The complaint to Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria will claim foreigners who use public transport pay hundreds of dollars more each year than their domestic classmates due to race.

FEDERAL Education Minister Julie Bishop's announcement that the next round of commonwealth-supported places will be allocated by competitive tender (The Weekend Australian, April 15-16) accelerates the Howard Government's trend of marketising higher education and shifting power from the states to the commonwealth.

THE Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee has attacked a discussion paper on the allocation of $80million to help universities cope with voluntary student unionism, saying its focus on sport and recreation clubs is too narrow.

AVCC chief executive John Mullarvey said the discussion paper, announced yesterday by federal Education, Science and Training Minister Julie Bishop, should be broader.

The federal government has released a discussion paper on how it will distribute an $80 million fund for university sporting and recreational facilities when voluntary student unionism (VSU) is introduced.

But Labor and the Australian Democrats say the fund does not include vital services such as childcare, welfare, counselling, legal advice and subsidised food.