Submission to the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment inquiry into the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025.
The Academy strongly supports the establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (the ATEC). Well designed, the ATEC will play a central role in shaping the future of tertiary education, promoting system harmonisation, long-term stewardship, and a coherent policy framework for tertiary education funding.
Recognising the complexity of overseeing reforms of this scale, we make five recommendations intended to clarify and further strengthen the Bill:
- Establish the ATEC as an independent statutory authority, separate from the Department of Education, enabling it to exert autonomy in recruitment processes, sourcing of expertise and providing advice.
- Increase the number of Commissioners to ensure that the ATEC has the leadership capacity and breadth of expertise required to perform its functions.
- Allow Commissioners to be recruited or seconded from the tertiary education sector, while ensuring that any conflicts of interest are appropriately managed.
- Ensure mission-based compacts foster genuinely diverse institutional missions and sector innovation, not just formal compliance with national strategic priorities.
- Ensure the legislation sets a clear framework for careful and comprehensive consideration of a funding system to underpin growth and equity in higher education.
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