We already agree that isn't about the biggest office, or the loudest voice.
So, what defines great leadership in Higher Education?
Future Campus takes a snapshot of people who have not only demonstrated significant leadership in 2025, but who are also positioned to influence the way the tertiary sector responds to challenges looming in the year ahead.
Drawing on discussions with peers and a survey on sector leadership, we have developed a list of 26 leaders representing not just the usual suspects already recognisable for institutional leadership – but also staff, politicians, students, lobbyists and regulators who are worth watching in 2026.
This Future Campus News Feature is sponsored by Workday.
26 To Watch In '26
A fresh look at leadership and the future of Australia's tertiary sector
By TIM WINKLER
Lists of existing leaders don’t help us understand what good leadership looks like. We already know who organisational leaders and the usual suspects quoted in media stories are. We also know there are criteria in each position description to describe how organisational leaders are selected.
We know that those leaders are rewarded or reprimanded according to measures like rankings and budget outcomes – and that multiple enquiries, articles and workshops have proven these metrics to be inadequate, both as tests of leadership or effectiveness in stewarding the sector.
Why is this ranking different?
Firstly, we used a range of sources – discussions with colleagues and peers, evidence gathered in news coverage through the year and a survey on tertiary education leadership, which gathered a relatively small sample of responses, but carried some clear trends.
Secondly, we chose to list the 26 to watch in 2026 alphabetically, to avoid the possible but ultimately uninformative prioritisation of individuals with diverse roles and impacts.
Thirdly, we considered not only people who have had impact over the past year, but then refined the list to those positioned to have impact next year, with particular reference to the challenges highlighted as most significant through our research process.
Finally, we think this list is as important for those who are on it, as for those who are not. Change will not be wrought solely by those with the most headlines or the fattest wallets, but in a sector of more than 100,000 people, it will also not be shaped only by those on this list. However it is a great starting point.
How many will make change?
This is the reason we will watch these leaders – because they are in a position to make change, but none are in full control.
Jason Clare, the Education Minister, is the classic example. He has charm, charisma and has demonstrated a mastery of political activity. He is into his second term as Education Minister and has introduced a raft of reforms and regulations, with carte blanche to act as a result of a sector that had failed to address its own issues for many years and an Opposition distracted by internal woes.
However, he will be acutely aware that his signature reform, the Accord, will die in a ditch unless Treasurer Jim Chalmers loosens the purse strings and starts funding additional places, not just for enabling programs, but for the pipeline required to get an extra million Australians into tertiary education over the next 24 years.
Many believe that the Government’s hopes of setting the system up for a grand transformation will be lost if money doesn’t magic its way into forward estimates soon – as is demonstrated by the 65% of respondents to the Future Campus survey who believed the target would not be met.
Minister Clare can demonstrate vision and action at the margins, but his leadership capacity is severely constrained by the budgetary wins granted by his cabinet colleagues.
The main game for 2026.
Which brings us to social licence. Social licence and/or improving public perceptions of the sector was clearly ranked as the leading issue for 2026 by the Future Campus survey. Concern over funding came second, which is understandable after a year of belt tightening and cuts at many institutions, and approaches to tackling Gen AI a relatively distant third.
We were surprised, frankly, that social licence was recognised as such a big issue by so many. Iain Martin revealed the first polling to be shared publicly by the sector in relation to social licence earlier this year at HE FEST, noting a steep slump in public trust. Other earlier polls have confirmed the issue, but have been kept under wraps by the sector. For a sector that has tried and apparently failed to win back the hearts of minds of voters over the past couple of years, this is not a wake up call – our organisational leaders were already aware of the problem. With an avalanche of regulatory responses required next year, it would be easy to cave in to pressure and defer any real effort at listening and responding to the community for another 12 months – but recent months have shown that staff also want real change, and there is no time to waste.
Why change direction now?
The most surprising trend that jumped out of the Tertiary leaders survey relates to the concerns of respondents – almost all of whom were HE staff.
While 68% strongly agreed that universities played an important role in Australian society and that university research was important to them, just 28% strongly agreed that they trusted universities and 34% strongly believed it was important to complete a university degree.
