UniForum Benchmarking and External Consultants in Australian Universities: Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Education and Employment inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers

In Summary, I argue that:
1. External consultants are being empowered to define the future of Australian universities — restructuring decisions are driven by opaque, proprietary metrics rather than public interest or academic values.
2. UniForum’s underlying data and methodology are deeply flawed — the resulting benchmarking is poor quality, opaque, and prone to creating perverse incentives.
3. Nous Group ownership of UniForum undermines the independence of its benchmarking — Nous sells both the benchmark (UniForum) and the “solutions” to fix poor results.
4. Nous Group’s work generates concerning conflicts of interest — these conflicts potentially impact Nous Group’s work for universities and the Department of Education.
5. Transparency and accountability are absent — advice from external consultants, including the underlying data and methodologies they rely on, should be open to public scrutiny.