higher education

finance and accounting class with woman academic

Good news for women academics – and for their students

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The boom in research outputs in accounting and finance disciplines in higher education institutions in Australia and New Zealand universities is accompanied by another welcome trend – a dramatic increase in female authorship. 

This rise in female authorship marks a turning point in academic culture, fostering a more dynamic, inclusive environment where diverse viewpoints enrich the field of accounting and finance. It’s also vital for students within those disciplines to see diverse scholarship.

Emerging scholars in these fields need to see what’s possible.

Beyond the numbers in accounting and finance

Beyond the numbers, this shift is reshaping how research is conducted and valued, promoting equity and innovation as essential components of academic success. For universities, particularly leading institutions, supporting women’s voices in research isn’t just a matter of fairness—it’s a strategic move that amplifies the depth, relevance, and societal impact of their scholarly contributions.

The proportion of female representation in published research rose by nearly two-thirds between 2011 and  2022. We analysed 48 top-tier ranked accounting and finance journals. leading institutions, including the University of New South Wales, Monash University, and the University of Queensland, are at the forefront of this rise in research productivity.

That’s  a positive step towards more gender-inclusive academic environments but the data also reveals ongoing challenges. Male authors still dominate the ranks of those with higher publication volumes particularly in the highest ranked journals. That signals the need for further support to close this gap.

Affirmative Action and Career Mobility

A key focus of our study was assessing how affirmative action policies foster a more diverse academic workforce. These policies, designed to address historical inequities, are proving effective in enhancing the presence of female researchers in accounting and finance. The policies are not just about increasing numbers. Affirmative action’s impact must also be assessed in terms of the quality of opportunities it provides through mentorship programs, supportive work environments, and other policies to facilitate more equitable career advancement.

Our findings show that women are occupying more space in academic publishing. 

Yet a gender gap remains, most notably among the most prolific authors. This suggests that while affirmative action is helping more women enter the academic pipeline, further efforts are needed to support them in progressing to the highest levels of research productivity. 

While the increase in female authorship is encouraging, it underscores a critical need for sustained support structures that go beyond entry-level opportunities. Mentorship, targeted professional development, and access to resources that bolster long-term productivity are vital to helping female academics navigate and excel in high-stakes publishing environments. 

Facing challenges

Without these, many women face challenges in reaching senior research roles and leading impactful studies.

The reasons for this are unclear but may be related to the gendered emphasis on supporting scholarships for women to enter the academic workforce but not following through to support the development of sustainable research productivity skills with career impact, such as research supervision or research team management capabilities.

We also explored job mobility among top contributors. High research productivity correlates with greater career mobility, with prolific researchers being attractive in the job market moving between institutions to seek better opportunities. Women have traditionally been less able to take advantage of this mobility due to family and non-work responsibilities. This mobility highlights the competitive nature of academic publishing and underscores the potential for affirmative action policies to create more career pathways for underrepresented groups within institutions, reducing the reliance on mobility as a pathway to promotion.

Bridging the Gender Gap

Despite the progress made, much more needs to be done to achieve true gender parity in academic publishing. Our study found that female authors are underrepresented among the top five per cent of most frequently published researchers. This underrepresentation at the highest levels indicates that systemic barriers, such as gaps in mentorship and resource limitations, continue to hinder female academics from reaching their full potential in terms of research output.

To bridge this gap, institutions need to strengthen mentorship programs for women, promote inclusive hiring practices, and provide more equitable access to resources. These efforts are crucial to ensuring that all researchers, regardless of gender, have the opportunity to thrive in the academic community.

Future Directions for Broader Application

This study focused only on the disciplines of accounting and finance. However, the methodology developed for this study is equally applicable across multiple disciplines.

A broader application of the methodology to other disciplines would provide a more holistic understanding of the impact of policies supporting the increased engagement of women in research at a sector-wide level. It would also enable cross-disciplinary comparisons to determine whether more granular and discipline-specific incentives and supports may be required to achieve more equitable career outcomes between men and women in academia.

The Way Forward

As the conversation around gender diversity in academia continues to evolve, it is clear that affirmative action policies play a crucial role in promoting inclusivity. THowever, these policies must be continually evaluated and expanded to ensure they go beyond increasing female participation. They must also address the deeper structural barriers that prevent women from advancing to the highest levels of academic research.

Fostering inclusive and diverse research environments not only improves gender equity but also enriches academic output and innovation. Diverse research teams bring various perspectives essential for driving new ideas and solutions in education and beyond.

What next

Our study sheds light on the evolving dynamics of research productivity and gender diversity within Australian and New Zealand HEIs. While we have made significant strides in increasing female representation in academic publishing, there is still work to be done to ensure these gains translate into long-term career success for women in academia.

As institutions continue to implement affirmative action policies and other diversity initiatives, we must stay focused on providing equal opportunities for all scholars. Doing so can create a more inclusive, innovative, and productive academic landscape for future generations.

Based on our analysis of 48 top-tier ranked accounting and finance journals, research outputs at Australian and New Zealand HEIs steadily increased between 2011 and 2022. Leading institutions, including the University of New South Wales, Monash University, and the University of Queensland, are at the forefront of this rise in research productivity.For further reading, you can access the full research paper here: https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2024.2413687.

Adam Arian is a lecturer in accounting, auditing and finance, the Peter Faber Business School, Australian Catholic University. Susan Dann is the national head of school, Business, in the Faculty of Law and Business, Australian Catholic University. John Sands is a professor of accounting in the School of Business, University of Southern Queensland.

enabling education

What’s in a name? Enabling education in Australia  

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The Australian Government announced significant changes last year to programs that enable students from non-high school pathways to transition into university. These programs began in Australia 50 years ago and are broadly referred to as  enabling education. There are 48 programs now operated by universities across Australia. Enabling education is  defined legislatively as a course “provided to a person for the purpose of enabling that person to undertake a course leading to a higher education award”.

Enabling education operates free-of-cost to domestic students who don’t meet current entry requirements to enter an undergraduate level program. These programs are key to widening educational participation, especially for students from recognised equity backgrounds.   

The government renamed those programs “FEE-FREE Uni Ready”, including $350 million in increased funding and increased student places. It also committed to work with providers to “professionalise and increase the quality and consistency of courses” and improve their “portability”. 

Same goal, different names

In the course of this short announcement, the terms ‘enabling’, ‘pathway’ and ‘preparatory’ were used alongside FEE-FREE Uni Ready, and other terms are also associated with this field of education including ‘foundation studies’, ‘bridging programs’ and ‘access courses’. Different programs also utilise program names that incorporate these terms or others such as ‘steps’, ‘track’, and ‘link’. Ostensibly, these courses share the same goal.

Recent benchmarking by the National Association of Enabling Educators highlights these programs usually include explicit teaching of study preparation. They also usually include communication skills, academic literacies and/or numeracies. But providers do not use the same language to refer to the programs they offer. Even when they use the same naming conventions they are not necessarily referring to the same program types. There is variation throughout the sector over length of study time, use of fees and program entry requirements, for example. The variation in terms, and whether the same program name even means the same thing between providers, is mind boggling!  