That’s a problem that should stir any leader to action in 2026.
26 To Watch In '26
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26 To Watch In '26
The List
With Damian Cahill, has had a very visible year leading the charge against VC pay, staff cuts and pushing for increased staff, plus student representation on councils, for starters. Divides some staff which probably goes with the territory of being a union boss, but still accorded respect for impact and shouting loudest into the ear of Jason Clare. The NTEU has shown a power to bring down administrations and holding institutions to account on specific issues. As a host of institutions battle for sustainability, the question for 2026 is how will the union balance the warrior pose with breakthrough initiatives that start to build strength back into the system. With a focus on ATEC compacts, Alison could invoke the ghosts of the Hawke administration and push for a union seat at the table to shape consensus-based compacts. It’s a chance to shift the NTEU narrative from champions of the side-eye to warrior nation builders – but whether the Government’s apparatchiks can grasp the basics of university and TAFE operations sufficiently to host three-way compact talks and whether institutions welcome them to the table remains to be seen.
Will there be a merger? For what to watch in 2026, this is a biggie and Dr Tony holds a large chunk of responsibility for whether all WA unis aside from ECU join into a mega combo or remain fierce competitors. Eyes will be on Adelaide to assess early results from their merger and Tony’s experience at UWA, ANU, Oxford and Yale, not to mention his life as a lawyer and AFL player agent place him in prime position, as Minister for International and Tertiary Education, to push the merger ahead or give it a final burial, after years of discussion. His boss, Roger Cook, stoked the coals last month, saying the number of universities could be “considered too many” for a locale hitherto focussed on digging up stuff and planning secession from the rest of us. Will the State of Mines become a new State of Minds? Time – and Tony – will tell us, sometime in the coming year. Stay tuned.
Students were actively involved in staff pushback against change proposals cutting staff numbers at both ANU and UTS this year. Mia Campbell presented to a Senate inquiry on the UTS staff cuts, triggered a student ombudsman investigation into the response of UTS to sexual harm and gender based violence and fronted the media in addressing issues with cuts at UTS. With UTS modifying its change plans in response to community feedback, it could be that students may be invited for more than token appearances in future. Meanwhile, expect to hear more from Mia.
There’s no ignoring the reluctant tsar of the nation’s education system. Overlooked for promotion in the new Government, 2026 could be the breakout year when he gets a new stump speech. The first in family from Sydney’s West who rose to dizzying heights as a result of his degree is a great achievement and a great yarn, but in the face of the unfunded Accord promises, a welter of governance-related issues, depleted institutional budgets and stodgy productivity, he needs to dig deep to create a new pitch that combines believability with impact and sustainability for Australian HE. Now he controls he sector, he needs minions who will pull the right levers at the right time and who actually understand how tertiary education works for punters as well as the execs they entertain, giving him time to pen a new tale to create time and space to sell HE to a sceptical electorate.
In a space sorely in need of clear voices and vision, Jenny Dodd consistently stands out as VET’s leading voice –she was the highest-cited VET leader in our tertiary leadership survey this year.Now, when the Federal Government has made its disinterest in private VET provision abundantly clear, TAFE has become is synonymous with training and the golden stream of $1.5 billion for Fee-Free TAFE has injected life in Jenny’s realm.2026 will be a critical if post-secondary harmonisation is to stay in key. Will Department boffins realise dual sector institutions have been offering credit recognition and transfers for a couple of decades? Will somebody let the minister know? Will anyone ask ATEC/TEQSA/the Department or whoever is in charge why international credit recognition has been in place for literally thousands of institutions and qualifications offshore and yet we are still reinventing wheels? There are clearly things that FC doesn’t understand, but we are sure Jenny does.
AI transformation writ large. With Chris Moran, who has changed UNE with few resources and fewer plaudits at the helm of UNE, Aaron Driver is leading an extraordinary cross-institutional implementation of AI which has seen almost 100% of permanent staff plunge into AI. UNE is set to be an exemplar for institutional transformation creating massive change and some pretty impressive staff and student tools at a tiny fraction of the cost that others are investing (UNE marketing HQ might consider a retread on the old Bunnings mantra: lowest prices are still just the beginning at UNE in 2026).Many people walked out of Aaron Driver’s HEFEST presentation this year gobsmacked at what the university is achieving on the quiet. If Chris Moran can’t turn this into a major employment branding initiative to lure bright young innovators for a cyber-focused tree change we would be surprised.
