AFR Higher Education Summit 2024
Yesterday I attended the AFR’s Higher Education Summit in Sydney. Attendees heard that “the sector is facing daunting headwinds”. With universities poised for the imminent government announcement regarding international student caps, Minister Clare didn’t give away any hints. Go8 Vice-Chancellors shared their concerns around caps and the flow on impact to critical research.
Clearly, there are some big challenges ahead for the sector. There was good discussion around the student experience and the challenges of balancing changing needs of modern-day students.
Speaker Highlights
- Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education, reiterated his commitment to The Accord and discussed progress to date with paid prac’s and establishment of the National Student Ombudsman. He also highlighted a 50% increase in international students within VET.
- Professor Sharon Pickering, Vice-Chancellor and President, Monash University, spoke of the reputational damage of introducing caps, noting that if we make it harder for students, they will go elsewhere, as occurred when Canada introduced similar caps. Our student visa costs are already some of the highest in the world and students expect choice when selecting their preferred university.
- Professor Mark Scott AO, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Sydney, spoke of the risk of caps harming a major export market and the direct relationship to funding world class research. He also spoke about the value of international students being long term friends of Australia.
- Professor Genevieve Bell, Vice-Chancellor and President, Australian National University, discussed the inevitability of AI as a major disruptor in the sector, and emphasised the need to work out how to teach AI critically and incorporate it into the curriculum, rather than ban it altogether.
- Professor Emma Johnston, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, University of Sydney, spoke about the benefit of government incentives for R&D within the business sector and industry to further encourage research partnerships with universities.
- Professor Duncan Maskell, outgoing Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne, highlighted the tension between policy settings and the need for greater research funding. He claims “We’ve got to do a lot of work now, a lot of investment right now, to build the institutions and to build the teaching cohort that we’re going to need to teach these students.” (AFR, August 2024)
Congratulations to AFR for facilitating an excellent event and valuable discussion with sector leaders.
