{"id":576513,"date":"2026-03-31T15:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/576513\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:21:09","slug":"australias-new-tertiary-education-authority-clears-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/576513\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s new tertiary education authority clears parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) has been operating in an interim capacity<\/a>, legislation to formally establish it passed parliament on March 31, as the government moves to reform tertiary education following a recommendation from the Australian Universities Accord<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all things in the Accord, I think this is the most important.\u00a0This is real long-term systemic reform,\u201d said education minister Jason Clare.<\/p>\n

The ATEC will steer higher education reform, balancing domestic priorities with international growth. It will act as an independent steward for the system, overseeing implementation of reforms aimed at lifting participation, improving equity, and strengthening links between vocational and higher education.<\/p>\n

The ATEC will be responsible for allocating funding under the\u00a0new government\u2019s new \u2018managed growth\u2019 system, overseeing national standards, and producing an annual report on the state of the tertiary education system.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of the hunger games we have at the moment where universities are encouraged to be the same size and eat each other alive for students, the ATEC will help us build something different.\u00a0It will help us build a system that\u2019s bigger than we have today, double the size,\u201d continued Clare.<\/p>\n

Instead of the hunger games we have at the moment where universities are encouraged to be the same size and eat each other alive for students, the ATEC will help us build something different
Jason Clare, education minister<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will look at how to make it easier to move between university and TAFE and make getting the skills you need quicker and cheaper.\u00a0It will be independent. It will be able to tell government things they don\u2019t want to hear and call out the things that need to happen next.\u00a0This is all part of our work to build a better and fairer education system,\u201d added Clare.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, minister for skills and training Andrew Giles described the establishing of the ATEC as a \u201cgreat milestone for education and training in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have a dedicated body to drive the work to bring our university and vocational education and training sectors closer together. The establishment of the ATEC makes real our ambitions for a joined up tertiary education system, in which vocational and higher education pathways are equally valued.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of amendments were accepted to the bill, including an increase in the number of commissioners \u2013 a move welcomed by Ren\u00e9e Leon, vice-chancellor of Charles Sturt University, who is now urging the government to ensure that one of these is a\u00a0designated regional commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Accord\u2019s core ambition is to lift participation and attainment in higher education for disadvantaged Australians, including those living in the regional communities we serve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have previously stated<\/a>, regional Australians deserve a higher education system that supports their aspirations and strengthens their communities.\u00a0More than 80% of Charles Sturt\u2019s regional students go on to live and work in regional Australia after graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to working constructively with the Commission once its work commences.\u00a0The Accord\u2019s core ambition is to lift participation and attainment in higher education for disadvantaged Australians, including those living in the regional communities we serve,\u201d said Leon.<\/p>\n

Leon said that the ATEC\u2019s decisions will \u201cdetermine whether universities like Charles Sturt can continue to educate the\u00a0doctors,\u00a0nurses, teachers, social workers, agricultural scientists and allied health professionals\u00a0regional Australia\u2019s\u00a0communities urgently need\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, amendments to the bill strengthened the commission\u2019s independence and introduced a legislated role for ATEC to advise on research and research training.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) has been operating in an interim capacity, legislation to formally establish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-576513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}