With only a few weeks until four Vice-Chancellors share their visions for rekindling connection and support for Australian universities at HE FEST, two international studies have cast light on public misperceptions of higher education institutions.
Barely a day has gone by in the past month without headlines quoting staff, unions and /or parliamentarians proclaiming the sector has major failings or lost its way, but what to Australians really think? Private polling looking at what middle Australia thinks of universities is not being released, suggesting that either the results or the polling process was bad – or that additional weak results simply add to the welter of criticism that the sector is enduring.
With little insight into local attitudes and certainly no effective campaign from Government or sector to salvage reputation yet unveiled, it is instructive to instead look at perceptions offshore.
A UK study has shown significant discrepancies between perceptions of universities and reality.
The Kings College London Higher Education Policy Institute study involved a survey of more than 2,000 people in the UK to understand their perception of the value and impact of UK universities.
Key findings include:
- Undervalued qualifications: The public guessed that 40% of graduates would not go to university if they could choose again, but the actual proportion is 8%
- When asked to rank which institutions generated the most revenue from a selection of well-known British brands, there was little awareness of the economic significance of universities – 94% ranked the Greggs bakery chain higher than the University of Oxford
- Only 17% of the public realised university fees (frozen for eight years in the UK until the 2025-26 intake) had not kept up with inflation.
The public did guess fairly accurately at the proportion of over 30 year olds with a degree (38%).
Across the Atlantic, in the US, a May poll by the Associated Press NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found that the majority of democrats and republicans favoured maintaining federal funding for scientific and medical research at colleges and universities, despite the Trump Administrations move to cut funding.
The centre reported that 62% of the 1,175 Americans participating in the poll strongly or somewhat favoured maintaining funding for scientific and medical research, while only 30% supported removing their tax-exempt status and 27% supported withholding federal funding unless they complied with the Trump Administration’s requirements.
While the majority supported the work of tertiary institutions, 85% were also price sensitive – expressing concern about the cost of college tuition. Interestingly, while the culture wars still prevail on party lines, 66% said they were concerned about liberal bias on campuses, including 51% of democrats and 85% of republicans.
The provision of support for underrepresented groups was much more divisive, with diversity equity and inclusion programs strongly opposed by 60% of republicans compared to just 5% of democrats. Scholarships for underrepresented groups were supported by 72% of democrats and just 25% of republicans.
Which leaves FC with many questions, but particularly this one: given all the conversations about the sector’s social licence crisis, who is doing publicly-available research dissecting what Australians think about higher education and why?