The Government's Subsidy of Advanced Education

In Australia the government doesn't pay for university but it does have deals with universities where it funds a lot of their work. In return for that they give discounts to students so in a very indirect way it is subsidizing advanced education. Do you think it's ever reasonable to say hey we have a shortage of people going into STEM because there could be incentives to study specific areas such as history or medicine? We really need these skills to help develop our economy, says David Cameron.