Current benchmarking exercises seek to make sense of the various naming conventions around enabling education. They rely upon a shared understanding of what enabling education is: a pre-Bachelor course of study enabling university entry. However, we know that this is not the only way that enabling education can be constructed. The government’s advice to university providers says this: “A provider’s purpose in enrolling a student in a course of instruction determines whether it is an enabling course. Therefore, a course of instruction may be an enabling course for only some students undertaking it.”

It continues that even courses that bear credit can constitute an enabling course, though credit bearing courses cannot constitute the majority of the program of study.

The eye of the beholder

It seems, then, that what constitutes enabling lies in the eye of the beholder. It is likely that enabling funding is used diversely. For example, it may be used for programs sitting within or alongside undergraduate level study. It may also be used within high school outreach programs that assist students to transition out of secondary education and into a further enabling program or directly into undergraduate study. As this is not commonly understood as ‘enabling’, it is not necessarily captured in national typologies of enabling education or in benchmarking.

Importantly, it is not captured in our conversations about whether enabling education is best understood as a field of education that assists students not only into higher education but also through an often-non-linear educational journey that continues beyond the entry point of undergraduate study. 

Our nomenclature shouldn’t limit our understanding of where enabling should ‘sit’ as a mechanism for supporting students and improving outcomes.  

The term ‘enabling education’ is not commonly used outside Australia. And other terms do not adequately translate into an international context. For example, “preparatory” is the term proposed by the Australian Universities Accord to replace enabling education. However, this can create a problematic and false equivalency to American preparatory schools, whose function is entirely different to ‘preparation’ in an Australian enabling context. 

Within Australia, the use of distinct naming conventions for different programs impacts the legitimacy of enabling education as a particular field of education, taught by those with distinct and recognisable expertise. If we accept that enabling programs represent a particular branch of knowledge with expertise required to teach it, it deserves a consistent name that represents it as a field of education. It is questionable whether ‘enabling education’ is adequate for this purpose. 

What we call these courses matters

The conflation of terms like FEE-FREE Uni Ready (a name reserved for particular programs) with a field of education or discipline being taught does not help with efforts to form a meaningful and invariable name. It also inhibits our ability to understand what it is about enabling education as a field that is distinct, and what exists in parallel with other transition pedagogies, or preparatory practices. If these courses are simply about ‘enabling’ students to enter undergraduate study, what exactly do they even need to cover to prepare students and who determines this?  

What we call these courses matters. In practical terms the diverse naming conventions of enabling programs presents a barrier to finding and accessing these programs. These programs are particularly aimed at students often marginalised from higher education – so this naming problem may exacerbate this  marginalisation. Naming conventions matter too. They tell students how they are viewed by the university. They also tell students how they should think about themselves. In a NSW context, for example, ‘pathway’ is often used to refer to enabling programs. However, it is often preceded by the word ‘alternative’ – an alternate pathway to the completion of the Higher School Certificate. It implies that enabling education is secondary. 

And is enabling the right word? It has the loaded and problematic inference that students are not already ‘able’. Our terminology matters in framing enabling education, particularly for students who have experienced educational disadvantage.   

We still don’t know what’s going to happen

The FEE-FREE Uni Ready proposal was slated for implementation from 2025. But at the time of writing (February 2025) no further substantive clarification has been provided by government. That leaves much of the government-led work in formalising sector-wide benchmarks and shared (read: portable) understandings, curricula, and expectations unfinished. 

This variability limits the portability of certificates for students. It also limits of awareness of these programs, even within a program’s own institution. That, in turn, impacts the critical and evaluative interest of educational researchers both within and, importantly, outside of enabling education.  

Enabling education represents a real space for changing individual fortunes and helping students to develop fulfilling careers. But it is also as an opportunity for powerful knowledge and recognition of why access to education matters. It should also provide a space for deeper and critical understandings of higher education and its distributive role in society.

A public good

Enabling education is a public good, a true legacy of Whitlam-era policies that assert that higher education is for everyone. How we refer to this field of study matters. It dictates what enabling education does, how and when across a student’s journey. 

Naming matters in how we continue to “professionalise” this form of education as a set of practices and pedagogies, and operationalise it for educators and researchers who work within it and the students who seek to benefit from it. It matters to the public, who fund it.  

Emma Hamilton is a senior lecturer of history and convenor of the Open Foundation (Online) Program at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her work relates to history on film, and to widening participation in higher education. Matthew Bunn is a seniorl lecturer in academic pathways at James Cook University. His research is grounded in the sociology of equity and widening participation in higher education. Kieran Balloo is joining Curtin University and is a visiting senior research fellow in the Surrey Institute of Education at the University of Surrey, UK. His research has a focus on student transitions, equity, and wellbeing, and it emphasises the importance of innovative and inclusive educational practices to support diverse student populations. Sally Baker is an associate professor of Migration and Education in POLIS at ANU. Her work centres on policy and practice related to equity in higher education, particularly with students with forced migration backgrounds.

Turning points playlist

Your hottest 100: I’m so excited. And so much more

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Mark Selkrig, Nicky Dulfer, Ron ‘Kim’ Keamy, Troy Heffernan and Kristiina Brunila announce the “Academic Turning Points” Playlist Collection: Academics’ Journeys Expressed Through Music 

Many readers of this blog would know that higher education continues to be an ever-shifting landscape where constant change prevails. Academics worldwide who work inside higher education are navigating a myriad of profound changes and complexities. At the same time, they are grappling with increasing accountability measures and compliance requirements. The professional and personal pressures academics face can be immense. The impact is evident, with academics being overworked, exhausted, and on the verge of burnout. Alarmingly, many of these behaviours have become normalized. 

To better understand how academics are adapting to these evolving environments, our research team launched an innovative global study: “Turning Points: Changes Academics Make to Shape Their Working Lives.” The key research question driving this project was: How do academics articulate and represent the turning points that caused them to change course professionally, as well as the enduring impacts of those shifts?  Using multi-modal, arts-based methods, we invited participants to not only share written experiences about a pivotal moment where they elected to ‘do something different in their work practices’, but also describe an image and select a piece of music representing their evolved professional approaches. 

Your turning point playlist

Based on responses from over 120 participants in this study, some of whom may be readers of this blog, our findings reveal powerful windows into the nuanced realities of academic life. Drawing from the academics’ insightful musical selections, we’ve curated the “Academic Turning Points” Playlist Collection – a series of thoughtfully crafted playlists that audibly capture professional journeys across the globe. 

We are launching the first instalment: “Academic Turning Points 1: Reframing Perspectives on Work-Life Balance.” This resonant playlist explores the profound need for balance, perspective and self-compassion amid academia’s relentless demands. Tracks like “Don’t Worry Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin and “Sunrise” by Norah Jones reflect participants’ experiences re-evaluating unsustainable work practices and realigning priorities, with lyrics urging listeners to slow down, be kinder to themselves, and gain clarity on what’s important.  As one participant shared, a particular track helped them “realise that the way I was working was not sustainable, and I needed to make some changes to find more balance”.

From identity shift to finding purpose

We invite you to immerse yourself in this playlist and reflect on your own experiences. You may even want to consider the song you would choose to represent your own journey towards better work-life balance and sustainable practices. This is just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll unveil additional playlists, each offering a unique perspective through the powerful lens of music. From grappling with identity shifts to finding purpose, these collections will resonate with anyone impacted by academia’s demands. By centring multi-modal expression, our research aims to foster deeper understanding of academic life’s nuances. In this era of constant change, listening to academics’ voices is crucial. 

