Improving Governance in Australian Universities

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has issued a report on Australian National University Financial Management (4 June 2026). The findings (five) and recommendations (three) are remarkably short and readable. This contains useful advice for any Australian university. ANAO found the university's income is not keeping up with its costs, but there is no intimidate financial crisis. It suggests not relying on an increase in international student numbers. ANAO suggest proposals for change come with a business case. 

In my submission to the Higher Education Review, I suggested no radical change was needed to how universities and vocational institutes do educaion in Australia. However universities need to be reminded their primary mission is to provide educated professionals for the workplace, and applied research for industry, supported by fundamental research. Addressing areas of need require universities to fund some programs and defend others, adding and shedding staff. Australia can  double down on the use of online, blended, and mobile learning. This will not only provide a cost effective way to meet domestic needs, but also open up a new international market. AI needs to be incorporated in learning, but as an enabler, & a skill for graduates, but this required no fundamental change to the system.

AI Education in a Box

Rose Luckin, Danny Liu, Sue Keay, & 
Tom Worthington in headphones at EduTech_AU. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026  

There was standing room only at EduTech_Au in Sydney today for "Beyond personalisation: Human-centred and equitable learning in the age of AI". Thanks to Danny Liu (University of Sydney), Rose Luckin (UCL Knowledge Lab and Sue Keay (UNSW AI Institute), putting up with my moderating. 

Audience in headphones
at EduTech_Au 2026. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026

Global events company Terrapinn has created a very workable formula for a combined trade-show and multi-stream conference. For EduTech_Au everything is contained in the one exhibition space at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. The trade exhibits are in the center of the floor. Around the sides and back of the space are multiple simultaneous conference presentations. 

As there are so many people in the room, all speaking at once, those attending a presentation have to wear headphones. Each presentation has a separate channel, with headphones lighting up in a color to indicate the channel (like a "silent disco"). A single presenter doesn't need headphones, but a panel does, as one panelist can't hear what another says. This sounds cumbersome, but works well, with sound which is clearer and more intimate, with the usual public address system. 

This system works on a larges scale at EduTech Asia, which I will be experiencing again, first hand, in November. 

Indigenous Education at Edutech Au

Greetings from the Edutech_Au conference at Darling Harbour in Sydney. I a moderating a session on AI and equity tomorrow morning. Today I am wandering around the exhibition. Most interesting is in the back right corner, with three booths from indigenous education organisations (TIPIAC, indigenous Literacy Foundation, Wingaru Education), with an adjacent series of talks.

Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon 2026

Registrations are open for the 2026 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon at the University of Sydney, 17 to 19 July. Teams of undergraduate students will work world problems. There are prizes, but as with any hackerthon it is about learning to work together. I have volunteered to mentor. This will be my third time mentoring a hackerthon this year.

No Governance Crisis in Australian Universities

Julie Hare writes "It's a governance crisis, but why now precisely?" (The Hare Report, May 31, 2026). But is there a governance crisis? Some universities have very public problems, but only a tiny number. Other public & private organisations fail every day. Companies go into receivership, local government bodies are taken over by an administrator, public officials & private individuals are investigated for corruption. Provided these problems are addressed, no one says there is a "governance problem", just ordinary everyday hubris, incompetence and greed. Universities in Australia are almost all public non profit institutions, so more subject to public scrutiny. Perhaps that is why there seem to be more problems: they are more visible and we are expecting more of universities. 

In the mid 1990s, I looked at how Cambridge University did innovation (Cambridge live from a Double Decker Bus, 1999). In the process I talked to students, staff & leadership. One thing which struck me was that people who worked for the same institution had very different views, & in some cases a deep dislike for, each other. However, the place still worked, perhaps because, not dispute, this.

Australian universities had international students before the Dawkins reforms. However, these were on government scholarships, invited to Australia as part of a cold war hearts and minds campaign. More recently international students became a revenue source for universities, as well as a source of shovel ready migrants. This proved useful for government, offloading some cost of universities onto international students & providing a source of quality overseas workers. Universities failed to treat the international student fees as a windfall and bank the money for future need. 

There is no way to create a governing body for a university which will create harmony & perfect decision making. Be it federal cabinet, a company, or the bowls club, there is always conflict. Traditionally the VC ran the university, & the council grumbled about it. If you have a more active council, there will be more conflict. There is no solution, as such, except to select good people. But more staff & student representatives would be a start. 

COVID-19 and government controls on international student numbers have been challenges to universities. However, these will seem minor compared to shocks to come. In 2016 I warned that conflict in the region could result in most international students having to leave Australia. AI is challenging the way research and educaion are done. This may see the potential of online educaion, to be finally realized. These will require university councils to make difficult, rapid, existential decisions.