Won eyeballs and attention at her inaugural National Press Club speech as Chair of Universities Australia mid-year, and runs a tight ship at Griffith U. Can she stand beside Luke Sheehy and herd cats like they have never been herded before, bringing the sector together and regaining agency amid the Government’s rampant moves to seize control of as many HE levers and pullies as possible? HE, once the world’s least perfect market, is losing many market attributes and looking increasingly like a post-war rationing-type system. Whether that is good or bad may depend on whether the reality for staff and students filters through layers of bureaucratic staffers. Bureaucracy.The university sector is in a governance swamp. Carolyn and Luke can’t drain it, but they are the best hope Vice-Chancellors have of presenting a sector-wide front.
If Jason Clare is going to have a chance of turning the Accord from an unfunded pipe dream into a pipeline of opportunity for the 1 million Australians it aims to lure into the system over the next 24 years, getting Cabinet to open its wallet is a must. And that will take someone with skills to navigate politics and build a practical foundation for the Government’s new mega-system. Enter Sir Barney, Mr Clare’s anointed right hand advisor, running JSA and also trying to point the fledgling ATEC in the right direction, drawing on his experience as a former Vice-Chancellor of Western Sydney and his credibility as a person willing to openly engage. Barney was a clear second after Minister Clare in our survey asking for insights into the nation’s most influential HE people and for good reason. The Accord pitched a vision that the sector easily embraced. Realising that vision is going to involve it will take years of almond lattes and bikkies as Barney herds a conclave of regulators and legislation drafters in a vaguely useful direction.
Articulate, wise in the ways of the sector and pragmatic in his approach, Julian Hill has early wins – bedding down the NOSC allocation system and actively engaging with the sector to develop a long overdue international education framework. A huge asset for Jason Clare, Julian has wound down underlying anti-immigrant rhetoric to at least one or two notes below the average dog whistle. Clearly works well behind the scenes, but isn’t afraid to put his head above the parapet when allowed/ required. Likely to have a big year in 2026.
A strong voice for Indigenous students and culture, plus all others – making his mark at ECU, moving across town from Murdoch in 2019. A Wardandi Noongar man from the south-west of Western Australia, Braden is widely recognised for his communication capacity – particularly outside the sector. A video on his TikTok channel has wracked up 3 million views! The sector needs more First Nations voices and impact and there are many under-discussed issues including representation to ATEC and Government, needs-based funding, First Nations academic career pipelines and many other issues. While Braden speaking more in 2026 is a given, the question for the sector is who will be listening.
She represents more than a million students and has just 80 Linked In connections – because she doesn’t need a bigger network. Sure, she spent a while trying to blend in with her peers, flogging macarons in the Canberra Centre, and earned cool cred working for the Salvos for a couple of years. But she also spent a couple of months helping out with press duties in Albo’s office in 2022 and spent 8 months in an ACT ministerial office before donning the Presidential chains at the National Union of Students in January. Student leadership roles come and go, but an accumulation of solid Labour Party cred means Ashlyn is a leader to watch for 2026 and beyond.
Has kept a low profile since slipping into the Big Chair at UoM, no doubt in part just so she can actually get on with shining a light on a number of long-neglected corners and taking action, usually quietly. She has stared down campus unrest over Gaza, sold off the former VC’s mansion and shut down the fast-going-nowhere Fisherman’s Bend campus plan. With the spring clean (in Autumn) done, expect more public-facing activity from Professor Johnston. After all, why shelve a glittering career having real impact in climate change research when even the top ranked university in the land is bound to be touched by the public dissatisfaction with HE. Maybe climate change was too easy and she is instead preparing for a big year in 2026 finding ways to impact address another seemingly intractable problem; regaining some say in reforming the HE sector?
