Universities Australia Chair Professor David Lloyd

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Thank you, Martin, for that warm welcome.

I’m joining you this morning from Kaurna Land, and I pay my respects to Elders both past and present.

I’m here today to talk about the Accord.

It seems like that’s all we’ve done for the last 12 months as we’ve worked closely with Professor Mary O’Kane and her panel to shape the final report.

And now that we have the report, funnily, we’re still doing a lot of talking.

Talking has been important because it has led us to the stage we are at now where we have an extensive blueprint of reform ideas to work from.

As a sector, I think it’s safe to say our voice has been heard and considered in the development of the final report.

There is certainly more in the 408 pages to welcome than not – which I think is a common view held right across the university landscape and by industry.

But I must be honest – for my part, I’m looking forward to doing less talking and just getting on with the job at hand, which is working with government to bring Mary and the panel’s vision for the future of higher education in Australia to life.

It’s a transformational vision that acknowledges our sector’s role in supporting Australia’s future through the education of skilled workers and through the research and development activities that will help Australia to navigate the many multigenerational challenges before us.

And the recommendations that underpin Mary’s vision – the 47 things that government is currently considering – all underscore the need for a high-functioning university system.

That need is not lost on anyone in this room, but as with any big potential change, there are a lot of people saying, ‘This all looks great on paper, but how are we ever going to bring it to life?’

I understand that.

Possibly a bit more than most, given activities close to home.

But I can also point to what’s happening in South Australia at the moment and hold that up as an example of how progressive change in higher education can become a reality.

I know I am here in my capacity as the Chair of Universities Australia but let me just put on my UniSA hat for a moment.

UniSA and the University of Adelaide are creating a new for-purpose university in South Australia that meets the needs of our modern community.

And we’re doing it with the support of both sides of state politics, the federal government and our industry partners, who are helping guide our curriculum design and research directions.

So much of what the Accord panel has advanced as vital to the future of Australia – vital for Australia’s economic prosperity, democratic cohesion and environmental sustainability – is writ large in the purpose and strategy we are advancing for our new Adelaide University.

Access to education for non-traditional entrants and under-represented participants.

The embedding of First Nations Knowledge in elements of curriculum.

Student success always at the heart of what we do.

Research in partnership with end-users.

Flexible delivery of high-quality education.

Modular, stackable and transferable qualifications.

As we worked to describe our vision of a new for-purpose Australian university for the future throughout last year, it appears we were mirroring the work of those people charged with describing a better for-purpose Australian university sector for the future.

We are working to create a university that will be top ranked for research, among the world’s best institutions for equality and social impact, and a leader for graduate employability.

These things can go together, and when they do, they foster and support a society that is inclusive, diverse and prosperous.

I think creating that type of society is central to how we think about the Accord – it’s not just about universities, it’s about community.

Putting my Universities Australia hat firmly back on now.

I want to stick with the theme of community for a moment.

In approaching this next phase of the Accord, we must think of ourselves and our sector as a community that exists to serve Australia and all Australians.

That means working together, as partners, to help deliver Australia’s prosperity, now and into the future.

It is a significant undertaking, but one that the Accord final report aims to make a reality through 25 years of generational change for higher education.

When we’re finished, these initiatives will have helped produce a more competitive, a more successful and a more prosperous Australia.

So, where do we begin?

The government’s intention is to establish an implementation advisory committee to prioritise the rollout of reforms. This is a welcome step and one we eagerly await further details on from Minister Clare.

At Universities Australia, we have already called on government to prioritise student support measures in the forthcoming federal budget.

This is in recognition of the Accord’s emphasis on meeting the nation’s current and future skills needs, and the need to arrest the current decline in university enrolments.

The new attainment targets outlined in the final report confirm that Australia’s future economy will be dependent on us producing more university graduates.

This will require broadening access and increasing enrolments among disadvantaged groups in society, which we strongly welcome.

Students are Australia’s hope.

We need them to study hard, to gain skills and do the research that will set our nation up for the future.

Students, like all other Australians, are battling cost-of-living pressures, and we know those pressures are chief among the factors turning people away from university.

Mary and the panel have put to government a series of sensible measures to support students financially.

Improved income support payments, paid placements, fee-free preparatory courses and modest changes to HECS.

These are all attainable in the near term and could move the dial on participation to address skills shortages.

The imperative is to act now, or we risk skills shortages plaguing our economy and the nation for decades to come.

Cost of living has been at the centre of the Albanese government’s first two federal budgets and with these challenges persisting in the economy, targeted support for students should be a key inclusion in any support package the Treasurer delivers to Australians in May.

As I wrote in The Australian last week, the complexity and cost of measures contained in the final report will determine where they fall in the pecking order.

But we must remember that the accord is a blueprint for multigenerational reform across several decades, requiring the support of successive governments.

Not everything can be funded immediately.

This is where the implementation advisory committee will play an important role in staggering the reforms government proceeds with.

I think one thing that’s not in doubt, from the Minister’s public comments and our discussions with government, is the Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

In many respects, a lot of the recommendations in the final report hang off the establishment of the ATEC and, if government proceeds down that path as we expect they will, we would like to be involved in the design process.

There are reforms in the final report that will take many, many years to implement.

We cannot afford to kick the can down the road – the sooner we start, the better.

But we must get it right – and that includes getting any incarnation of an ATEC right.

How big will it be?

How far will its powers extend?

Will it add value or just add another layer of red tape?

How will it differ to the functions already within the Department of Education?

Does it make sense for TEQSA and the Australian Research Council to sit within the ATEC structure?

Is it a permanent body or does it have a finite life span?

I could go on.

I know many of you have your own questions and views on the ATEC.

Its proposed establishment is perhaps the most urgent consultation needed of all the items in the final report, and I urge the government to include the sector in any design process around such significant structural reform.

Of course, It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge another recommendation dominating conversations and generating media coverage, and that is the proposed Higher Education Future Fund – recommendation 43.

As a sector we know we desperately need something which could replace the now defunct Education Investment Fund.

Closing the EIF was a calamitous decision by the former federal government and nearly five years on, we still have no dedicated government funding for general teaching and research infrastructure projects.

Any attempt which seeks to future proof our sector is a good thing and should be encouraged.

But there is of course great debate around how the HEFF should be funded.

That is a conversation we will have as a sector and with government, if and when the time comes.

It is fair to question the merit of universities contributing portions of their own funds to a communal fund when our sector is more financially vulnerable than at any other time in history, due to poor policy and pandemic consequence.

The sector is also grappling with a wholly unanticipated and avoidable financial hit associated with a drop in international students – stemming from the government’s recent changes to the visa processing system.

In the absence of dedicated government funding for infrastructure projects and declining government investment in research, our institutions have become more reliant on private sources of income to fund this important work.

But private funds and international student revenue cannot be cemented as a compensatory mechanism for a lack of sovereign public support in the core operation of our institutions.

And that is why the HEFF is a recommendation worth exploring and it is a debate I am looking forward to engaging in with our sector and with government.

I want to leave some time for questions, so I will leave it there.

But I will just reiterate what I said at the start, and that is my genuine excitement for getting on with the job in front of us – working together, as partners in prosperity, and with government to bring Mary’s vision for the third expansion of university education in Australia to life.

Thank you.