The “Academic Turning Points” playlist collection invites you to embark on an auditory exploration of professional journeys, struggles, triumphs and pivotal moments. To access the first playlist on in the collection on Spotify click on the QR code or follow the hyperlinked text to experience “Academic Turning Points 1: Reframing Perspectives on Work-Life Balance” .

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Remember to stay tuned for more releases in this powerful series. For academics worldwide, may these playlists remind you that you’re not alone, and that the path to balance and fulfillment is one we navigate together, one note at a time.

The evocative AI-generated playlist image (shown in the top image for this blog and also right) is based on descriptions of images that represented their academic turning point are also striking visual representations of the complex emotional terrain academics navigate daily. 

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If you would like to  know a little bit more about the project, or access a catalogue of whole collection of playlists as they are released, be sure to look at our Turning Points project website

Meet the Turning Points Team

Mark Selkrig is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. His research and scholarly work focus on the changing nature of educators’ work, their identities and lived experiences of these events. He has been the recipient of awards for publications in this field and acknowledged for his leadership, outstanding work and advocacy for arts development and education. Mark is on Linkedin.

Nicky Dulfer is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Nicky’s research agenda is driven by a social justice imperative and seeks to make a significant change to the ways in which marginalised students experience education. Her research explores educational curriculums and institutions and the ways they both shape, and are shaped by, those who work and study in them.

Ron “Kim” Keamy is an associate professor and a teacher education researcher in the Assessment & Evaluation Research Centre, Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. Kim’s research and scholarly work traverses educational and academic leadership, initial teacher education and teachers’ professional learning.

Troy Heffernan is a Fulbright Scholar and currently a visiting fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford. As a sociologist of higher education administration and equity, his work examines issues such as those related to precarious employment, the implication of academic networks, and the factors involved in hiring and promotional decisions. He also examines ways to enhance student equity and experience. 

Kristiina Brunila works as professor in the University of Helsinki where she directs the research centre of AGORA for the study of social justice and equality in education. With her AGORA research community she has studied educational transformations in global and glocal contexts including reforms in universities as well as questions related to inequalities and education.

Image in header is Dr Mitchell Rom and Dr Hayley Williams (both pictured in the middle), together with graduating students at The University of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sashing Ceremony. The author has been given permission to use this image.

Completion: Deadly tips for students who have just finished a PhD

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This is the third and final article in the series. In the first article, I discussed tips for students who are considering undertaking a PhD in Education. Following this, I outlined some potentially useful tips for students who are currently navigating the program. This final article offers some advice for students who have just finished a PhD. 

First, I offer my congratulations to you on submitting your thesis, completing your oral component (if required) and receiving conferral of the degree. You have achieved a significant milestone and you should be proud of this achievement. As an Indigenous PhD graduate, you are not only shifting historical, racialised discourse, but also challenging coloniality in education. While you are among a growing number of Indigenous PhD graduates in Australia, there is still more progress to be made given there were only 52 Indigenous PhD graduates in 2021 (Universities Australia, 2023). This equates to there being fewer than two Indigenous PhD graduates per university within Australia (Universities Australia, 2023).

This number has been fairly consistent since 2016. Prior to this, there were only 25 Indigenous PhD graduates in Australia in 2015 – or less than one graduate per university (Universities Australia, 2023). Within a postgraduate research context, to reach population parity of 3.2 per cent, the university sector would have needed to graduate an additional 115 Indigenous postgraduate research students in 2021 (Universities Australia, 2023).

Academia in Australia is a Westernised space where Indigenous knowledges, theories, methodologies and methods sit on the margins of the university. If you have contributed to either the Indigenous education or studies space, thank you for your contribution. You may now be wondering “what do I do with a PhD?” Below are some potentially useful tips that may help with your transition into the next phase of your career.

Celebrate this milestone with those who celebrate you

Before we explore potential employment opportunities, I encourage you to attend your graduation ceremonies. More specifically, I encourage you to attend your Indigenous graduation ceremony, your School’s event, as well as your broader university graduation ceremony. These graduation events not only provide you the opportunity to recognise and celebrate your achievement, but they also provide those who have supported you with the opportunity to celebrate this milestone with you. One of the highlights of my PhD program was attending the UQ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sashing Ceremony and being invited to deliver the graduation address. This was a special event as it was attended by my mum and aunty (two proud Quandamooka women), together with my then-fiancé and one of my supervisors. The message here is simple – capture and celebrate these special moments with your loved ones and your advisory team. You deserve this moment!

Publish your research findings (if you haven’t already done so)  

It is a good idea to think about publishing your main research findings or various chapters of your thesis if you have not already commenced this writing and publishing process. Although you may be fed up with writing at this point, publishing your work in peer-reviewed journals will strengthen your employment opportunities. I recommended that you discuss the journal selection process with your supervisors, ideally before you graduate. Your work in education deserves to be read and engaged with in quality journals (Q1/Q2). I also recommended using the useful online tool, ScImago Journal & Country Rank, to search for potential journals in Education and to view their details and ranking.

Explore your work opportunities: You have more agency than you may think

Your expertise has value across society and many fields so I encourage you to broaden your horizon and search for potential work in various areas of employment. You have more agency and choice than you may think and you can make a positive contribution to your space outside of academia. With a PhD in Education, you have the privilege and opportunity to consider employment in schools, academia, industry/organisations or government. Consultancy work might also be a viable option. There are many organisations outside of academia who value Indigenous education such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership or the Stronger Smarter Institute. You could search for potential employment opportunities with The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. You may also want to become involved with a national charity, such as the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation, if you are interested or trained in these areas.

If you are interested in transitioning into academia and research (for example a Postdoctoral Research Fellow), I recommended you discuss potential opportunities with your advisory team and School. Furthermore, reconnect with those academics who have supported you during your candidature to discuss potential employment opportunities. I encourage you to search for work opportunities and workplaces that suit you and align with your career interests. Applications, especially in an academic context, are also usually lengthy so remember to prioritise your wellbeing throughout the employment process.

Extra tip for Schools and Universities:

Consider offering PhD graduates the opportunity to provide feedback (preferably formal) on the program

I find it interesting that there is not an option for recent PhD graduates to provide feedback on the program – despite all other university students being asked to provide course feedback upon course completion. In my view, allowing recent graduates with an opportunity to provide formal feedback with regards to different aspects of the PhD program (for example in relation to candidature, milestones, postgraduate conferences, events, supervision, submission, the Graduate School, examination, graduation), may be beneficial to Schools. It could seek to further strengthen the existing PhD program by embedding evidence-based changes that aim to support future, as well as current, Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, thereby working to improve overall completion numbers.

Dr Mitchell Rom is a Lecturer with the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University. Mitchell initially trained as a secondary teacher in the disciplines of English and History and holds a PhD in Indigenous education. His research interests include Education, Equity and Decoloniality. His research has attracted national awards including the Australian Association for Research in Education Betty Watts Indigenous Researcher Award. As a Nunukul/Ngugi researcher, Mitchell has also taught in initial teacher education and has worked across various levels of education. Contact him on LinkedIn.

