Adelaide University Bill – Second Reading speech

Tuesday 14 November 2023 

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (11:18): I rise to speak in support of the Adelaide University Bill. Higher education is critical to our state for social and economic purposes, and reform must be contemplated from time to time to ensure we are meeting the needs of students, researchers, staff, employers and our state more broadly. Education is the key to our future for so many young people in our state and internationally. For so many of these young people, university is the pathway that suits them best. In this bill, we seek equality and sustainability in higher education. 

Adelaide University sees the merger of two currently very different universities in the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. The University of Adelaide is Australia's third oldest in the country, being formed prior to Federation, whilst the University of South Australia has a very different background, merging the teachers' colleges with the Institute of Technology. In fact, my father was a maths lecturer at Sturt college and I have fond memories of spending my time there as a young person. These two very different universities have independently determined that it is in their best interests and in the best interests of the state for this merger to go ahead and, importantly, for student outcomes as well. 

There are a number of things that stand out to me in this bill, particularly the creation of the $200 million research fund. Whether we like it or not, the funding model in Australia rewards scale for our universities, and our universities in South Australia are currently at their limit in what they can achieve with the research available to them. Being able to broaden our research capability also will enable us to become more internationally competitive. Importantly, we should keep focused on the outcomes that good research can create for our local community, in the country and internationally. Of note is the increased capacity that we will see in the Centre for Cancer Biology. 

The commitment to maintain the presence of our universities in our regions is also important. This is important for students and local industry. The reality of moving into the city is, for a young person, increasingly difficult with access to the rental market and the costs incurred by leaving home, so it is increasingly important that we can keep students accessing education where they are. 

It is also important to note that we are maintaining and supporting a new merged student association to promote the interests of students. My experience at Flinders University was that student unions provide a very broad base of support for students, and I commend that continuing. It is also important now that we will have the opportunity to support students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to access university, because if you have the ability, you should have the opportunity. 

It is timely, too, with the accord process currently underway in Australia, and we are ready to take on the recommendations in the flexible environment that we see ourselves in to proceed with this merged university. This big shift in universities in South Australia also gives us an opportunity to use this time of change to create new course offerings—courses that we will increasingly need in South Australia as our employment opportunities change and advanced manufacturing comes to our state, and we increasingly need highly trained workers. We will also, with our larger university, be better placed to support the smaller, more niche courses, which also provides more opportunities for students and employers in our state. 

International students will also be able to come to Australia, seeing a more diverse student body and more employment opportunities for students in our state. I think it is also important to note that when international university students attend, their families come to visit them, and when their families come to visit they spend quite a long time in Adelaide and in South Australia and are return visitors. This is going to be another benefit to our state. This university will be a contemporary university, and this is the right time. I commend this bill to the house.