There is rousing support for a merger between the University of Canberra (UC) and Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) following the resignation of the TAFE's CEO Margot McNeill this week.
Education Minister Jason Clare led a chorus of leaders and Canberrans in calling on the two institutions to explore closer ties yesterday, in an idea first floated by Denise Bradley in 2011.
UC boss Bill Shorten held a press conference today to announce that he was exploring closer ties, with hopes of moving toward a merged dual-sector institution.
Building on his mantle as the sector’s maverick voice, Professor Shorten emphasised that while the merger idea had been around for years, changes in the operating environment meant action was now necessary.
“With the rise of AI we cant rely on systems that have been around for 50 years,” Professor Shorten said.
“This has been spoken about before but I think with the rise of AI there is an expectation that people in post-school education work together rather than retaining siloes and fiefdoms.”
“I have been thinking about this since I have got here. CIT has lost its second CEO since I got here, taking a negative situation into a positive.”
Dr McNeill resigned as CIT CEO following an ACT Legislative Assembly enquiry found in May that she had ‘actively misled’ CIT’s board by not disclosing that she was under investigation by TAFE NSW for misconduct.
Dr McNeill was appointed in June 2025, following the resignation of CIT’s previous CEO Leanne Cover in June 2024, after the ACT Integrity Commission found she had engaged in seriously corrupt conduct. CIT banked a loss of $28.3 million last year.
Both CEO’s received severance payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars after opting to resign.
Professor Shorten said it would be important for CIT to retain its own identity as it approached its centenary next year, but there could be significant efficiencies in sharing facilities, administration systems and marketing. CIT has 13,000 students and UC has around 20,000.
“This would save taxpayers money. At the moment they are pouring money into CIT,” Professor Shorten said.
“In terms of students and enrolments I think we could offer cheaper education as a result. At the moment we duplicate everything, we have two separate infrastructures. Rather than duplicate two back offices lets grow together to grow the pie.
“I want to give CIT another hundred years, but at the moment it only has 16% of the enrolment of Vocational Education and Training in the Territory.”
Mr Clare encouraged the institutions to explore closer ties.
"This is an idea we should explore. We need to break down the artificial barrier between TAFE and uni," He said.