University Founding Act

The **University Founding Act** (Law 379) is a law in the Adorian Federation for the national government to fund and establish a university in every state.

## History

The 46th head of the Ministry of Education, Culture & Media, Rook (SDP), announced on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 that he has drafted legislation to build our universities. He stated that "currently the bill is waiting for approval from the finance minister and cabinet. Any construction companies that want to build said universities please get in contact with me to sort out prices."

The bill was introduced into the Adorian National Assembly 14 hours later.

Mr. Rook's opening statement:

My fellow MNAs, I urge all members to support this legislation. This legislations see's a large shift in higher education policy from none at all to commons sense, policies. This bill will not only allow for competition among universities but also ensure University is affordable, and within reach of all who want it. The AHEAS has been designed to ensure that we can properly fund our education system without breaking the bank, and providing students with peace of mind that they don't have to worry about paying back their loan till they get a job earning above the proposed income threshold. It also allows provincial governments to help decide what Universities should ideally offer to fine tune them for their own provinces. This not only means practicality for provinces, but that each university can specialise should they chose to. This bill will see an overhaul for the better and I ask for your support in ensuring this bill is passed. Thank you Mr. Vice President
Lichy von Yair (Con) would "like to point out that the left is trying to bring in this spending under terrible economic conditions," while Mateo (SoL) stated that "they are sneaking in blatant government overreach yet again. Why does anybody need to set prices in stone? Why doesn't any other European country need to do that?"

Vice President King Adoria put the bill into the voting chamber an hour later. It got 55 👍, 1 👎, and 6 🤷.

The legislation commenced into law a day later.

## Full text

### **University Founding Act**

* **Date:** 09/06/2021
* **Title:** University Founding Act
* **Type:** Law
* **Topic:** Education & Science

As of current there is no concrete legislation for Universities in Adoria, this bill seeks to change, and rectify this.

*Be it hereby enacted by the National Assembly, by and with the advice and consent of the People, the Speaker of the Assembly and this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows–*

#### **Section 1:** General Provisions

1. Interpretations

	1. University

		1. a high-level educational institution in which students study for degrees and academic research is done.
	2. Adorian Higher Education Assistance Scheme (AHEAS)

		1. The payment plan used by the Adorian government in which when a student goes to an approved Higher Education Provider, that the Federal Government pays the balance, as set by the federal government, which is then paid back by the student after reaching an income threshold also set by the government
	3. Faculties

		1. The system in which different degrees are classed and sorted

#### **Section 2:** AHEAS

1. Degree Cost setting

	1. All courses provided by Universities in Adoria, whether set up by the government or established via private enterprise shall be set at the following;

		1. 5600 Liras

			1. This cost shall indexed and linked to inflation as to make sure the real cost of the degree remains the same
2. Student Repayment Plan

	1. The repayment plan for students shall be set out as following;

		1. Students won’t have to start paying back their AHEAS until they reach the income threshold of 70,000 Lira, this amount is indexed and linked to inflation to ensure its real value stays the same over time. The debt will also be interest free.

			1. However, they can also pay the AHEAS amount upfront and not worry about later repayment.
			2. However, should they not have the means to pay off the AHEAS repayment, it will instead be paid through debt.

#### **Section 3:** University Faculties

1. Courses Provided;

	1. Universities will have free range to decide what courses they provide, allowing them to specialise or provide as many as they want allowing efficiency and competition within the university education sector
2. Faculties;

	1. The faculties as classed by the Adorian Federal Government shall be set as;

		1. Arts, and Design
		2. Built Environment
		3. Business
		4. Communication, and Media
		5. Education
		6. Health
		7. Law
		8. Politics, Economics, and Society
		9. Science
		10. Sport
		11. Technology

#### **Section 4:** University Locations

1. Location of Universities

	1. All provinces in Adoria shall be entitled to one Federal Government funded University, the location of which inside of each province is up to the provincial governments.

		1. The provinces are;

			1. Hussari
			2. Limni
			3. Andeltana
			4. Mediterraneo
			5. Lavanda
			6. Aklanos
			7. Maritania
			8. Synaro

#### **Section 5:** Construction of the federally provided Universities

1. The eight federally funded universities shall be constructed and funds related to their construction shall be provided by the federal government after negotiations with private construction companies
2. Any universities not being established by the federal government will not receive funds to build and construct them and must seek private financing

#### **Section 6:** Funding

1. The delegated funding for the AHEAS program will be;

	1. 541368800 Liras p/a

		1. Any unused funds from this will be diverted back to the overall budget surplus
2. The delegated funding for universities will be;

	1. Each university will be eligible for 25,000,000 Lira p/a in federal government funding, or 200 Million Lira p/a in total. This will pay for all the necessary cost of operation.

		1. Necessities are as follows;
		2. Wages to staff
		3. Upkeep
		4. Food
		5. Water
		6. Electricity
		7. Student Accommodation
3. Non-Necessities that the university may want to provide can be funded via;

	1. Left over amounts of the original 25,000,000 Lira
	2. Provincial Funding
	3. Private Finance
	4. A mixture of the previous three
4. Should a university run over cost on the necessities, the federal government will pay this, unless they are receiving funding from the provincial governments and/or private finance in which the funding for the over run must be taken from those sources

#### **Section 7:** Financial Oversight Committee

1. An independent 3 person committee will be appointed by the Education Minister to oversee that all universities are spending their allocated funds correctly.

	1. Should they find any irregularities they will have the power to perform an investigation.
	2. Should the investigation find misuse of funds, those found guilty by the committee investigation shall be referred to the courts and face relevant punishments under existing Adorian law

#### Signatures:

* MNA Bossmansoldier | *Social Democratic Party*
* MNA David | *Conservative Party of Adoria*
* MNA MarcZuccIsMyWaifu | *Adorian Workers Front*
* MNA Riccardo Ferola | *Adorian Workers Front*
* MNA Massinissa90 | *Beyond Adoria*

## References

1. ↑ RookWilt (9 June 2021). “**Minister for Education, Culture, and Media** - Please to announce to you all the draft legislation which will build our universities. Currently the bill is waiting for approval from the finance minister and cabinet. Any construction companies that want to build said universities please get in contact with me to sort out prices. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OwWY4DmG8K8if0FjUthilTwcw-gXIAvraNrsaVs-Grw/edit?usp=sharing” – via Discord.
2. ↑ RookWilt (9 June 2021). “https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OwWY4DmG8K8if0FjUthilTwcw-gXIAvraNrsaVs-Grw/edit?usp=sharing 5 minutes” – via Discord.
3. ↑ Mateo (9 June 2021). “I would just like to point out that the left is trying to bring in this spending under terrible economic conditions. I yield” – via Discord.
4. ↑ Mateo (9 June 2021). “Not only that. They are sneaking in blatant government overreach yet again.” – via Discord.
5. ↑ Mateo (9 June 2021). “Why does anybody need to set prices in stone? Why doesn't any other European country need to do that?” – via Discord.
6. ↑ Adoria, King (9 June 2021). “https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OwWY4DmG8K8if0FjUthilTwcw-gXIAvraNrsaVs-Grw/edit?usp=sharing” – via Discord.
7. ↑ Adoria, King (10 June 2021). “**Law 379** - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OwWY4DmG8K8if0FjUthilTwcw-gXIAvraNrsaVs-Grw/edit?usp=sharing” – via Discord.