Today the government introduced legislation to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, which currently operates in an interim capacity without any direct legal power.

This bill is mainly about ATEC’s structures, objectives and functions with the critical funding legislation to follow next year.

The ATEC legislation will take a few posts to describe. Due to other commitments I may not cover it all this week. I am likely to revise parts of what I write after discussing the bill with others.

All legislative references, unless otherwise specified, are to the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025.

Basic structure of ATEC

As previously announced, there will be three commissioners – a full-time Chief Commissioner, a full-time First Nations Commissioner, and a third part-time Commissioner: sections 9, 56(1), 57(1) & 58(1). All will be appointed by the minister for education for up to five years: sections 56(4), 57(4) & 58(4).

High level objectives

Section 13 of the bill sets out a ‘National Tertiary Education Objective’ to which ATEC must have reference when exercising its powers. At first glance it oddly does not directly refer to anything educational. The objectives are to

• promote a strong, equitable and resilient democracy &
• drive national, economic, and social development and environmental sustainability

In exercising its powers, ATEC must have regard to the objective of improving outcomes for persons facing systemic barriers to education. The current main equity groups are mentioned: ATSI, persons with disability, low SES, and people living in regional areas: section 14.

The lack of direct reference to education is less surprising in the broader context of this bill. With the Universities Accord final report, which recommended ATEC, higher education policy hit peak instrumentalism. This bill reflects that cultural and political change. Apart from the bill’s not very convincing references to university missions, higher education no longer has policy backing for its own academic purposes. It is just there as another policy tool to achieve government objectives. (The strategic examination of research and development will try to clean out the last remaining funds for research not aligned to government goals.)

The national, economic and social development goals are reflected in the detail of the ATEC bill. But it is unclear how ATEC will contribute to democracy, strong or otherwise, unless we define ‘democracy’ as universities implementing the policies of the elected government.

Education level objectives

The more directly educational objectives are in section 3. These are:

• To provide stewardship of the higher education system: section 3(1)(a). What ‘stewardship’ means has been unclear, but in the bill it is primarily providing advice and recommendations to the minister (section 41) and providing a state of the tertiary education system report (section 42).
• To strengthen the higher education system to enable the delivery of quality teaching and learning: section 3(1)b). Under this objective advice on the Higher Education Standards Framework will move from a committee of university staff plus a student on the Higher Education Standards Panel to ATEC, whose members by law will not be current university employees: sections 11(e), 56(3)(c), 57(3)(d), 58(3)(b). Work on the efficient cost of higher education may also be relevant here: section 11(d)(ii). The mission based compacts discussed in a subsequent post are also likely to include targets on student experience.
• To strengthen the higher education system to enable the delivery of internationally competitive research and research training: also section 3(1)(b).
• To ensure the higher education system has the capacity and capability to meet current and future student demand: section 3(1)(c). In later sections, on the advice ATEC will give, demand is discussed in terms of disciplines, student cohorts, and regions but not by provider: section 41(c). In my view the minister’s hostility to student choice of provider is a critical weakness in the whole proposed system. I will have much more to say on this topic in the coming months.
• To ensure the higher education system has the capacity and capability to meet current and future skills and workforce demands: also section 3(1)(c).
• As mentioned re section 14, increase equitable access to, and participation and success in, the higher education system: section 3(1)(d).
• To promote coordination and collaboration between the Commonwealth, the States and Territories, higher education providers, industry, employers, unions and the public in relation to the future of the higher education system: section 3(1)(e). This is the remnants of Tanya Plibersek’s Accord idea.
• To improve coordination and collaboration between higher and vocational education: section 3(1)(f).
• To recognise the role of Aboriginal persons and Torres Strait Islanders in the higher education system and improve their participation and success in that system: section 3(1)(g).

Section 11 has a list of ATEC functions relating to these objectives that I will go through in more detail in subsequent posts. One on mission based compacts is here.