The Albanese government’s decisive election victory has delivered more than just numbers in Parliament. It’s handed the Prime Minister something rare in Australian politics: the breathing space to pursue a long-term vision grounded in national interest rather than electoral short-termism.
And we need it, because short-term thinking is incompatible with the scale of the challenges ahead. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has already flagged that the burning issue for Labor’s second term will be lifting productivity – an issue as desperately critical to maintaining Australia’s prosperity and competitiveness as it is unsexy to the voting public.
The productivity debate tends to be dominated by tax and IR reform, deregulation and industry policy, all of which are no doubt critical to boosting business investment. But fundamentally, productivity is about finding better ways of doing things.
On a micro scale, that means critically analysing existing practices, thinking creatively about possible approaches, and developing and adopting new ideas, technologies and solutions. On a macro scale, it requires us to confront the narrowness of our industrial base – the outdated model of “extract, export, repeat” to which our economy remains tethered – and build capacity in new, knowledge-intensive industries.
Neither of these things can be driven by government alone. They require deep partnership with business and community, but also – critically – with the higher education sector.
Indeed, if we are serious about lifting productivity, we will need to stop framing universities as the problem, and start recognising them as an essential part of the solution.
For a start, we rely on universities to deliver the highly skilled, creative and innovative workforce our nation needs. The Government’s goal of boosting tertiary participation to 80% by 2050 is inextricably tied to the productivity and national competitiveness agenda – which inherently means complexity of the economy – and it requires the number of Commonwealth-supported students in universities to more than double.
But no timeline or funding model for this expansion of the sector has been announced, and in the meantime, many universities are making deep cuts to just remain financially viable, after the restrictions on international student growth derailed their COVID recovery plans.
It is time to provide clarity and certainty around the implementation of the University Accord’s recommendations, before the foundations of the sector have been weakened further.
In this light, international education too must be reframed. It’s not just a revenue stream (though there is categorically no other service we sell to the world that brings more prosperity to the nation). It’s a vector for influence, a means of forging enduring international relationships, and a platform for projecting Australian expertise globally.
To treat international students as a problem to be managed rather than a strategic asset is not only economically self-defeating but diplomatically short-sighted. We can only hope that the confidence imparted by a thumping majority will embolden the government to belatedly own to this privately acknowledged truth.
The most transformative productivity gains of all, however, would be unlocked by better leveraging of our world-class research capability. Australia punches way above its weight in terms of research, the vast majority of which is done in our universities. Yet we still lag in translating this research into the technologies, practices and industries that would most boost our productivity and diversify our industry base.
Universities are keenly aware of the need to work with industry to ensure their research efforts are addressing real-world needs and finding translation pathways. My own institution, The University of Technology Sydney, has made industry connectedness a defining feature of its identity, purpose and practice, and continues to iterate its approach to be a more proactive and constructive partner to industry.
But bridging the innovation ‘valley of death’ – the middle stages of technology development, where university expertise and resources tap out – will require a more wholesale approach than universities can manage alone.
Decades’ worth of successive reviews have called for a re-imagining of our national R&D infrastructure to close the research translation gap. The latest in this series, the government’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development, is due to report by the end of 2025.
We can only hope the Independent Expert Panel will deliver not just a case, but a compelling vision for this re-imagining, and that an emboldened Labor government will have the courage to provide the targeted funding required to unlock the tremendous potential of Australian research.
Labor doesn’t need to be a government for universities. But they should be one that recognises the vital role universities play in producing the skilled workers and generating the new ideas, solutions and services that will lift our productivity, power our future industries, and build our sovereign capability in an increasingly uncertain world.
Past Labor governments led some of the most significant reforms in higher education, expanding access to university to those who might never have considered it an option. Now is the time to build on that legacy, by investing in the innovation and human capital that will secure Australia’s continued prosperity.
Dr Alana Piper is Deputy Vice-Chancellor External Engagement and Partnerships at the University of Technology Sydney
