Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne has accused a group of student protesters of assaulting Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Ms Bishop was at Sydney University on Friday when she was mobbed by students who were angry about planned changes to higher education.

Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Scott Ryan, brushed off the protest on Saturday morning.

But Mr Pyne said the students' actions should be condemned.

"We are a democracy. Everyone is entitled to have a view - whether they like the Government, whether they don't like the Government, whether they like or dislike particular policies. But the behaviour of the students yesterday at Sydney University was assault," Mr Pyne said.

"They assaulted the Foreign Minister, they jostled her, they abused her, they touched her person, they behaved in a most unacceptable fashion.

"It's incomprehensible that in Australia today students would think that's a reasonable way to behave, especially when the Government is introducing measures that expand equity so that more students will have the capacity to go to university."

Mr Pyne said the students should "allow members of the Government to put our views in the same way we would allow them to put their views".

"Yesterday they tried to drown me out at Adelaide University. They failed. They tried to close down the Q&A program on the ABC and they failed. They tried to stop the Foreign Minister yesterday from giving her speech on the New Colombo Plan and they failed," he said on Saturday.

Mr Pyne also called on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to join him in condemning the students' actions.

"I'm calling on Bill Shorten today to come out today and make it very clear that he does not endorse in any way the students' behaviour and that he condemns it in exactly the same terms that I have condemned it on behalf of the Government."

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has questioned why Mr Pyne has sought to drag the Labor Party into the issue.

"Seriously, Christopher Pyne needs to grow up. There's no place for violent protest in Australia, but violent protest is the fault of violent protesters," Mr Bowen said.

"But for Christopher Pyne and the Liberal Party to try and score political points out of this is nothing short of pathetic."

Police say no arrests have been made but they are investigating the incident.

On Friday, Ms Bishop met with the first group of students travelling to Singapore under the Federal Government's New Colombo Plan, a scheme which offers Australian undergraduates grants to study in the Indo-Pacific region.

Student union says Pyne's accusations 'outrageous'

Ridah Hassan, from Sydney University's student representative council, was at the protest and has labelled Mr Pyne's accusations "outrageous".

"Of course we didn't assault Julie Bishop," she told ABC News 24 on Saturday.

"I think it shows how out of touch the politicians are - both Labor and Liberal - the fact that they're calling that assault.

"I think what happened at Sydney University yesterday had [no] more jostling than the average bus. Maybe Christopher Pyne has never been on a bus.

"Maybe he's seen one through his limousine window, but it definitely was not assault or violence that occurred yesterday."

Ms Hassan also said she did not think Ms Bishop deserved an apology.

"No, not at all. People who deserve an apology are students, people on welfare, people having their lives destroyed. We deserve an apology," she said.

"These people earn six-figure salaries, they gallivant around attending high-profile events all around universities and they get the welcome they deserve."

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Ms Hassan said "messages of support through the action group and through individual messages" showed the protest action resonated with people.

"Well I think what we did yesterday, and also what we did on Q&A, what we did at (sic) Julie Bishop at UTS as well, has all received widespread support."

Bebe D'Souza from the Sydney University Union said Ms Bishop was not fazed by the protest, which attracted about 200 students.

"Julie Bishop came up the stairs surrounded by police and then all of the students kind of surrounded [her] and the police," she said.

"[The students were] yelling 'shame' and talking about how terrible these cuts on education are going to be for ordinary students.

"Julie Bishop kind of just like looked bemused, she didn't look shameful at all, she looked proud of what she was doing."

The students vowed to return in bigger numbers on May 21 for the national day of action to defend education against fee deregulation.

Ms Bishop confronted a similar incident on Friday morning at an event at the University of Technology in Sydney.