UA's annual NPC address, Ministerial Direction 107, ESOS Bill: Latest rundown of higher education

From the Chief Executive Officer

It’s been a big week! It was so good to see so many of you in Canberra on Wednesday for UA’s annual National Press Club of Australia address and our Plenary meeting – it was a real show of force by our sector in the nation’s capital against the backdrop of Parliament sitting. At the Press Club, David Lloyd delivered a powerful and timely speech as we head toward the next election, calling on Labor and the Coalition to take the politics out of higher education and provide bipartisan support and encouragement of our sector to enable us to deliver for the nation.?

As David highlighted, universities have a central role to play in building Australia’s future and unlocking our prosperity through the education of an additional one million students by 2050. Meeting this target will involve opening the door to university for more Australians from underrepresented groups – a very worthy endeavour.??

I also agree with the sentiment in David’s speech that the Government’s crackdown on international students, not only supported but propelled by the federal opposition, is just the latest political play against universities. A sector that is so important to Australia’s future deserves better than this, as do the talented individuals we will soon be having to turn away under the caps.?

With the new academic year fast approaching and the window in which to confirm enrolments for 2025 closing just as quickly, I recognise there is a growing desire for certainty. We are continuing to engage with the relevant ministerial offices in pursuit of this goal. Unfortunately, as David flagged in his update yesterday, Minister Clare is standing firm on Ministerial Direction 107 remaining in place until the ESOS Bill passes. The Government, unsurprisingly given its efforts to manage the political pressures around high migration numbers, is obviously not keen to remove one mechanism for controlling student visas without having another in place.?

Chances of the ESOS Bill being debated in the Senate next week are now non-existent, with the Coalition forcing a fourth public hearing, scheduled for 2 October, and pushing the Committee’s reporting date out to 8 October. Submissions are also open again until 26 September. We’re hearing the focus of the fourth hearing will be on private providers. What this means is that the bill is unlikely to be debated in the upper house before the November sitting week. The political odds might be against us, but we will continue to advocate for the immediate removal of MD107 on behalf of the sector.??

On a different topic, this morning I appeared before the public hearing into the Senate inquiry into civics education, engagement and participation in Australia and our sector’s role in supporting this important endeavour. It was a nice change of pace to the frantic nature of the international education policy environment that continues to dominate much of our time in Canberra.?

Thanks again to those of you who travelled to Canberra this week in support of our sector and UA – I appreciate it is a very busy period for all, so your time and participation was very much appreciated. I’ll leave it there for today. I hope you all have a great weekend!?

Luke Sheehy

Chief Executive Officer, Universities Australia