Research funding has been politicised and universities are losing public trust — is this the year that will reverse those trends?

ATARs are out and my kid, like many thousands of others across the nation, is wondering if he’s done enough to get into the tertiary course of his choice. Like so many others, his educational and social life was significantly affected by COVID-19, so this is a real concern. He and his peer group are also wondering how they’ll pay for their studies and are acutely aware of what the Jobs Ready Graduate package means for them. But here’s the twist: I’m also a university professor; and at the same time as my child is worrying about where his grades will take him, I am anxiously awaiting the federal government’s release of the Final Report of the Australian Universities Accord. The Accord is a big deal. It has been billed as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to “reimagine” Australian higher education and plan for the future over a “30-year horizon”. In other words, my kid and I sit at opposing bookends of the higher education system but are equally engaged with an administrative system that affects many but is noticed by few.