Attributable to Universities Australia Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy:

Thank you, Chair.

My name is Luke Sheehy, and I am the Chief Executive Officer of Universities Australia.

I represent Australia’s 39 comprehensive universities.

I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the various lands we are all gathered on today and pay my respects to elders past and present.

Universities Australia has already written to the committee as part of this inquiry, and I am happy to be here today to contribute to the discussion.

I will note at the outset that governance and industrial relations matters largely fall outside of Universities Australia’s remit.

These matters more fall under the responsibility of the University Chancellors Council and the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association.

What I can say is that Universities Australia welcomes every effort to make Australia’s universities the best places to study and work.

Good governance is crucial for good universities, and best practice should be embraced at every opportunity.

This inquiry comes in addition to various other initiatives aimed at improving university governance and Universities Australia is playing our part.

We are a member of the Government’s Expert Council on University Governance, and we have also been working closely with the Australian Higher Education and Industrial Association and the National Tertiary Education Union on ways to ensure universities are exemplary employers.

As this inquiry progresses, it is my hope that we can focus on real improvements and outcomes.

I say this because all too often, we see issues tangentially linked to governance framed as such and utilised for political purposes.

All this does is distract from the major policy and funding discussions that we should be prioritising in this Parliament.

Universities are critical to Australia’s growth and prosperity, but they are seriously underfunded at a time when our sector is being asked to do more heavy lifting to prepare Australia for the future.

Student funding arrangements are inadequate, government investment in research has never been lower and universities no longer receive dedicated infrastructure funding.

Our sector can’t expand in line with Australia’s growing need for skills and research under these conditions.

Chair, I do just want to highlight one other concern.

The inquiry’s focus on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency’s capacity to respond to and address governance issues may underplay the role of other jurisdictions.

In addition to Commonwealth legislation, universities are bound by state or territory arrangements and rules relating to governance.

The Expert Council on University Governance is exploring the complexity of these arrangements and just yesterday the Universities Australia Board received an update on this work.

It is important work – work that will make a difference – and we look forward to it being finalised in the coming months.

We are, and will, continue working closely with the council to support its work and to ensure this is a successful and valuable process.

I’m happy to take questions.

Thank you.