Address to the AFR Higher Education Summit

Can I thank the AFR for inviting me to speak today. This is the fifth time I have had this opportunity. And I appreciate it.

It gives me a chance to give you an update on what’s happening, and the big things to watch out for over the next few months. And there’s a lot happening. When I was here last year the ATEC bill was about to be introduced.

It’s now passed. Commissioners have been appointed. Can I take this opportunity to thank Barney Glover for taking on the role of Chief Commissioner.

It’s a big job and he is the right person for it. He’s run universities. He’s run JSA.

He helped write the Accord. He knows the problems we have got to fix and the big reforms we have got to make. He gets it.

And he knows how important you are and how important all of this is for Australia. Barney and the team are working on a bunch of things right now. The most important are the first university compacts.

Can I thank everyone here for the way you have lent into this. The feedback I have got so far has been incredibly positive. The compacts will hopefully be finalised next month.

And they will set out each university’s domestic load for next year. As part of this the ATEC will allocate about 36,000 more CSPs. About 20,000 to universities that are currently over enrolled and only getting the student contribution for those places at the moment.

And about 16,000 more places right across the system. There is another important Bill in the Parliament at the moment. This will put muscle on the bones of the ATEC.

It will give it the power it needs to manage all the growth that’s coming and make the system fairer. It will help more kids from poor families and from the regions and the most remote parts of the country get a chance to go to university. And get the help they need when they get there.

In 2023, I introduced laws that guaranteed a place at university for every indigenous student who has what it takes to take on a course they want to do. In the last three years the number of indigenous students starting a higher education course has jumped by nearly 13 per cent. And preliminary data indicates it’s up again this year.

The Bill in the Parliament extends the same sort of system to all kids from poor families and all kids from the regions and the bush. If you have got what it takes you will get a place. It also puts in place Needs-based Funding.

Think Gonski for universities. The school funding system provides schools with extra funding based on where they're located and the needs of the students they educate. Students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds receive additional support.

So do schools in the regions and the bush. The Accord recommends that we do the same sort of thing for universities, and it does that for a reason. The evidence tells us that students from low-SES backgrounds and students from the regions and the bush are less likely to start a university degree.

They're also less likely to finish it. The data indicates they're up to twice as likely to drop out after their first year at university than other students. That's why Needs-based Funding is important.

It will provide funding for things like tutoring, mentoring and other academic support and direct financial assistance like scholarships and emergency grants. There have been other programs, like HEPPP, that did this. But funding for those programs was capped.

This is different. This is demand driven. The more students a university has that meet the criteria, the more funding they'll receive.

The more students there are at a regional campus, the more funding that university will receive as well. I do have to admit this legislation isn’t universally popular. The Liberal Party call it “socialism”.

They have called it “Moscow on the Molonglo”. But they also haven’t said they are going to vote against it. And I suspect all of that rhetoric will look pretty silly when the National Party work what this means for kids in their communities.

Think about this. In NSW at universities like Charles Sturt, that have campuses in Wagga, and Orange, and Bathurst, and Dubbo, and Albury-Wodonga, and Port Macquarie, it means thousands more kids going there and somewhere between $200 million and $500 million in extra funding over the next decade. In Queensland at universities like Central Queensland, with campuses in Townsville, and Rockhampton, and Mackay, and Bundaberg, and Cairns, and Gladstone, and Emerald, it could mean up to $260 million in extra funding over the next decade.

That’s an extra three quarters of a billion flowing into these towns. And it’s the same story in other parts of the country where there are regional universities. Surely the National Party aren’t going to vote against that?

And if they vote for it, the Liberals have to as well. So, you might want to hold the front page, because I suspect in the next few weeks the Liberals are going to vote for “socialism”. Something else we have just announced is the extension of Paid Prac.

This is another big recommendation of the Accord. What the Accord made clear is it’s not just the cost of degrees that’s important, it’s the cost of living while you’re getting it. And when you are doing your prac that gets even harder.

It can sometimes mean you have to give up your part time job. Sometimes it can mean paying rent in two places at once. At the place you normally live in, and the place a couple of hundred kilometres away, where you are doing your prac.

It’s a reason why some students don’t finish. And it’s why we created Paid Prac. We started last year with teaching and nursing and midwifery and social work.

And now we are extending it to ten more frontline health professions. Clinical Psychology; Physiotherapy; Occupational Therapy; Speech Pathology; Radiography; Pharmacy; Rehabilitation Therapies; Audiology; Podiatry; and Paramedicine. Again, I want to take the opportunity to say thank you.

Thank you for how you have implemented this. For making it work. It’s only because of this that I have been able to make the case that we should go bigger and wider and extend it to ten more courses.

I said a minute ago the ATEC is working on a couple things. One of those is teaching. The Accord talked about this and the ATEC asked Emeritus Professor Liz Johnson for advice on how to improve the professionalism, quality and capability of teaching at universities.

She has now completed that work, and I am releasing it today. It makes the point that teaching quality varies across the sector. It makes it clear that good teaching is a learned skill.

That it’s complex and dynamic. It’s multimodal. And it’s all being upended by AI.

It also makes the argument for system wide reform. It makes the point that universities, unlike other parts of the education system, don’t require some form of mandated teacher accreditation and ongoing professional learning, and it says that should change. It recommends the ATEC set new standards for teaching practices, agreed measures for teaching qualifications and minimum standards for professional learning.

And it recommends amending the Higher Education Standards Framework to introduce a new Standard for teaching practices, focusing on things like evidence-based practice and continuous improvement. It also recommends a Higher Education Teaching Hub is set up within the ATEC to provide support, guidance, and coordinate implementation. There is a lot in Professor Johnson’s report, and it’s the result of a lot of work with people in this room.