Image in header are students at the Weemala Indigenous Student Success Unit at Australian Catholic University, Brisbane campus. The author has been given permission to use this image.

Progress and Persistence: Deadly tips for students who are navigating a PhD

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This is the second article in the series.  In the first article, I discussed tips for students who are considering undertaking a PhD in Education. This second article discusses some useful tips for Indigenous students who are currently navigating the program. The issue of Indigenous student retention in PhD programs is important because while Universities Australia (2023) report a steady growth in Indigenous postgraduate research enrolments from 2005 to 2021, Indigenous student award completions still remain relatively low (Universities Australia, 2023).

This article unpacks a number of tips for those students who are currently navigating the PhD program and working towards confirmation of candidature, mid-candidature review or final thesis review. Some of these tips may also be beneficial to supervisors and may seek to support student retention.

Be open to shifts in your initial research topic or research questions

As you continue to engage with contemporary literature and yarn with your supervisors and experts in your field, you may notice that your initial research topic, scope of your study or research questions begin to shift. From my experience, this is a fairly natural progression of research. These sorts of research developments are sometimes necessary and can ultimately improve your thesis. Try not to be discouraged if this is the case for you in the early stages of your candidature. Embrace these research shifts as these developments may actually strengthen your research study.

Participate in campus events/activities and engage with groups

Feeling both academically and culturally supported is key with regards to candidature, particularly during the early stages. To feel a sense of support, I recommend participating in various campus events and activities. Within the early stages of my research, I was invited by my supervisor to share my PhD idea to fellow Indigenous academics and PhD students during a 3-minute thesis competition that was based on campus. These events are a great opportunity to gain experience with regards to public speaking, which will also assist you in your preparation for confirmation of candidature. They are also an opportunity to network with fellow students and researchers. Reach out to your advisory team to find out if there are any upcoming campus events or activities that may be of interest to you.

Additionally, I encourage you to consider potentially joining a reading group at university. This group might be based either within or outside of your School. Joining a reading group is a deadly way to familiarise yourself with current literature in Education/Indigenous education or within Indigenous studies. During my candidature, I was involved in two reading and yarning groups with fellow Indigenous students and academics and I felt supported and valued in both of these groups. There may also be opportunities to collaborate and publish within these groups which will also benefit your future employment opportunities.

Navigate problematic research data with support from trusted people

If you are undertaking research in the political space of Indigenous education, there is a possibility that you may need to engage with problematic research data. Essentially, I am referring to racist or resistant educational data that you may have gathered during data collection. This type of data has the potential to be triggering. If this is the case, then you may want to consider having a yarn in relation to this matter with trusted people including your family members, trusted colleagues/critical friends or your advisory team. An additional option may be to explore counselling services at university (or outside of university) for your wellbeing.  

With my research, I had to engage with colonising data and racist language on a regular basis for a lengthy period of time. I had to navigate explicitly and implicitly resistant research data by a number of non-Indigenous students in relation to studying compulsory Indigenous education at university. While I acknowledge and understand that this data was mostly by non-Indigenous pre-service teachers who were inexperienced, as an Indigenous researcher, I was still subjected to this data. I attempted to balance out this experience with reading positive student data and remembering that one of the goals of my research was to disrupt coloniality. Upon reflection, this issue was perhaps one of my most difficult challenges in the program. I note that my wife was my main support during data collection and analysis and it is important for you to have similar support to navigate these types of challenges.

Be open to feedback on your research (but perhaps not too open)

I encourage you to enjoy this learning journey and to listen to those scholars who are experts in your field. In my experience,  academia is grounded in informal and formal feedback. Try to be open to feedback on your research from your advisory team and from trusted colleagues/critical friends and students. While this tip may sound simple, it is often more challenging in practice. However, I do believe that receiving rational and appropriate feedback and recommendations regarding your research will only further strengthen your work. 

For those students who are embedding Indigenised or decolonial theoretical frameworks, methodologies or methods in your research study, this issue is more nuanced. University is a particular type of interface where Indigenous knowledges can struggle to obtain legitimacy. Or as my former supervisor states, “the Australian university is grounded in imperial-capitalist-neo-liberal-colonial-patriarchy”. The implications of these structures have impacted the ways in which research has historically been and continues to be undertaken. Sharing particular aspects of your research to those who may not be as familiar with Indigenous research, may result in some awkward conversations (or potential tension) and may invite unhelpful feedback. However, it could also result in new learning experiences. Remember to trust your instinct!

See yourself as gradually becoming the expert

Towards the latter stages of the program, try to see yourself as becoming the expert in your chosen field. As your PhD research is specific and designed to contribute to new knowledge, there is probably no-one who knows more about your precise research topic than you. I have struggled with this piece of advice (mainly due to outdated Westernised discourse such as deficit discourse) but it is important to be confident in your growing skills as a researcher. The reality is that you are developing expertise and skills and are actually becoming an expert in your field. A deadly advisory team will help foster your development and growth as a researcher.

Take regular breaks and take leave if necessary

Our society values “doing more is better” and this can have implications. Your value or worth is not determined by how many hours you spend at your desk or words you write in a single day while on your third caffeinated beverage. So, remember to take breaks.

The PhD program can be a demanding program full of commitments, milestones and chapter deadlines. The workload can be intense at times, especially if you have family commitments and responsibilities. Sometimes, you need to take leave from the program. At the end of the day, the PhD program does not define you and your mental and emotional health is more important than a chapter deadline. If this is the case, I recommend that you discuss leave options with your advisory team. Your supervisors are there to support you. Deadly supervision includes supervisors realising the importance of these matters, checking in with you and supporting your wellbeing.

Extra tips:

Schedule regular meetings with your supervisors and eventually discuss potential thesis examiners with your advisory team

It is important to schedule regular meetings with your supervisors to discuss your research (fortnightly etc.). It is a deadly idea to discuss possible international and national examiners who work in your field of study with your advisory team before you reach your final thesis milestone. This process takes time. It is better to get a head start so your thesis can be marked as soon as possible after it is submitted.

Consider allocated research funds from your School

You may have some allocated research funds to assist with your candidature. I recommend using these research funds on particular experiences such as education conferences (Australian Association for Research in Education etc.) so that you can explore new educational research as well as network. Alternatively, you could use these research funds for professional editing services.

Be friendly to the Graduate School

If you have submitted your final thesis and have been waiting for updates, you may have considered contacting the Graduate School. Personally speaking, it took approximately six months for my thesis examination (during Covid) and I was not the only candidate in the School who experienced these lengthy delays. Waiting for your examination outcome can be quite a frustrating experience, especially if you have employment commitments, but remember to be kind to those in the Graduate School. You will eventually receive the outcome of your thesis. Remember that it is common for candidates to pass the final examination with amendments. A deadly advisory team will guide and support you during this time so that you can effectively make the revisions required by the examiners. 

Dr Mitchell Rom is a Lecturer with the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University. Mitchell initially trained as a secondary teacher in the disciplines of English and History and holds a PhD in Indigenous education. His research interests include Education, Equity and Decoloniality. His research has attracted national awards including the Australian Association for Research in Education Betty Watts Indigenous Researcher Award. As a Nunukul/Ngugi researcher, Mitchell has also taught in initial teacher education and has worked across various levels of education. Contact him on LinkedIn.

