Portfolio — 24 March 2026

The Minister for Education, Mr Clare, moved on two distinct fronts on 24 March, each carrying significant long-run implications for Australian higher education and research capacity.

On domestic access, the Minister announced that legislation to uncap funded university places for students from low-income families and regional areas will be introduced within two months. The measure is conditional on academic merit. The Minister framed it directly against the Universities Accord target requiring 80 per cent of the Australian workforce to hold a tertiary qualification by 2050, identifying Western Sydney and regional centres as the populations currently furthest from that benchmark [TA-260319-educat-7fe527ff8375].

This is the most concrete legislative timeline the Minister has set for the Accord's access commitments, and it anchors an ambition that has until now been stated as directional rather than calendared.

On international research, the Minister announced that the Australian Government will commence treaty negotiations to associate with Horizon Europe — the European Union's flagship research program — with the aim of enabling Australian organisations to access the $155 billion (AUD) pooled fund from early 2027 [TA-260324-educat-7d4d7e8fdeba]. The Minister described the scope of collaboration as spanning critical technologies, advanced computing, climate, clean energy, health, and critical minerals, with the Group of Eight universities named as joint supporters of the bid [TA-260324-educat-7d4d7e8fdeba].

The observations flag a connection to the Future Made in Australia frame, consistent with the government's broader positioning of research investment as industrial and sovereign capability policy — though the Minister's media release foregrounds the research partnership dimension rather than explicitly invoking that frame.

The two announcements sit in different legislative and diplomatic registers but point in the same direction: expanding the institutional reach of Australian higher education, both in who can access it domestically and in what research ecosystems it connects to globally. The Horizon Europe initiative carries a cross-portfolio dimension, touching foreign affairs and science policy alongside education.