With universities, with regulators, with unions and with students. Thank you for all of that. This sort of reform only works if we are all part of it.

And I am keen now to get your feedback on it. As you know I have also asked the ATEC to work on ways to break down the barriers between TAFE and university. To make it easier and faster and cheaper to get a degree if you already have a TAFE qualification in the same area.

At the moment it’s kind of potluck. Let me give you an example. If you have a Cert IV in School Based Education Support and you want to become a school teacher, some universities will take a year off your teaching degree, some will take six months, some will take three months, some will take nothing off at all.

I think we can do a better job here. If not set a standard, at least make it easier for students to pick the cheapest and fastest path. That’s why I have asked the ATEC to put together something that makes it easier to compare what every university has to offer.

I want that out by the end of the year. And as a bit of an incentive, I have asked the ATEC to provide more CSPs to universities that lean into this and make it quicker and cheaper for students to move between TAFE and uni. The ATEC is also trying to get a better grip on the real costs of teaching and learning.

This work is being led by Professor Stephen Duckett supported by a Working Group, and some of that team are here today. They are looking at the whole box and dice. Cost drivers like teaching, research, infrastructure, and student support services.

International comparisons. And institutional context, like location, scale and mission. They have completed an initial pilot, that will be expanded in the months ahead and we will get their final report and advice later next year.

I have also asked the ATEC to look at the Threshold Standards and make sure they properly address the challenges we face with research security. I don’t think I need to remind anyone in this room why this is important. It’s just one part of the work happening across government and with universities to get this right.

The Foreign Minister has legislation in the Parliament on foreign arrangements and UFIT and Universities Australia are also working on developing stronger methods to manage researcher-to-researcher collaboration risks. There is a lot of work we have to do to improve the way our universities work. To meet the sort of standards that students expect.

That staff expect. And that the community expects. That’s what the Student Ombudsman is about.

It’s what the Code on Gender Based Violence is about. And it’s what the changes last month to the Threshold Standards are about. They do two things.

They set a standard for tackling racism at universities, in all its forms. And they embed into the Standards the recommendations of the Governance Review that I commissioned last year. In the next few months, I will take the next step and introduce legislation to give TEQSA better tools to do its job.

I talked about this for the first time at this conference last year. I said part of the problem is at the moment TEQSA has a sledgehammer and a feather and not much in-between. And over the last 12 months there has been a lot of consultation on what reform should look like.

I can tell you today the Bill will make compliance with the Higher Education Standards Framework a condition of registration. And it will give TEQSA the power to direct a provider to fix non-compliance with these Standards at any time. It will also give TEQSA stronger powers to consider systemic risks to the sector.

This includes racism and governance failures, as well as other new and emerging risks. In taking any action, TEQSA will be required to consider the impact on students and the reputation and integrity of Australia’s higher education sector. The Bill will also give TEQSA the ability to fine providers that breach the Threshold Standards.

And existing civil penalties will be increased from the current maximum of around $40,000 to more than $2 million. But this Bill isn’t just about improving the operation and regulation of the sector. It is also about improving the way TEQSA works and the way it is governed.

You have told me sometimes TEQSA is too slow. That requests can duplicate information already provided, or that it can take too long to get an outcome on administrative matters. TEQSA has told me that too.

The changes in the Bill mean TEQSA will be able to target its resources where they are really needed and reduce the regulatory burden on high quality providers. That includes repealing requirements for non-self accrediting providers to apply for renewal of course accreditation. It also means reforming TEQSA’s governance arrangements, and I am working on that at the moment.

I can also tell you today that the Bill I introduce will amend the Australian National University Act. These amendments respond to advice I have received from TEQSA. They will reinforce the role and responsibilities of the ANU Council with respect to institutional culture.

They will require the ANU Council to have an equal number of elected and ministerially appointed members, and ensure the Council is representative of the community and has the appropriate skills and experience to enable the ANU to fulfil its mission. That includes higher education governance or public sector experience, financial expertise, gender diversity and First Nations representation.

And adds the Chair of ANU’s Academic Board as an ex officio member. They will also ensure that responsibility for appointing members to the Nominations Committee is held by the full ANU Council. And they will reflect in the ANU Act the best practice governance approach that we have put into the Threshold Standards and that were recommended by the Governance Review I spoke about a moment ago.

I said back in February that this is a year where reform kicks into another gear. Where the big structural reforms start to take shape. And where the things that have put universities on the front page for the wrong reasons need to be fixed.

And I hope you can see that in what I have talked about today. I don’t like it when people say universities are overrated or friendless. It’s not true.

I know how important every single person in this room is and the institutions you work for. I know how important you are in making the future our kids will live in. The things you will discover.

The diseases you will cure. The businesses you will create. The lives you will change.

Universities really are the great hope for anyone seeking a better world. And a better country. Not a bitter one.

And I want our universities to be better too. That’s what the Accord is about. That’s what all of this is about.

And none of it happens without you. You are the essential ingredient in all of this. It’s the privilege of my life to do this job and to get to work with you.

I can’t get this right without you. That’s why I use speeches like this to give you a sense direction and what lies ahead. But also to engage you.

To work out the details with you. To give everyone in this room the respect that you deserve. And to make sure we get it right.

If you know me, you know that’s just the way I work. I am not an expert. I don’t pretend to be the smartest person in the room.

But I do know where I want to get too. And I know the smartest people in this room can help us get there. That’s why I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you again today.