Today we have released the Australian Universities Accord Discussion Paper.
The Discussion Paper calls for ideas that can help reshape and reimagine Australia's higher education sector.
The Australian Universities Accord process provides a unique opportunity to plan for the future over a 10, 20 and 30-year horizon.
The Discussion Paper seeks input on the major challenges and opportunities facing the sector, including:
- Meeting Australia's knowledge and skills needs
- Access and opportunity
- Investment and affordability
- Governance, accountability, and community
- The connection between the vocational education and training and higher education systems
- Quality and sustainability
- International Education
- Delivering new knowledge, innovation, and capability
Submissions are open on the Accord website until 11 April 2023.
As part of the development of the Discussion Paper, the Australian Universities Accord Panel received more than 180 submissions, which can be found here.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:
"We want ideas that can help reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond.
"More than nine in ten jobs in the future will require post-school qualifications, so it is critical that we build a higher education sector that is fit-for-purpose.
"This is about creating a sector that meets future skills needs and delivers real opportunity for all Australians regardless of their background.
"I want this to deliver a blueprint for real and long-lasting change."
Quotes attributable to Accord Panel Chair Professor Mary O'Kane AC:
"Australian higher education is very good by world standards. But we need it to do more to bridge a large part of the skills gap and to increase significantly the production of new knowledge in areas of national need.
"We want to hear big ideas. Think outside of the box, and beyond the immediate challenges and pressures to 30 years in the future. Ask yourself, what kind of system does Australia need in 2030, 2040 and 2050, and what can we do to get there together?
"Tell us how to enable the system to do this and to do it quickly. Be bold and lateral in your suggestions. Draw on international evidence and individual experiences."
