2024 was the year Australia doubled down on its ambition to create a stronger, fairer, and more future-ready higher education system as it works to implement recommendations laid out in the Universities Accord.
However, progress was overshadowed by policy turbulence, including the government’s ultimately thwarted attempt at legislating a cap international enrolments, which sent shockwaves through the sector.
The cap sparked fierce debate, with universities, industry leaders, and policymakers clashing over its potential to destabilise a critical pillar of the economy and the higher education system.
As we move into 2025 – saying farewell to contentious visa processing directive Ministerial Direction 107 and hello to newly implemented Ministerial Direction 111 – three leading experts in higher education reflect on the past year and look ahead to 2025, and beyond.
“Rebuilding this sector must be a priority,” said Luke Sheehy, CEO of peak body Universities Australia.
“By addressing barriers and supporting international education, Australia can reaffirm its status as a top destination for global talent. With world-class institutions and welcoming communities, we are well-placed to strengthen the partnerships and mutual benefits that make international education a cornerstone of global progress.
“The Australian Universities Accord outlines a clear vision for the future, calling for an expanded, more accessible and better-resourced higher education system. By 2050, universities must double the number of domestic students they educate annually – from 900,000 today to 1.8 million.”
Achieving this will require significant investment in teaching, research, and infrastructure, explained Sheehy, alongside strategies to rebuild and diversify international student markets.
Delivering on the Accord’s vision requires “immediate action” to address financial pressures and provide stability for universities to plan and grow, and this includes resources to expand access to education, boost participation and support the sector’s critical research efforts.
“These investments are not optional — they are the foundation of Australia’s economic and social future,” said Sheehy.
Importantly, Australia’s universities must be ready and willing to partner with the government, industry and communities to tackle the major challenges and opportunities ahead.
Sheehy added: “Together, we can ensure our nation thrives in an era of rapid technological, social, and environmental change. But this requires ambition and commitment. The question is no longer whether universities matter – it is whether we will support them to deliver. A stronger, more sustainable Australia depends on their success.”
“Australia’s higher education sector took a hammering in 2024,” said Vicki Thomson, chief executive and director of the Group of Eight.
“But our universities – as they have throughout history and in spite of political machinations – continued to deliver a high-quality education to both domestic and international students and undertake research to find solutions to our biggest challenges.”
The role and responsibility of universities in society today has never been more important, said Thomson.
“We are living in changing and challenging times. Social cohesion in Australia is at all time low, rising cost of living is adding to societal pressures, and the geopolitical situation is unstable.
“That universities are targeted, particularly during election periods is nothing new, but fortunately in late 2024, one of the more extreme politically motivated policies to impose a blunt cap on international student numbers was shelved, as the Coalition opposition and independent senators announced their intention to reject the government’s Bill.”
As a federal election looms in Australia, Thomson predicts that the country’s higher education sector will face further policy changes, potentially scapegoated in the political debates around migration and cost of living as seen in other destinations around the globe.
Looking ahead, Thomson would like to see a bipartisan National Research Strategy to grow research and development and build a more resilient and dynamic economy – “a strategy that sets a dedicated framework to support research in Australia for generations to come”.
“The Australian government must adopt a target to lift Australia’s R&D intensity to 3% of GDP by 2035,” said Thomson.
“For too long we have operated under a distorted funding model whereby international fee revenue props up our national university research effort – 70% of which takes place in Go8 Universities – and our domestic teaching.
“If we work together – universities, industry and governments – to develop a funding model for higher education that isn’t overly reliant on international student fee revenue to fund vital research and educate our domestic students, we can circumvent unnecessary and potentially damaging election rhetoric and create a university sector that accelerates a prosperous 21st century modern Australian economy.”
“2024 was an exciting year for universities in Australia. And challenging,” noted Colin B. Grant, deputy vice chancellor global, University of New South Wales.
“The Universities Accord offered many welcome breakthroughs, while the topic of immigration became enmeshed with proposed caps on inflows of international students who are a vital part of the innovation engine and cultural richness of the country.”
Grant observed that universities are not immune from the pressures of the global political landscape – a crucial point to keep in mind as we enter 2025.
“Universities will need to be prepared for ongoing domestic political challenge and opportunity. They will also need to navigate ongoing global uncertainty amidst looming tariff wars, shifting fault lines in the Middle East, and challenges to the rules-based international order.”
All of this reinforces universities role as catalysts for progress even more prominent, he explained.
“Universities are important drivers of progress. They have a central role in empowering local communities, supporting national resilience and intercultural understanding. They will remain vital bridges in local communities, national resilience and international understanding.”
However, the funding model for universities in developed economies has “long positioned higher education in a strategic dilemma,” said Grant.
“On the one hand, higher education remains a public good. On the other, it is also a merit good where funding for research is heavily subsidised by fee-paying international students.
“That financial sustainability will remain vital to realising the ambition of the Universities Accord. The Accord rightly highlights the importance of student success and equity. But universities are also vital in powering the world-class research that generates new knowledge through education and innovation. More work needs to be done to ensure that research is recognised and fully funded. It is a critical long-term investment in national and regional resilience and productivity that will drive opportunity and progress for all.
The dilemma of the hybrid funding model will remain firmly in place in 2025, predicts Grant.
“There are currently no signs that any major developed economy will go back to the future and fund universities through general taxation or other forms of broader support from across the innovation ecosystem (eg corporate social responsibility schemes). This reality in turn will maintain pressure on universities to maximise revenue for future education and research investment. Political framing will mean that immigration remains a first-order political battleground,” said Grant.
“Universities are institutions that need to remain open to the world and to local communities.”
Universities are institutions that need to remain open to the world and to local communities
Colin B. Grant, UNSW
“They build resilience through that very openness and the warm welcome extended to all irrespective of background. There is therefore an opportunity for universities to continue to generate trust with citizens, industry and political decision-makers by creating opportunity for many under-represented domestic cohorts.
“Equally, universities can achieve significant societal impact by varying their delivery models for both national and international cohorts. They can also explore new modes for delivering high-impact education and lifelong learning overseas.”
Grant believes that alongside the “welcome Canberra advocacy” for transnational education – where delivering education and research overseas deepens trust, generates prosperity, and strengthens trade and transparency – there is also a compelling opportunity for universities to collaborate more closely with industry and services within Australia.
“By working more closely together, universities, industry and professional accrediting bodies could support open innovation and build resilience at home and abroad,” he said. “That resilience needs to be built at home through the power of education and the advanced research that informs our everyday lives in areas such as precision healthcare, advanced materials, environmental remediation, vaccine development and digital empowerment.”
