Editor’s note:Tonight marked the first major speech by the Australian Government’s brand new custodian of higher education, Barney Glover. It covered so many topics significant to anyone working within the sector that we have presented insights from the speech and an additional interview with Future Campus this week in a longer format below. Professor Glover serves as Chief Commissioner of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC).
The Australian Tertiary Education Commission will be an independent custodian of the sector – calling out issues to Government and also to the universities it oversees in a bid to create a stronger, more sustainable managed system.
In his first major speech as Chief Commissioner of ATEC last night, Barney Glover dismantled suggestions that the new entity was going to be a lapdog of the Government, or beholden to sector interests.
Criticising failures of government policy and identifying how much work was yet to do, Professor Glover fundamentally reset sector understanding and default positioning of ATEC as a lapdog of the Minister – or an agency captive to sector interests.
The speech covered such vast swathes of policy and so clearly demarcated the role of the new Commission that it singlehandedly recalibrated the role and positioning of his Commission as a critically-important independent voice seeking to build a stronger sector from the inside out.
Professor Glover contrasted the role of ASQA and TEQSA as regulators that needed to focus on process and compliance, and the stewardship responsibility of ATEC, charged with guiding the sector forward.
“A steward must sometimes say the uncomfortable thing early, rather than the comfortable thing late,” Professor Glover said.
“A steward must sometimes engage before the crisis is undeniable. A steward must sometimes hold an institution to account while simultaneously helping it to succeed.
“That is a difficult line to walk. But it is the line the ATEC should walk.”
ATEC should step in, not to punish, but rather as a partner to help institutions succeed, Professor Glover said. Many issues were compounded by inaction or delay, he said.
“Stepping in constructively should be a characteristic of the ATEC,” he said. ATEC was ready to value add in working with both institutions and government to shape the system, and its people would bring expertise, but also their own perspectives to the table.
“A system steward must be transparent about the values it brings to the task. Stewardship without stated principles is little more than administration,” Professor Glover said.
Government cops heat on international ed and research
While acknowledging the “complexities of the current debate on migration settings and the relationship to international education,” Professor Glover said there was a significant risk of a ‘massive’ decline in research funding and activity in the current environment, after the Government has limited international enrolments without providing research funding to compensate. Ending the revenue stream that had propped up Australian research has huge implications.
“What that means — in healthcare, in food security, in environmental management, in advanced manufacturing, in public policy — is staggering,” he said.
Australia’s living standards and productivity were at risk.
Integrity measures clamping down on students who were not genuine were necessary to protect students and the quality of the system.
“Integrity and sustainability are not the same thing as restriction. And there is a difference between managing growth and suppressing it,” Professor Glover said.
“What we need is predictability. Institutions and students cannot plan on short term horizons. And our regional partners cannot build partnerships on uncertainty.
“Clarity. Consistency. Long-term direction. Those are the things the system needs and thrives on from government. And in return, the sector must deliver quality, integrity, and a genuine commitment to sustainability.”
This is a very significant statement from the Government’s brand new HE custodian, pinpointing the issue that has most vexed international students, agents, and institutions and had clearly arisen in compact negotiations held with each university. A lack of consistency and predictability in government policy on international education was already leading to “declining cash reserves and another deep round of structural change looming.” With multiple universities announcing redundancy rounds this week due to financial issues, the warning could not be more timely.
Australia’s sovereignty at risk due to underfunding of research
Driving the issue home, Professor Glover said the shortfall in research funding represented, “a fundamental sovereign risk to Australia.”
International student fees had cross-subsidised Australian research for a generation, but and the reduction in international revenue as a result of government cuts delivered a major blow to research funding and future research activity, unless the Government responded with funding to compensate.
Professor Glover reflected on the actions of the Carney Government in Canada, which cut international student numbers and contributed an additional $CAN1.7b to research, and the Burnham Government in the UK, which is levying international students and pushing institutions towards TNE at a time of serious fiscal crisis for British universities. While Australia was relatively fortunate to have a Government committed to managed growth, the lack of additional funding for research represented a sovereign risk.
Courage to act
Reflecting on his experience in contributing to the Accord report, Professor Glover said that the issues identified were already well known, but the prescription and resolution for action had been missing.
“The solutions were already visible to anyone prepared to look. What was missing was not merely compelling analysis. What was missing was the courage to act,” he said.
Costs and course pricing
Marginally-funded places, used by a number of universities to bolster enrolments and revenue above their CSP cap, were ‘abhorrent’ and incrementally drove down the quality of the teaching and student experience, Professor Glover said in last night’s speech.
This is a very significant statement following the release of ATEC Commissioner Stephen Duckett’s consultation on costing and pricing. Growth would not be allowed at the expense of individualised support and quality, he said.
“Let me be very clear about this. There is no such thing as an efficiency dividend in education that does not ultimately extract its cost from students. Larger classes. Fewer tutorials. Less feedback. Diminished pastoral support. Reduced lab time and placement quality. Perhaps even an over-reliance on AI.
“That is not efficiency. That is erosion. And it is erosion of the very thing — quality — that gives an Australian degree its value in the first place.”
For anyone considering whether they can grow revenue with a variant of the current practice driving over enrolments in degree programs beyond the CSP cap, this is a pretty clear no. However it doesn’t necessarily close the door on scope and scale of non-award, fully-funded PG programs and other credentials – all areas which will be under consideration as universities test the boundaries of the new rules in pursuit of revenue.
The era of the comprehensive university is over
Specialisation and focus is clearly going to be a priority for the Government at ATEC. Speaking to Future Campus, Professor Glover said that sustainability needed to be the key focus for institutions and the sector moving forward.
After talking with all 42 providers on their mission, purpose and strategy over more than 130 hours of intense consultation, the ATEC team had a unique perspective on challenges and opportunities within the system, Professor Glover said.
Universities needed to navigate towards sustainable growth, based on evidence and insights, he said. ATEC will release major reports next year presenting new data gathered from across the sector, which would assist he said. Pathways toward specialisation will clearly be one area of focus.
“The era of every institution attempting to do everything, everywhere, at scale, is over,” Professor Glover told the Bradley Oration audience.
“And frankly, it was never sustainable. The question is what replaces it. And the answer must be deliberate collaboration, not accidental duplication.”
Extra places for 2027 – and what it means for your uni
In addition to the extra 23,000 Commonwealth Supported Places for undergraduates enrolling in 2027 that are being allocated to universities by ATEC, there will be an additional 24,000 places available just for 2027 to allow for the system to transition.
Under the new Managed Growth system, institutions will be required to enrol the number of students allocated to them by ATEC, with significant penalties for under or over enrolment. This is called the Total Allocation Pool.
However, next year, the Government has agreed to provide an additional ‘Transitional commencer load’ – funding for an additional 24,000 students if required (equating to about 10% of 2026 commencing enrolments).
Professor Glover told Future Campus that the Total Commencer load had been initiative to provide confidence as institutions embarked on the first admissions rounds in the new managed growth system.
Instead of being slapped with penalties for over-enrolling next year, universities will be able to call on the Transitional load for high demand courses.
“We wanted to be confident that equity students would be offered a place if they are eligible – so that they wouldn’t be stranded if universities were worried about having enough places,” Professor Glover said.
While recognising that universities had the right to set their own ATARs, ATEC also wanted to help stabilise ATARs, providing the additional pool so that universities wouldn’t stampede to inflate their ATARs in a bid to better control numbers and land on their prescribed enrolment targets.
It was highly unlikely that all 24,000 transitional load places would be filled, but the fact that they were available would provide confidence and help universities ease into management of the system.