being voted down twice by the Senate, the higher education reforms retain the support of the Coalition Government.

Opposition education spokesman Senator Kim Carr said  there was no evidence Labor senators were “willing to shift their stance against $100,000 degrees”.

“Christopher Pyne needs to accept reality and deliver certainty to Australian universities and students rather than forcing the Senate to vote down his package for a third time,” he said.

National Union of Students (NUS) queer officer Danica Cheesley said it was an insult that the Government "was continuing to try and introduce fee deregulation".

“It shows just how committed the Liberals are to try and ruin public education in this country,” she said.

 Monash Student Association education officer Mali Rea said with degrees costing up to $100,000 and the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Higher Education Advisory Committee, those of indigenous background were less likely to access or graduate university. 

“A major issue for indigenous students is retention. With less and less support services being offered by the university because of funding cuts and the prioritising of profit, even more indigenous students will sadly not finish their degrees,” she said.

According to the Coalition Government the intended outcome of education reforms is the removal of caps on places in accredited higher education diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees.

The Department of Education and Training has promised about 50,000 higher education students and 80,000 vocational education students will be better off under the proposed changes, which include no longer being charged a 25 per cent loan fee for FEE-HELP and 20 per cent loan fee for VET FEE-HELP loans. 

Ms Rea said Mr Pyne's continued pushing of the changes was "a thinly veiled attempt to rid the Government of the responsibility of providing accessible, quality higher education, and instead letting the market decide the cost of degrees”.

If the changes go ahead the Coalition would cut university funding by 20 per cent. It has  said voting against the Bill would simply deny universities a sense of independence and would restrict students from getting into their desired course as a result of limited places.

Ms Rea said treating universities like corporate business should be a no-go.

“That profit is a benefit comes from the idea that universities are businesses, however, they should be institutions of learning funded by the state to provide all citizens with higher education.”