The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 294

Chapter 294: Chapter 260: Current Development Issues_3

After a small period of silence, Minister of Education Richard Noble Chapman stood up and said, “Your Majesty, the tasks of the education department this year are heavy, and our budget is already short. The Ministry of Education requests at least 5 million Australian dollars for the financial budget, to be used for the expansion of existing universities and to construct two new universities.”

“How is the work of the Education Department going on at present? Approximately how much is your finance budget for this year? Has it been spent so quickly?” Arthur queried.

At the annual end of the year summary meeting, the financial budget for the next year is allocated to each department based on the circumstances of the previous year.

A department like the Ministry of Education, which the government attaches extra consideration to, typically receives an extra budget of around two million Australian dollars.

“Your Majesty, we plan on expanding the Australasia National University and Oakland University, developing them into the first and second universities in Australilarasia. The expansion of these two universities requires about one million Australian dollars each, especially for Australasia National University, it needs a budget of at least one to 1.5 million Australian dollars to keep pace with European universities.” Minister of Education Richard explained.

“Moreover, to reserve more technical talents for the Leonora Industrial Base, we have built one technical training school each in West Australia and South Australia, to cultivate skilled workers for the industrial base. There are also expansions of technical schools near Sydney and Melbourne, which all together have also cost two million Australian dollars. The total budget of the Ministry of Education this year is only 6 million Australian dollars, minus the normal maintenance costs of several universities, the available budget of the Ministry of Education is now less than one million Australian dollars, and we are unable to build any new universities.” explained Richard.

The Ministry of Education indeed took longer strides this year, not only plan on expanding existing universities but also trying to attain the standards of European Universities.

Additionally, they aim to construct new technical schools and universities to meet the increasing demand for technical workers and universities in Australasia.

Currently, with the prevalence of Australasia’s educational policy, the average level of education in Australasia has reached high school level.

Even though many people have intermediate education level, getting the average education level to high school in this era is quite the accomplishment for the Australasian Government.

From the continuous eruption of various schools and universities in Australasia over these years, one can observe the government and the educational department’s efforts in improving Australasia’s educational environment.

Arthur looked at Prime Minister Walter and Finance Minister Roger Jackson, waiting for the government and the finance department’s opinion.

“Your Majesty, education is an important matter for a country. The popularisation of education is imperative for our development in all aspects. If it were not for the efforts in education, it would be difficult for our industry to develop to its current scale due to talent shortage. I believe that the work of the education department is very necessary, and an additional budget of 5 million Australian dollars is not much. Even if it is for the construction of universities, I believe that the budget can be increased to about 8 million. This amount should be sufficient to expand the number of universities in our country to ten, and this is meaningful for our educational work. ” said Prime Minister Walter, taking the initiative to speak.

Having ten universities might only be a small fraction of the number of universities in the powerful nations, but for Australasia, it can be seen as a result of hard work.

If they could have ten universities, it would mean that they could cultivate thousands or even tens of thousands of university students each year. This would greatly fill the gap of intermediate-level talents and even plant the seeds for the development of high-level talents in Australasia.

Among these thousands of university students each year, many outstanding scientists and various experts could be fostered, and these talents are crucial for the development and construction of the country.

Even though Arthur can obtain a certain number of high-level talents every year by virtue of the Victoria Award, these self-cultivated talents are definitely more loyal than the attracted talents, and they are also very handy to use.

Everyone’s eyes then turned to Finance Minister Roger Jackson, waiting for the final opinion of the finance department.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Roger Jackson chuckled reluctantly and said, ” Since the Prime Minister has said so, how can the finance department not support it? Your Majesty, the finance department can provide about 8 to 10 million Australian dollars of financial budget to help the education department build more universities and expand schools. But after this 10 million Australian dollars are spent, I am afraid this year’s financial situation will show a deficit again. Don’t blame me when that happens, Your Majesty!”

Before Arthur could speak, Prime Minister Walter quickly said: “Rest assured, Minister Roger. This financial budget is to be used for education, even if there is a slight deficit, it wouldn’t be much. This is a decision that everyone is involved in, and Your Majesty is watching personally; who would blame you?”

In the end, Arthur instructed: “Minister Richard, I hope that this additional financial budget can be used for education. When the Ministry raises its results, you, as the Minister, should take the credit. But I hope there won’t be any shoddy work in the construction of universities and other schools. The students of Australasia should live in a safe and comfortable environment, not some dangerous construction, do you understand?”