Image in header are students from the Weemala Indigenous Student Success Unit at Australian Catholic University, Brisbane campus. The author has been given permission to use this image.

Deadly tips for students who want to do a PhD

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There are many opportunities and challenges associated with doing a PhD. It is a rewarding program that allows you to deeply explore a research area of interest. However, it is also recognised as a difficult academic pursuit and students may encounter various challenges in completing the program.

My own PhD, undertaken at The University of Queensland (UQ), explored the key learning, teaching and national education policy challenges in relation to Indigenous education at university. Since my conferral in 2022, I have been asked to share my professional advice for Indigenous students who are wanting to enrol in a PhD program and conduct research.

So, I decided to write this series of articles, over three separate posts, related to undertaking a PhD in Education, based off my lived experience as a Nunukul/Ngugi researcher. My aim in sharing these articles is to particularly assist Indigenous students who are doing a PhD in the field of education.

My lived experience

According to Universities Australia (2023), the number of Indigenous student enrolments in PhD programs has increased significantly over the past 13 or so years. For example, in 2011, there were 291 student enrolments compared to 594 enrolments in 2021. While these increasing numbers are positive, there is still further work required; there would need to be an additional 555 Indigenous postgraduate research enrolments to reach population parity of 3.2 per cent for 2021 (Universities Australia, 2023).

While I am writing from my own experience, the tips offered in this series may be relevant for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students who are doing a PhD in Education. This series includes general advice as well as much more nuanced tips which may only relate to Indigenous students who are conducting research in the Indigenous space. Experiencing any program at university is subjective, and these tips are intended to serve as a guide only. Remember that the PhD journey is your own journey and you should navigate it in the way that works best for you. This article, which is the first in the series, shares five tips that may assist students who are transitioning into the program.

Select a topic of interest

The decision to undertake a PhD is an exciting time but can also be overwhelming given the diverse range of topics that you can choose to research. Selecting a research topic can sometimes be a complex process as it can be difficult to decide on the one topic you want to research for the next four (or more) years. Here are a few ideas that may spark your thinking. Consider areas of education that may be improved or where you see room for further development. What contribution would you like to make in education? Perhaps it could be related to curriculum, pedagogy or assessment. What areas of education were you drawn to as part of your previous studies? What level of education are you interested in researching?

If you are transitioning from completing your Masters, consider whether your research topic could be an extension of your existing work. If you are a classroom teacher or work in initial teacher education, perhaps you could connect your teaching experiences with your study.

Drawn to my topic

In my experience, it is common for Indigenous PhD students to choose an Indigenous-related research topic. I also did my research in Indigenous education because of my ontological connection to the space. I was also drawn to my topic because I wanted to contribute to education policy, which was informed by my experiences as a teacher and student. Although this may seem obvious, my advice is to choose a topic that interests you – whether that be in the field of literary criticism, educational leadership or Indigenous education policy. There is also no need to rush this process – you will be spending a significant amount of time with your topic so it is important to choose wisely. Given the length of the program, to maintain a level of motivation, you will need to select a research topic that interests you.

Choose a deadly advisory team

The PhD program is a long and at times emotional journey and it helps if you have supportive and culturally competent supervisors. The reality is that there is not a great number of Indigenous academics in the Education space. If you are seeking to involve a number of Indigenous scholars on your advisory team, you may have to shift these expectations. When I enrolled in the PhD program, there were no other Indigenous academics or PhD students based in the UQ School of Education. Until other Indigenous PhD students and academics arrived in the School, this was a fairly isolating experience.

Ultimately, my advisory team consisted of experienced non-Indigenous and Indigenous academics (teachers and non-teachers) who were based within and outside of the Education School. This advisory team brought different strengths to supervision. I recommend that you undertake some initial research based on those academics who are experienced in your research area and then contact and schedule to have a yarn with several academics to see if they may be a good fit for your research. Remember, you can always change supervisors if your situation changes.

Apply for scholarship support

Generally speaking, receiving a PhD scholarship will place you in a better financial position with your candidature. This may mean that you may not need to work or teach each semester and instead are able to focus on effectively developing your research. I encourage you to discuss potential university scholarships with your potential supervisors prior to commencing the program in order to place you in the best position to achieve your research goals. 

Find quality support

Finding quality support from people and groups was key for my successful navigation of the PhD program. I come from a predominately trade-based family of seven people, including six men and am the first in my family to graduate from university. While my family were supportive of my studies, this presented multifaceted challenges and so I understand the importance of finding like-minded people and quality support groups. Connect with people who have a shared experience of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) studies and who can offer support to you throughout the program.  

Within the early stages of your candidature, I encourage you to consider applying for the Professional Certificate in Indigenous Research at the University of Melbourne. This course, developed by Professor Marcia Langton, is designed specifically for Indigenous HDR students across Australia. The course provides an opportunity to discuss your research with like-minded Indigenous students and supportive academic staff. If you are potentially interested in applying for this course, I suggest that you have a conversation with your supervisors to see if this program aligns with your busy schedule. I have completed this course and recommend it to HDR students.

Furthermore, I also found support in various reading groups at university. This is discussed more in the second article.

Prioritise your wellbeing

The process of enrolling in a new program at university, navigating administrative issues, regularly meeting with potential supervisors and thinking about multiple aspects of your research study can be overwhelming. Remember to take care of your health and wellbeing during this potentially lengthy and complex process. Develop positive habits early to prioritise your wellbeing so that the program is sustainable and enjoyable.

Dr Mitchell Rom is a Lecturer with the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University. Mitchell initially trained as a secondary teacher in the disciplines of English and History and holds a PhD in Indigenous education. His research interests include Education, Equity and Decoloniality. His research has attracted national awards including the Australian Association for Research in Education Betty Watts Indigenous Researcher Award. As a Nunukul/Ngugi researcher, Mitchell has also taught in initial teacher education and has worked across various levels of education. Contact him on LinkedIn.

Australian universities

Australian university staff now in chaos: No idea what will happen after December 31

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Imagine not knowing whether your job will exist after the holidays. The anxiety of wondering whether you should be budgeting for a well-deserved break with family or for the impending bills that might not be accounted for by your current salary in the new year. This is a reality for so many people working in Australian universities right now.

“I only have a contract until December 31. I have no idea what will happen after that.”

Released in February, the final report of the Universities Accord highlighted multiple crisis points for the Australian tertiary education sector. That includes inadequate funding, poor governance, wage thefts and a massive over reliance on casual staff. For people within the sector, this report provided some confirmation of their experience. The recommendations provided a small sliver of hope that we might see some change.

The Ending Bad Governance for Good report released by the NTEU last week paints an even more dire picture, while thousands of academics are facing uncertainty about whether they will have work in 2025.

Confusion over casualisation

The final report of the Universities Accord indicated that high rates of precarious employment in the sector negatively impacts the quality of teaching and research within universities, limiting the overall workforce capacity. The report cites data showing that over the past 30 years, rates of casual employment have consistently sat between 15.8% and 22.8% of all university staff.

