Submission to Standing Committee on Social Issues to provide comment on the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the New South Wales University Sector
Submission date: 17 October 2025
Published date: 9 December 2025
PWDA) welcomes this opportunity to provide comment on the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the New South Wales University Sector.
PWDA are funded to provide cross-disability systemic advocacy on behalf of people with disability in NSW under the Department of Communities and Justice's Disability Advocacy Futures Program.
Students with disability have a poor experience of higher education
The number of undergraduate students in Australia reporting a disability has steadily increased. In 2022 it was estimated at 11% (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2025). Other recent sources indicate that in 2023 students with disability had risen to 12.7% of the undergraduate cohort (Cadby et al, 2024).
However, since 2017 at least, undergraduate and postgraduate students with disability have consistently rated their overall educational experience lower than those students without disability. They have similarly rated their experience lower than students without disability across all five specific focus areas measured by the National Student Experience Survey (Skills development; Peer engagement; Teaching quality and engagement; Student support and services; and Learning resources).
Governance structures must reflect lived experience
It is recognised that simply having rights 'recognised' does not lead to the actual realisation of those rights. This is the case for both students and staff with disability at Australian universities.
If university governance arrangements are to meaningfully promote accessibility, achieve public benefit, and support diversity, inclusion and access for disadvantaged groups, systemic change in governance is required.
This must start with people with disability for example being in key leadership positions.
University governing bodies must reflect community diversity and ensure direct lived experience informs decision-making.
Recommendations
We note the current Australian Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry into Quality and governance at Australian high education providers.
The Interim Report was released on 19 September 2025. In the context of this submission, PWDA is generally supportive of these recommendations from the Interim Report:
- Recommendation 1, to improve transparency and accountability of governing bodies.
- Recommendations 5 and 6, to ensure people on governing bodies have proper public administration and higher education expertise/skills, and that governing bodies contain staff and undergraduate and postgraduate students on governing bodies.
- Recommendation 12, to require universities to improve complaints processes.