| Who is the Boss (not in an organised-crime sense) of HE regulation in Australia? Hard to say, given new power bases, but Kerri-Lee Krause has a big stick and has seen enough plotting and obfuscation in staff tea rooms and professorial meetings across the nation to know how and where skeletons are stowed. Liked and respected? Certainly. Feared? Not yet. But as ATEC, ASQA, TEQSA, the Department and various ombudspersons jostle for authority and more important, respect, Kerri-Lee will be the quiet one to watch, to nudge the new regulatory behemoth in a productive direction. |
The former ACU staffer understands HE and has demonstrated a willingness to move beyond entrenched party lines for the sake of the national good. Will be rubbing his hands at the stupendous new control apparatus crafted by the Department to bend the sector into numerous contortions.
Regardless of whether you love or hate the raft of reforms introduced by the Government, any politically-savvy operator will see a rich harvest of opportunities the Opposition and risk for the Government in 2026, with so much activity occurring in a resource-constrained space almost certain to result in implementation challenges and policy coherence errors.
International students have weathered some tough years in Australia’s conversations about HE recently, made worse by the dissolution of the former national body representing them. Weihong Liang, a PhD student in sociology, stepped up to establish a symposium to discuss the issue and a new role as president of the International Students Representative Council of Australia. He has built visibility for the international student voice back into the mechanics of government, making submissions to reviews and the discourse of the sector. He has also taken on a gig as a rep on the U Syd Senate and presumably also finds time to sleep occasionally. With Julian Hill providing a new level of coherence and focus in international ed policy, he and the sector are going to need voices from students like Weihong to rebuild credibility of Australia as a nation that values international students and treats them decently. 2026 will be a critical year to be heard as the international education framework is propagated by Minister Hill.
Ever since ChatGPT triggered the Gen AI evolution way back in November 2022, Danny Liu has been reshaping how we think about the new technology and tertiary education – along with a roll-call of other AI-invested colleagues.Danny was mentioned numerous times in our HE survey, and won a Future Campus award in 2024, way before the Fin Review passed on another trophy this year, noting his influence and impact in creating Cogniti, a platform helping educators around the world use AI in their teaching, learning and assessment.Danny is another exemplar of collaboration alongside the aforementioned BrAIt pack with Jason Lodge, Phillip Dawson, Mollie Dollinger and others, who are quietly setting benchmarks and a more sophisticated agenda in assessment, teaching and learning through their joint work in research, speaking engagements and advocacy.
He put social licence back on the agenda when others merely hoped those pesky common folk from middle Australia would find something else to talk about, and wasn’t afraid to step forward from the herd to proclaim the importance of free thinking. His white paper on social licence charts a clear course back to the hearts and votes of middle Australia, if the sector chooses to listen and has led some high level thinking on ways to improve equity and outcomes for TNE students. Iain is the consummate leaders’ leader, and presides over an institution that appears to be travelling pretty well amidst the sector upheaval.
We have never needed the insights of HE policy analysis unicorn Andrew Norton more. Monash were wise to give him a new home to ruminate over HE and share the results with those who now less about the system (that is everybody. As the Federal Government creates a cavalcade of new regulators, scrutineers and sanctionista, State and Territory Governments add their own spin, and institutions struggle with an imperfect storm of industrial, social, ethical, and efficiency issues, Professor Norton’s frank but fearless commentary will be even more sought after in 2026. Emma Johnston even used a rare foray into public discourse this year to plug his blog as a rare platform for HE policy discussion and debate. Critically, many of the questions he has raised in 2025 have been discussed, but often not answered. If the sector is to start getting a fingertip on the pen writing its future, further discussion pursuing key policy gaps need to be pursued by more than Professor Norton.
The architect of the Accord, Mary O’Kane will pass the baton, but her views still carry enormous weight in Government and beyond. She produced a remarkable consensus vision with the Accord, in collaboration with colleagues. Cited as the third most influential tertiary education leader in our Future Campus survey, Mary has cast such a vast shadow over the shape of the sector in the past couple of years, she doesn’t even have to open her mouth in 2026 to be influential.