These types of proportional data, however, report on Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions. That obscure the actual number of people who are precariously employed. Estimates of the number of casually employed individuals vary wildly. There are suggestions that one FTE could really represent between 7 and 16 employees.

The recent NTEU report uses a conservative estimate of 6 people for every FTE role. That raises the overall proportion of individuals who are casually employed to an average of 49% across Australian universities. That’s nearly half of all employees

Moves to reduce the reliance on casual work are welcome – but they have also left institutions in a state of confusion. Universities are currently scrambling to respond to changes in the classification of casual work. The Fair Work Commission’s “Closing the Loopholes” Act involves a range of changes to strengthen the protection of employees. That includes changing the definition of casual employment and the process of conversion to permanent employment.

Approaches vary

Approaches have varied across the sector. But people who have worked at institutions for years or decades are now facing uncertainty about what their roles might look like in the new year or whether their much-needed positions will continue to exist.   

My research over the past eight years with colleagues focuses on the experiences of academics in insecure employment. We see an emerging sense of precarity throughout the sector that extends beyond those who are employed casually. Impacts of the COVID pandemic, reports of hundreds of millions of dollars in staff underpayment and other forms of wage theft, and multiple rounds of restructuring and redundancies contributes to a sense of unease across university campuses.

A crisis of governance

Adding to this unease, the new NTEU report paints a damning picture of university governance.

Neoliberal policies and reduced government funding ensure universities are now seen as businesses. 

But the NTEU report includes shocking examples of management practices that would not be accepted in the business world.

The report describes inflated executive salaries. Over 300 university executives nationally being paid more than the premiers of their respective states. More than $730M was paid to external consultants and contractors in 2023 alone.

This figure seems incomprehensible within a sector that promotes itself as having the ‘best and brightest’ within their own walls. While I note that the amount reported can include other professional services, it does not paint a substantially different picture from the Sydney Morning Herald’s report in 2023.

The NTEU report shows, on average, the 37 Australian public universities examined have paid external consultants almost $20M in one year ($19,836,011). Simultaneously, they are undergoing restructures and cutting programs. They are also cutting staff, who are dedicated to the core business of teaching and research, in precarious positions.

Changing landscapes of academic employment

Between 2020 and 2023, the number of job losses and newly added positions has bounced around dramatically, bolstering the NTEU report’s finding of poor workforce planning.

Over the period of peak COVID-19 pandemic, 4,760 people were made redundant within Australian universities. While 75% of these positions have been readvertised since 2021, universities across the country have announced impending redundancies and some have recently cut entire programs.

At the same time, universities are declaring their commitment to de-casualising their workforce. Our current research examines policies which relate to the shift away from casual employment to permanency

within Enterprise Bargaining Agreements from 35 Australian Universities. We found 27 universities have committed to creating new positions targeting the conversion of a minimum of 2,554 FTE casual positions to permanent roles. A fraction of the public funding spent on consultancy alone would be sufficient to fund these positions.

Universities are complex. Workforce planning is particularly complex in a sector that is governed by student numbers. One issue within the sector, however, is clear. 

A sense of precarity

All academics, regardless of their employment contracts, are feeling a sense of precarity. They are uncertain about their roles, their workload, and the future of the sector.

People who are currently wondering about their employment beyond next month are receiving reports that huge amounts of public funding has been spent on executive salaries and external consultants.

My hope is that public funding for higher education is committed to supporting those who teach our future doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, and nurses. My hope is that funding is dedicated to supporting researchers who engage in cutting edge research and providing training and employment for future researchers to do the same.

Jess Harris is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. Her research is focused on the leadership and development of teachers and teaching within schools and through initial teacher education. She draws on a range of qualitative research methods, including conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis.

Open access

Open access. Break the paywall. Reclaim knowledge now

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In my academic career, I’ve always advocated for not-for-profit academic journals. These platforms support academic freedom and align with the principle that research should benefit society, not merely serve the interests of profit-driven corporations. Unfortunately, the academic publishing landscape, dominated by five major commercial players—Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, and SAGE—has become a bastion of profit, with universities and researchers paying steep costs for access to their own work.

The roots of this issue stretch back decades. Commercial publishers initially positioned themselves as facilitators of scholarly communication, offering the infrastructure to publish and distribute research globally. However, over time, these companies consolidated their influence and increasingly exploited their role as gatekeepers of knowledge. Today, the academic publishing landscape is so heavily controlled by these firms that universities must pay millions annually to access research produced by their own faculty members.

The Profits Behind the Paywall

The financial model behind commercial publishers is staggering. Elsevier, one of the largest academic publishers, has historically reported profit margins between 30% and 40%—outperforming even many tech giants like Google. This remarkable profitability is driven by a system where researchers, who receive little to no compensation for writing, reviewing, and editing, must rely on their institutions to pay high subscription fees to access the same content they’ve produced.

While some of these costs are tied to maintaining a peer-review process and publishing infrastructure, the scale of profit points to deeper systemic issues. This paywall not only limits the flow of knowledge but also exacerbates global inequalities in education and research. For scholars and institutions in developing countries, many of whom cannot afford the high subscription fees, access to critical research is often out of reach. The global knowledge divide deepens, reinforcing inequities between wealthier and lower-income regions.

Meanwhile, independent researchers and the general public, who stand to benefit greatly from access to cutting-edge scholarship, are often excluded entirely. This restricted access is particularly troubling at a time when misinformation spreads freely online while verified, peer-reviewed research remains behind paywalls.

Commercial Publishers’ Shifting Approach to Open Access

The increasing calls for open access (OA) have not gone unnoticed by commercial publishers. While they initially resisted the idea of free access to research, many have since adapted by offering OA options—but at a cost. These models, known as “gold open access,” require authors or their institutions to pay article processing charges (APCs) that can be prohibitively expensive. As a result, while OA is becoming more common, commercial publishers still manage to profit from researchers, either through subscription fees or APCs. This nuance complicates the narrative that publishers are entirely resistant to change; instead, they are reshaping their models to maintain profitability.

Despite these developments, the argument that high fees are necessary to cover the cost of peer review and production is increasingly challenged. Not-for-profit journals, especially those following the diamond open access model, have shown that scholarly publishing can be done ethically and affordably.

The Rise of Not-for-Profit Alternatives

Not-for-profit publishing models offer a promising alternative. Unlike commercial publishers, not-for-profit journals, such as those operating under the diamond open access model, charge no fees to authors or readers. These journals are typically funded through academic institutions, libraries, or government grants, ensuring that knowledge remains freely accessible to all.

Prominent examples of this include the Public Library of Science (PLOS) and arXiv. PLOS has revolutionized access to scientific research by offering freely available, peer-reviewed articles across various disciplines. However, it is important to note that PLOS operates on a “gold OA” model, meaning authors or their institutions pay APCs to make their articles accessible. This is different from the truly cost-free “diamond OA” model, which has yet to be widely scaled but holds potential for democratizing access without financial burdens on authors.

In contrast, arXiv, which offers a platform for preprints in fields like physics and mathematics, allows researchers to share their work almost immediately, before formal peer review. By offering a free alternative for early-stage research dissemination, arXiv helps bridge the gap between researchers and the broader public. However, it still relies on external funding and institutional support, highlighting the need for sustainable financial models for all not-for-profit journals.

