Properly harnessing the talents of our people and research potential is crucial for our long-term prosperity, spurring innovation, economic growth and diversity through the development of new technologies, products and processes.
Universities are central to this task. They deliver the skilled workers our economy demands and drive innovation through research to deliver the productivity gains Australia desperately needs. The Australian Universities Accord found that our country needs more of both to lift productivity and living standards as Australia makes the shift from fossil fuels to renewables, from information technology to artificial intelligence and from a younger to an older population.
With productivity crawling at its slowest pace in 60 years, our submission outlines what universities are, and will continue, doing to address this national challenge. It also provides government with some practical ideas and ways to support our sector’s role in lifting productivity and spurring economic development. We note that several of the government’s existing policy initiatives can drive economy-wide productivity gains, including the Australian Universities accord, the Strategic Examination of Research and Development, the interim Australian Tertiary Education Commission and the work of Jobs and Skills Australia. These processes should complement the Economic Reform Roundtable process.
We encourage the government to prioritise reforms to existing policy settings that are currently hampering universities’ ability to meet Australia’s skills needs, starting with replacing the Job-ready Graduates (JRG) Package. JRG is a barrier to building Australia’s future workforce, particularly in relation to humanities and social sciences disciplines, and we urge the government to urgently fix the perverse incentives and inefficiencies this system has entrenched for providers.
Lifting productivity is one of the biggest challenges facing our nation and it’s going to require a big national effort to turn it around. It cannot be done in isolation. Universities Australia is a proud member of the Joint Group of Industry Associations, led by the Business Council of Australia. This group reaches across all parts of the economy and reflects our joint commitment to contributing productivity solutions. We will continue to work with government, industry and workforces to provide the skills our economy demands and drive innovation through research to deliver a better, brighter future for all Australians, where no one is left behind.