It’s not very often that one gets the call up to be Vice-Chancellor and even rarer is the opportunity to be the first. After earning her stripes putting out fires for the University of Melbourne as Provost for four years, Nicola heads west to the city of churches, to become the inaugural head of Australia’s newest university. Taking over the reins from not just David Lloyd and Peter Hoj, but also standing VC Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Nicola inherits an institution with mixed pedigree, a short-term golden pipeline of what is left of the $464 million bonus from the State Government, and staff of two institutions who have spent the last couple of years in dress rehearsals. Undaunted, Nicola will be aware that she has the eyes of the State on her as she steps into the big chair, inheriting opportunities and expectations galore. 2026 will be the year she starts to put her own stamp on the exercise, with no doubt plenty of visitors from Perth interested in seeing the outcomes of institutional merger up close.
Spending $1b to plonk a campus in the middle of KL (to be the university’s second in Malaysia) and taking selfies with the PM must rank as some of her notable achievements for 2025. She has reach, a stellar network and no doubt still has a war chest or two tucked away for special projects in the new year. Sharon is taking the Federal Government’s green light to TNE as the new ATM for Australian unis very seriously, and running with it – building on the University’s considerable expertise in parlaying a Clayton offering and policy platform into branch campus success. 2026 seems a great opportunity to park the golden sod turning shovel in the cupboard for the first few months of the year and build impact in other areas of the sector. We haven’t heard much yet from Sharon from Monash – but she doesn’t seem short on ideas.
There’s no UA show without Luke Sheehy – a fearless and forceful campaigner for universities, with the unenviable job as cat herder in chief, tasked with corralling the egos of the VC herd. Too harsh? Probably not. Universities Australia has an incredibly challenging job – trying to find positions that are supported by enough in the sector, while seeking not to isolate or disenchant too many dissenters. Then take that position, which is probably more beige than most people would prefer (such is the nature of consensus building) and spruik it to politicians whose constituents are focused on degree expense, VC pay and declining sector trust. Amidst all that, Luke demonstrates energy levels and an ability to conjure policy clarity from the political morass. 2025 has been a tough year, with scandals and staff cuts keeping the sector on the back foot amidst a deluge of regulation. Next year is when Luke and Carolyn Evans will have to walk on water.
One of the few chancellors in Australia who sticks her head above the parapet to engage with the wider world. She has peerless cred as business leader with a progressive brain and a great track record for talking sense and being lauded for it. Westacott dealt with a slew of WSU issues this year, including budget cuts and multiple hacking incidents and 2026 will present more opportunities to move onto the front foot. At a time across the system when governance has been found wanting, and the role of councils needs to be reimagined, there are few better placed than Jennifer to demonstrate reform.
She has 119,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel Amanda Loves To Audit, more than 5,000 followers on instagram and has been measured but impactful in speaking out about the impact of cuts at her employer, UTS. Amanda White knows not just about accounting, but how to educate and communicate with the wider world with an ease and efficacy that few can match. The power behind this level of engagement success and the passion and potential that it presents to institutions is a model for all. Amanda is a great examplar for individual academic engagement in 2026.
Stepping out from the rarified oxygen in the Vice-Chancellor’s suite, ‘call me George’ Williams has earned a national reputation, and also the top spot for a VC of influence in our HE leadership survey by a country mile. A passionate advocate for equity, he has retained his influence despite job cuts and some serious hacking scandals, because of the social capital he has accumulated, on new (TikTok) and old (2GB) media and regular campus walks greeting students. Not every VC will appreciate George’s message or approach, but staff of many unis and the public do. Expect an even busier year for George ahead, given that he still hasn’t killed off the JRG fees package, despite raising it at every opportunity through the year, and the challenges of regulation, compacts and social licence are likely to intensify over the next 12 months.
Recognised as Student of the Year by the cybersecurity industry, the La Trobe University student makes waves with his research to make blockchain systems more secure and efficient. His publications, conference appearances and teaching make him one the academic IT community watches to see what he will do next. Especially at La Trobe, where Theo Farrell is embracing AI as a brand and a property development differentiator.
This Future Campus News Feature is sponsored by Workday.