The Challenge of Prestige in Academia

One of the greatest challenges not-for-profit and open-access journals face is their lack of prestige in comparison to long-established, high-impact commercial journals. In many fields, publishing in prestigious commercial journals remains the most reliable path to securing tenure, promotion, and grants. This reliance on commercial publications creates a cycle where early-career researchers, in particular, feel pressured to publish in these journals to establish their careers.

Institutions, too, are complicit in this system, rewarding publications in top-tier commercial journals while failing to provide similar recognition for work published in not-for-profit journals. As a result, even researchers who support open access often find themselves caught in a system that prioritizes impact factor over accessibility and public good.

Breaking this cycle will require a fundamental shift in how academic merit is measured. Universities must begin rewarding faculty for contributing to not-for-profit platforms and open access journals. Tenure and promotion criteria need to evolve to place greater value on the societal impact of research, not just the prestige of the journal in which it is published.

Emerging Technologies and Decentralized Platforms

The digital revolution offers new opportunities to disrupt the dominance of commercial publishers. Decentralized platforms, such as blockchain-based systems, could transform academic publishing by offering transparent, tamper-proof records of research submissions, peer review, and editorial decisions. Blockchain’s potential lies in reducing the need for centralized gatekeepers, giving researchers greater control over the dissemination of their work.

However, the application of blockchain to academic publishing is still experimental. While it holds promise for greater transparency and decentralization, it has not yet been widely adopted. Similarly, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are beginning to assist in the academic peer review process by helping to identify potential issues with research integrity or bias, streamlining workflows, and matching manuscripts with appropriate reviewers. While AI can enhance efficiency, its current role remains supplementary, not a replacement for human judgment in peer review.

For these technological innovations to gain traction, they will need institutional backing and investment. Universities and governments must commit to funding these platforms, ensuring they are integrated into mainstream academic publishing.

Institutional Support and Global Impact

Institutions and governments have a key role to play in supporting the open access movement. Some universities have already taken proactive steps in this direction. For example, Harvard University’s Office for Scholarly Communication advocates for open access policies across its faculties, and the European Commission’s Open Research Europe platform offers researchers a free, government-funded venue to publish their work.

These initiatives are critical in demonstrating the feasibility of open-access publishing, but much more is needed, particularly in developing regions. Scholars in the Global South, where research funding is scarce and access to high-cost journals is limited, stand to benefit most from open access. The democratization of knowledge can empower these researchers to contribute to the global scientific conversation on equal footing, helping to close the knowledge gap between wealthier and poorer nations.

However, for open access to become the norm, there must be a concerted effort from all stakeholders—governments, universities, funding agencies, and researchers themselves. Governments should mandate that publicly funded research be made available in open-access repositories, while universities should reexamine their tenure and promotion criteria to ensure that researchers are not penalized for publishing in not-for-profit, open-access journals.

A Call to Action for Equity in Knowledge Dissemination

Academic publishing should no longer be an elite, profit-driven enterprise. The solution is not just technological but ideological—rooted in a commitment to ensuring that research serves society, not corporations. By investing in not-for-profit models and supporting open-access platforms, we can ensure that the benefits of research are shared widely, beyond the academic bubble.

The time for systemic change is now. By supporting open access, institutions and governments can reclaim the dissemination of knowledge from profit-driven entities and restore the integrity of academic research.

Allen A. Espinosa is a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. He is currently on study leave as a professor of Science Education at the Educational Policy Research and Development Office of the Philippine Normal University. Allen holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research covers a wide range of topics, including policy research in education, teacher education, information disorder, and social justice in education. You may reach him at allen.espinosa@pedf.cuni.cz. 

  

Budget 2024: The government must support universities, students – and research

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This is the third in a series of posts on the 2024 Budget. Today: higher education by the University of Melbourne’s Abigail Payne, director of the Melbourne Institute. Last Friday: early childhood care and education by the University of New England’s Marg Rogers, postdoctoral fellow at the Manna Institute Last Thursday: school funding by Curtin University’s Matthew P. Sinclair, a lecturer in education policy.

I approached this year’s budget with excitement and with trepidation. 

Why excitement? This budget offered the potential to embrace some of the more positive insights from the Universities Accord Report.  Trepidation? Would we see the government fail to address the more challenging aspects of working at a university in Australia.

I had hoped to write about the promise of renewed investment in research, in the financing of universities, and supporting the important role that universities play for progressing innovation and delivering solutions that will support strong economic growth for Australia. 

Frankly not much was announced about any important investment that must be made to strengthen and invest in our universities.  

A quick search on terms revealed that the term “student” appeared 109 times, higher education 27 times, university 27 times, VET 25 times, TAFE 7 times, science 35 times, and research 65 times. This blog will focus on the budget announcements for addressing enrolment and the servicing of debt.  

Importance of Increasing Tertiary Education Attendance

Let me start with the promising information. A goal of creating a highly skilled workforce that includes a tertiary attainment target of 80 percent by 2050. This is both laudable and ambitious.  As Figure 1 depicts, Australia is ranked 10th amongst OECD countries for educational attainment (tertiary or higher) for individuals aged 25 to 34. The current rate for those living in Australia is 49 percent for men and is 63 percent for women. 

Is increasing access to universities only about the money?

The budget also recognizes the importance of broadening access to encourage more underrepresented students to attend university. This importance will include a commitment for more needs-based funding.  What this means for the budget is vague.  And is the solution to achieving both an 80 percent target and broadening access simply about money? Increased financial commitments were announced in the budget: $1.1 billion over five years for expanded access and $350.3 million to expand access to free university courses. 

Of course, money matters. 

But research has shown, time and time again, the returns to further education are positive. That has not wavered over time. Why are we not observing high demand for university places? 

Increasing educational attainment must include considerations: how we encourage students to prepare for pursuing these degrees; how we support our schools to deliver what is needed for success in university; and what we can do to support growth in the tertiary system. All that, while maintaining high standards to ensure graduating students are best prepared for opportunities that will require higher levels of skill and knowhow.

Addressing accumulated debt – will changing indexation solve the problem?

As has been well reported, as tuitions have risen, so has student debt. Figure 2 illustrates the dramatic increase in student debt based on tax data obtained from the Australian Tax Office, computed based on the year of the last observed loan for a student, reported in real ($2022) dollars. When HECS/HELP was introduced, the average accumulated debt at the end of schooling was $10,000 in today’s dollars.  Today, the average is nearly $40,000. If we look at remaining debt after five, ten, and fifteen years (ignoring those who have fully repaid their loan), those with debt after ten years are still not making much of a dent in repaying the debt.

Increasing debt, and in more recent years, increasing effective interest on this debt has risen. This means that it is taking longer to repay debt.  Figure 3 illustrates this fact.  Using tax data and the loan information from the Australian Tax Office, we depict the share of students who have repaid their student loan debt after five, ten, and fifteen years, respectively, based on the year of the last year a loan was received.  For example, if a student enrols in university in 2000 and takes out three years of loans between 2000 and 2002, the student is identified as having received her last year of loans in 2002.

