Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy will use a major address to the National Press Club today to argue that universities need to be better supported if we are to realise this boost.

“Australia needs more skilled workers educated in our universities,” Mr Sheehy will say.

“We’re being asked to educate a million more domestic students every year by 2050 to meet Australia’s skills needs. Our economy stands to gain $240 billion if we get there.

“That’s the equivalent of a $20,000 boost for Aussie households. Every Australian household will be $20,000 better off because of a fully skilled workforce by 2050.

“Every Australian can get around that – it’s a dividend worthy of bipartisan political support.

“But if we are to deliver on this task, our universities need to be match fit.”

Mr Sheehy will highlight the underfunding of university teaching and research and the absence of dedicated funding for campus infrastructure as barriers to meeting Australia’s skill targets.

A new report by Universities Australia has found:

• universities are receiving almost a billion dollars less for student places under the Job-ready Graduates Package – the equivalent of 33,000 fewer student places
• the closure of the Education Investment Fund in 2019 stripped universities of almost $4 billion in dedicated infrastructure funding
• government investment in research has never been lower
• federal policies to reduce international student enrolments have reduced a once-reliable revenue stream universities relied on to cover domestic funding gaps, and
• most Australia’s universities are in deficit.

“Australia’s universities need to be growing to skill more Australians, not potentially contracting,” Mr Sheehy will say.

“This is not simply for the benefit of universities – it’s a critical national imperative to ensure our economy grows and Australia prospers.

“Today, we have nearly a billion dollars less for student places every year under the Job-ready Graduates Package. That’s the equivalent of around 33,000 fewer student places.

“It’s epically self-defeating.”

To arrest this financial slide, Mr Sheehy will call on the next federal government to:

• scrap the Job-ready Graduates Package and work with the sector as a matter of priority to set new funding rates that are fairer for students
• re-establish the Education Investment Fund to support the necessary expansion of Australia’s universities
• increase funding for research and development, irrespective of what business does, and
• lift the PhD stipend to better support Australia’s university research workforce to continue driving our prosperity.

“My question today to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is simple,” he will say.

“If getting our universities match fit isn’t a first-order national priority, how are we going to deliver all our other national priorities?

“We can’t build roads and homes without engineers, transition to a clean energy future without scientists or keep Australians healthy without trained health professionals.

“These are all nation-building endeavours. Our universities have everything to do with building Australia’s future – they are an essential ingredient and should be treated as such.”