2025 UA Solutions Summit, People's choice voting in the Shaping Australia Awards: Latest rundown of higher education
From the Chief Executive Officer
I’m excited to let you know that next week, we’ll be opening registrations for the 2025 Universities Australia Solutions Summit! As you all know, this is a significant event for the sector – made even more important in 2025 being in a federal election year. We are very busy behind the scenes pulling together an exciting program of speakers which we will be sharing with you all very soon. Next year’s event will again take place in Canberra from 25-26 February. Keep an eye out next week for more information landing in your inbox!
It's been another busy week this week as we edge closer to the end of the year. On Wednesday, I spent the day in beautiful Wagga Wagga visiting Renée Leon and the team at Charles Sturt University . This was one of the final stops on my listening tour which, as you have all heard me say before, has been an enriching experience as I seek to better understand the unique characteristics of each of our members. My thanks to Renee for this valuable time in the Riverina! I only have a couple of stops left on my listening tour and I look forward to seeing those members on campus shortly!
In parliamentary news, we learned this week that the Government will refer the inquiry into anti-semitism at Australian universities to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (PJCHR), in line with the Senate’s recommendation. Terms of reference for the inquiry are not yet available, but we do know it has been asked to report by 31 March 2025. If an election is called prior to this date, the inquiry will be pushed out to the next term of parliament. We’ll keep you updated as further information becomes available. The PJCHR is chaired by Josh Burns, who I have met with a few times already this year and will be engaging with again through this process.
I am also meeting with Jillian Segal, the Government’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, next week to assist with the work she is doing around a definition for anti-semitism in Australia. And just yesterday, I participated in the TEQSA-led discussion on social cohesion on campuses. I had been working closely with Dr Mary Russell in the lead up to ensure this was a dialogue rather than another regulatory intervention and I think yesterday’s discussion reflected that desire.
Yesterday, I also appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) as part of its inquiry into the Government’s cyber security legislative package. UA is broadly supportive of the legislation, but we do have some concerns around the increased reporting obligations and duplicative requirements for universities contained therein. We have highlighted these concerns in our submission to the inquiry, but it was good to be able to reinforce them again yesterday.
Parliament returns next week, and Senate estimates will be in session. We’ll be monitoring things closely across the week on your behalf and, as always, we’ll be distributing a key issues brief to members at the end of proceedings.
I hope you all received your invitations to our end-of-year thank you event at Parliament House on 27 November 2024. It would be wonderful to see as many of you there as possible! And just finally, a reminder that people’s choice voting in the Shaping Australia Awards is now open! We have already received over 3,600 votes. Jump online and cast your vote now!
I’ll leave it there for today. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Chief Executive Officer, Universities Australia
PARLIAMENTARY UPDATE
CHIEF ECONOMIST’S UPDATE
There is a significant risk of undershooting Minister Jason Clare MP ’s stated goal of re-achieving 2023 international student levels in 2025. The havoc of Ministerial Direction 107 and confusion over definitions makes judgement difficult. However, momentum in the market has likely slowed significantly in recent months, below 2023 levels. If this carries into 2025, this creates a risk of undershooting any cap, as is reportedly occurring in Canada.
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Visa applications have fallen by 25 per cent since the same time last year, while actual commencements of students new to PRISMS are down 22 per cent. There is a significant pick-up in students leaving.
MEDIA UPDATE
Our media activity since 19 October 2024 has generated 121 mentions and reached a potential audience of more than one million people across online, print, radio and television platforms.
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