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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-28 Daily Xml
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Question Time

University Merger

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): My question is to the Premier. What are the key benefits the Premier sees as resulting from his university merger plan, as opposed to what our institutions currently provide for South Australia?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:03): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The now state government, but then opposition, committed some years ago now to go to the election with a policy to pursue university amalgamation. In terms of the method of the policy, we committed at the election more specifically to establish a university amalgamation commission, should that be required, in order to achieve that objective.

Since then, the government has been very grateful for the fact that the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia have come together to actively pursue the proposition of them creating a new university, as they have in the past. This time, of course, what they are in receipt of is support from the government, both in terms of principle and in terms of willingness to aid that effort as best as we can.

The objective of the policy, first and foremost, is to increase the capacity of a new university to undertake research in the community, and the second principle objective that the government has is to improve accessibility of the university. I think on this side of the house we fervently believe that education is the most powerful tool at any government's disposal to provide opportunity to as many young people in our community as possible. It literally has the power to turn around lives. Higher education is an important element of that equation, and obviously universities speak to that.

If we can improve the accessibility of the university and also improve the volume of research that is undertaken in our state, then we are on a trajectory to improve the economic complexity of South Australia. That means better jobs. Better jobs mean better pay and more secure work. They are the principal aims of the policy.

In this regard, in order to pursue both of those things size does matter. We know that even today out of the top universities in Australia, as per the QS rankings that were released in the last 24 hours and appeared in The Australian this morning, the major top universities from Australia that appear in those rankings—the highest ranked universities—are the largest universities, because of course the volume of research undertaken at those institutions informs their outcomes.

We need more research undertaken in South Australia, and by freeing up the ability of universities to have the volume of research that underpins yet more growth in that area, that is wholeheartedly a good thing. Of course, one of the main sources of revenue for universities, revenue that actually underpins the volume of research that is undertaken by universities, is international students.

If we can increase the number of international students, not at the expense of our capacity to educate students domestically, clearly, but if we can attract more international students to South Australia that brings a range of economic benefits that have been spoken about in this place on numerous occasions, but it also means more revenue for universities themselves. It gives them the ability to invest a lot more on research.

I think it is in some respects unfortunate that international student revenue has been critical to research funding in our country, but nonetheless that is the system that we operate in. We have to participate within that system, and we have to have the ambition to grow research in our state from that source of revenue.

The final point I would make in the 30 seconds I've got left is it's all too well known that in this state we have actively contemplated the university amalgamation question over decades. All too often that can has been kicked down the road, often for reasons that aren't consistent with the state's interests. This government will not abide that. We are determined to pursue this policy, and we look forward to an outcome in the not too distant future.

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