What’s changed

When tuition was on the order of $2,000 (nominal) per year (1989 to 1995), approximately 30 percent of the students had repaid their loans within five years and 78 percent had repaid the loan within ten years. Fast forward to more recent periods: only 20 percent of students have repaid their loans within five years. Only 55 percent have repaid their loans within 10 years.  As debt has increased so has the time to repay. 

The budget has recognized the challenges of loan repayment. They have announced that the effective interest rate for these loans will change. The rate will be the lower of either the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index. This use of different measures to capture “inflation” is welcomed. 

Are the cuts to debt fair?

The Government has also indicated it will cut $3 billion in student debt, providing relief for those with existing debt. That’s welcome. But is it fair for those who no longer hold debt but paid off their loans in recent years?  One should also consider the potential signal it serves regarding opportunities to pay off one’s loan faster than is required. And finally, what about those who have never held a loan but are struggling financially?

Confusions around tuition rates and debt repayment – does it cause a student to pause before enrolling?

Revisiting the question of how to increase participation in tertiary education, we should think about the role increasing debt plays on the decision to pursue a university degree. The income-contingent loan repayment scheme should be applauded for creating a structure to encourage participation while deferring payment for that participation.  

What started as a simple concept, however, has become convoluted. It may lead to confusion and a decision not to pursue further education. As Figure 4 illustrates, tuition has not only increased but there are differential tuition rates depending on the program of study.  This aspect makes sense if the tuition rate reflects the cost of delivering the given program of study. This simple depiction of three or four rates, however, quickly gets confusing when a student pursues courses in different programs. Once enrolled, depending on course selection, a student can end up facing differential course fees, making it even more challenging to understand the total cost of a degree before enrolling in university. 

Source: Parliamentary Library based on Department of Education,  https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2021/Chronologies/HigherEducation

Potentially even more confusing for a student who wants to be fully informed before university registration is the repayment rates. The basic principle is that repayment is tied to earnings. With the minimum repayment amount equalling a percentage of one’s income.

But the percentage and thresholds vary across incomes and over time. Figure 5 depicts the minimum repayment rates. These have changed both with respect to what is owed as well as the income threshold for computing the amount owed. Given the repayment rates can adjust on a year to year basis, it would be very challenging to figure out at the time of university registration how long it might take to repay a student loan. 

Source: Parliamentary Library based on Department of Education,  https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2021/Chronologies/HigherEducation

Encouraging greater participation and meeting 2050 targets

Encouraging greater participation in tertiary education must be more than making a proclamation. We can do more to invest in our institutions, to identify the factors that contribute to a decision to pursue a degree or diploma beyond secondary school, and to provide transparent mechanisms for capturing tuition and loan repayment. To encourage greater participation in tertiary education, information on costs and expectations for repayment should be clear and easy to understand. 

Government has made a move towards reducing the costs associated with loan indexation. It has also provided temporary loan forgiveness, and is investing to promote greater access to university. But it should do more to embrace and address the challenges students AND universities face.

Abigail Payne is the Director & Ronald Henderson Professor at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Her research is wide- ranging and includes the effects of policy on educational outcomes, schooling transitions, gender differences, and student performance; the determinants of poverty and disadvantage and the mechanisms for reducing poverty; and charitable giving and the role played by nonprofits in service provision.  

Graduate employment: Right now, the ‘fair-go’ isn’t fair enough

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A cornerstone of Australian values is the idea of a ‘fair go’: equality of opportunity regardless of personal circumstances. However, when it comes to higher education, decades of equity data reveal how university systems have failed to ensure this ‘fair go’. Nowhere is this more noted than in relation to gaining employment post-graduation.

Getting a job after completing a university degree is rarely straightforward. Only a minority of students walk straight from the graduating stage into permanent employment. However, students from equity backgrounds experience markedly different post-graduation trajectories compared to their peers from non-equity groups. In Australia,  students from a poorer background, living with a disability or with a first language other than English, consistently encounter ‘labour-market disadvantage’  with lower levels of employment 6 months after graduation. This is particularly noted for those living with disability, with a full-time employment rate of 68.4%, compared to 79.5% for those with no reported disability.

Statistics only tell one part of the story

Disparities in securing employment or job conditions are only some of the inequities experienced. Recent research indicates that those graduates from more diverse backgrounds also 1) have less opportunity to achieve ‘high status’ professional roles (e.g. medicine, law), 2) report differences in hourly wages and also, 3) experience more complex, interrupted pathways to employment.

There are many reasons for these differences not least of which is these graduates may not have access to necessary, but often obscure, networks or information needed to obtain professional roles. For example, graduates who were the first in their families or communities to attend university do not have a ‘guide on the side’ who can provide insight or advice about the fundamentals of job seeking. In recent research, graduates repeatedly told me how this was a hidden, but significant, barrier. For example, one survey respondent explained how seeking employment after graduation was like “navigating uncharted water”, another reflected on the difficulty of “understanding […] the white collar world” and sadly one defeatedly stated: “I was very ignorant in what came after.”

What’s the difference?

In their reflections, there was a perception of “difference” that was implicitly and overtly experienced within the workplace, tied up with their family background and biography:

Perhaps if someone else in my family had graduated and embarked upon a professional career they also could have given me advice about building the foundations early, such as doing internships and volunteering in places.

What this and other quotes indicated was that while these students had received a university degree, there was more practical and applied knowledges needed to achieve their end goals. Not only did they need to aim for good grades but also, participate in internships, gain volunteer experience, network with future employers and proactively engage with the careers services on-campus. As one student so eloquently summed up, many ‘assumed the degree would be all I needed’.

The promises of university education were not delivered for some and the frustration and anger of this situation was palpable in survey responses:

The universities just pretend that getting that piece of paper is all you need, like they are selling ice cream. (Female Survey Respondent)

We need to think about entry and exit

The last two decades have seen huge changes to the university sector with increasing numbers and diversity in our student populations. While policy and procedures have engaged with the implications of this as students consider and enter university, those who are exiting the higher education system have not attracted a similar level of attention. We are experiencing a highly competitive job market with a global oversupply of graduates and this, combined with the need to be ‘employable’ means that those students with less access to necessary material and personal resources may be at a marked disadvantage within the graduate employment market.

The recent Accord Interim Discussion paper proposes a range of actions designed to ensure that the skills and knowledge developed by students are readily transferable to the workplace. The paper calls for a ‘modular, stackable, integrated approach to course design’ complemented by a framework for coordinated work placements as well as ‘earn while you learn’ and other financial support for undergraduates.

What they need

But what the graduates in this study indicated was a need for more practical and applied careers-related support deliberately targeted at that final transition: the move between university into employment. Suggested initiatives included proactive careers advice contextualised to different stages of the degree journey; ongoing professional mentoring that commenced early in the degree and extended beyond graduation; opportunities to have meaningful contact with professionals with similar (equity) backgrounds to their own; and explicit teaching about protocols and expectations within a professional workplace environment. Those changes are not difficult but such initiatives do require a ‘shift’ in mindset across the university sector – to one that more readily embraces and desires a relationship with students that extends beyond the graduation stage.

Sarah O’Shea is the dean, graduate research at Charles Sturt University, a Churchill Fellow, principal fellow of the Higher Education Academy and leading an ARC Discovery Project exploring the persistence behaviours of first in family students.