An online search of the 2014 budget (page 6.19 of Budget Paper No.1) shows that Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding for universities goes up over the next four years by almost $500 million.

Interestingly, a Google search also reveals Dr Powell is a former Labor Party candidate, which he does not declare.

And from my reading of media reports, every university in the country, except Canberra University, supports the government's higher education reforms.

It is only Labor, the Greens and the education unions who keep trying to scare people with this sort of misleading information.

If the University of Tasmania was really facing "drastic cuts" you would have thought they would have said something by now.

Instead of wasting his time with misleading letters to The Examiner, Dr Powell should be lobbying UTAS management for a better deal for its Northern campuses, which I'm told have suffered major neglect over the past decade or so.

— DAVID HECKSCHER, Newstead.