New Alliance Between Universities a Welcome Step Forward for NSW

Today I had the privilege of sitting down with a number of Vice-Chancellors to discuss the changing nature of the higher education landscape here in NSW.

The 21st century is a time of both extraordinary opportunity and significant challenge for our universities.

Indeed, the technological, political, social, and philosophical complexity of our world continues to grow exponentially.

Universities are crucial to understanding and harnessing this complexity.

Their scientists make the breakthroughs that drive technological innovation. Their campuses are incubators of ideologies that shape the policy platforms of the political parties that we elect to government. They are critical accelerators of social mobility. And they provide a forum within which we can debate the great philosophical questions of our time.  

Yet the ways in which universities here in Australia utilise their resources to add value to the ever changing landscapes of education, health, technology, and business remain compromised by inter-university rivalry and bloated internal bureaucracies.

In many ways our universities face an identity crisis as to what type of institution they want to be. Do they want to be large, generalist research institutions? Do they want to focus on rural and regional education? Do they want specialise in the teaching of certain degrees over others? Or do they want to focus their resources on solving problems specific to the communities in which they are based?

Of course most universities would presume to be many – if not all of the above. Yet, to do each effectively requires a far broader knowledge base and geographic spread than any one university can achieve.

This is why I observed with great interest the recent announcement of a formal alliance between UNSW, University of Newcastle, and University of Wollongong (the NUW Alliance).

As NSW Education Minister I welcome the ambition of this announcement.

While the NUW Alliance is the first university grouping of its kind in Australia, similar alliances already exist overseas – the two most obvious examples being the University of London (comprising of 18 different constituent colleges including University College London, the London School of Economics and Kings College), and the University of California (comprising of 10 different constituent colleges including Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego).

These collegiate university models have delivered significant value for their respective communities – both in terms of job creation and innovation, and in terms of increased access to higher education for those from low SES backgrounds.

While the NUW Alliance is obviously in its formative stages, I commend its Vice-Chancellors on setting out a proactive vision for the future – and I await with anticipation how the rest of the sector here in NSW (and around Australia more broadly) will respond.

For universities to remain relevant, they must deliver concrete economic and practical benefits for the communities in which they are situated. As the world changes so to must the institutions through which we learn about it. It is only though increased collaboration that our universities will make a lasting difference to the people, businesses, and communities of NSW.