Alumni magazine 2024

For the current reforms, the government has once again looked forward at what the nation’s needs are in a process that has led to what is called the Australian Universities Accord. That work identified by 2050, 80 per cent of all jobs will require tertiary education. Already today 9 out 10 new jobs require it. In practice that means 90 per cent of students will need to go on to university or TAFE.

Effectively, we are moving to a universal higher education system in which moving from secondary school to higher education will be as typical as the transition from primary to secondary school.

The only way this will occur is through expansion of higher education for regional and lower SES students. This is important in Tasmania given how regional the State is and that approximately 45 per cent of people are in the bottom SES quartile.

Appropriate support will be required to ensure these students succeed in their studies and needs-based funding, like that proposed by the Gonski review for schools, will ensure that is available.

These are ambitious, necessary, and far-reaching reforms – touching our schools, TAFEs, and universities – all with the shared mission of creating a more prosperous, inclusive, safe and healthy society for Australia.

As the only university based in Tasmania, we embrace these reforms which support so well our mission to make a positive difference for Tasmania and, from here, the world.

In doing so, we will continue to be a university that values education, inquiry and creativity for their own sake. Quality and excellence will also remain as hallmarks, and we will continue to have high entrance standards for our bachelor's degrees, with expansion enabled by government funding of pre-university programs that will help students to meet those standards. We will continue to educate most of the Tasmanians who choose to go to university and, as that number expands, we will become even more involved in community life and nearly all of Tasmania’s jobs and workplaces.

To do this well, we must also continue to evolve and change, as we have throughout our history. A university like ours, so closely enmeshed with the place we serve, cannot do otherwise.

So too, you will witness a new generation of fellow graduates contributing to the changing face of Tasmania and the world, adding to the outstanding work of our current alumni, some of which is featured in these pages.

As this new era unfolds, your ongoing engagement and connection with the University will be of deep importance and is very much valued.

As the Vice-Chancellor explained in his welcome message, Australian higher education is entering a new era. Through the Australian Universities Accord process, the Federal Government considered what role tertiary education needs to play in our future. One of the key findings in the Accord was that by 2050, 80 per cent of all jobs will require tertiary education. That means 90 per cent of students will need to go on to university or TAFE requiring the nation to effectively move to a universal higher education system. Achieving such a large expansion in access to education will require significant reforms and the opening up of pathways into university or TAFE for many more students from regional and low SES areas of the country.

This pathway set out by the Accord aligns with our mission and presents an opportunity for Tasmania. For individuals, education is the most powerful tool available to change your life for the better; for communities, education is how we make sure we have the skills and the knowledge to look after one another, grow the economy, and rise to the challenges of a changing world. As the only university operating on and for our island home, we have worked hard to shape the Accord and influence policy reforms in ways that will benefit Tasmania.

In this time of change, as we seek to shape and respond to the future of the sector for Tasmania, the University is strengthening the contribution we make to the State right now. We are doing this through the breadth and quality of our education programs, the scale and impact of our research, and the development of the facilities that enable this critical work.

When it comes to our physical infrastructure, we are in a period of transition. We recently opened The Shed, the final and largest building of the University of Tasmania’s expanded Inveresk campus in the heart of Launceston.

The Shed is the state-of-the-art home for science and health in the North, and its completion marks the culmination of a decade of collaboration, planning and investment, delivered in partnership with all levels of government. Thanks to this partnership and the hard work of an enormous number of people, the North and North-West of Tasmania can now access some of the best university facilities in the country. Indeed, in 2024 the Inveresk library was named the best-designed academic library in the country and the neighbouring River’s Edge building won the top award for educational architecture from the Australian Institute of Architects.

As the Northern Transformation project has been reaching its conclusion, the University has been continuing the work of mapping a future direction for our campuses in the South. Our Council has reflected on important matters including the educational needs of Tasmania, staff and student requirements, community feedback, the policy, funding and legislative plans of the State and Federal Governments, and the City of Hobart’s planning directions.

With those factors in mind, we have formed a plan for the South, which is contingent on securing support and significant government funding, that would see four key sites, each providing students with experiences built around the best the city has to offer.

These sites would be a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Campus at Sandy Bay; a City Campus encompassing existing facilities offering medical sciences and creative arts teaching, learning and research spaces, and a new iconic city building for business, humanities, and social sciences; a Historic Campus on the Domain, the University’s original home; and a Waterfront Campus comprising the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at Salamanca and Taroona.

Many of these elements are already in place. The Medical Science Precinct next to the Royal Hobart Hospital, the creative arts facilities in Hunter Street and the Hedberg by the Theatre Royal, and IMAS at Salamanca have long been part of the fabric of the city. The recent completion and opening of the Philip Smith Centre, a carefully restored and renovated heritage building, has seen more of the University return to its first home on the Domain. The International School moved to the space at the end of 2024, and from 2025, new courses will be delivered on site. It is helping to address teacher shortages, train nurses in the South, and support people to improve their English language skills. Other elements, like the former Forestry Tasmania building in the city and IMAS Taroona, are well underway and on track to be complete in 2026. The Forestry redevelopment is already attracting significant attention. In November it was crowned the winner of the best future building in the education category at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore.

We want to provide our students and our staff with the best possible facilities because they help us provide the best possible education and research. Great spaces are important for all the face-to-face teaching and hands on research we do. Buildings are enablers. It is what happens inside and around them that makes an incredible difference in people’s lives and in the future of Tasmania.

In Burnie, our new campus at West Park allowed us to introduce the Bachelor of Nursing to the region just a few short years ago. Last year we added pharmacy to the suite of courses available in the North and North-West. From next year, following a successful pilot program and with funding from the Australian Government, students will, for the first time, be able to study a full medical degree without having to leave the North-West Coast. This both opens doors to new careers for people in the region and helps train a much-needed workforce. Based in Launceston but offered statewide, our new allied health offerings are also helping to fill critical health service roles. This year saw the graduation of the very first cohort of locally trained physiotherapists and speech pathologists and every one of them is working in the Tasmanian healthcare system.

Offering courses students want to study, where they want to study them, that align with regional needs is important. We have seen an increase in the number of Tasmanians commencing with us this year, and in the number of students from other states choosing us. Our graduate outcomes are very strong with the percentage of undergraduates in full-time employment well above the national average and their median salary the second highest in the country.

As our quality educational programs are attracting students and training future workforces, our research is searching for answers and pushing back the boundaries of what we know. Last year we secured almost $200 million in total research funding, including $14.8 million to tackle some of the State’s most urgent health issues. Supporting seven projects across the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, the Tasmanian School of Medicine, and the Wicking Dementia Research Centre, the funding was the largest amount ever awarded to the University in a single round of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Ideas Grant Scheme.

From life on land to life in and on the water, from the future of sea ice to the changing intensity of bushfires, from the geology of the earth beneath our feet to the movement of the stars above our heads, and so many things in between, our scientists live our mission every day as they make a difference for Tasmania and from Tasmania.

For some of the creatures we share this planet with, the work of our scientific teams could mean the difference for their very survival. IMAS researchers are playing a leading role in efforts to save the Maugean skate and the spotted and red handfish species from the precipice of extinction and have developed world-first captive breeding programs.

As we look ahead, the future is bright for the University of Tasmania. The changes set out in the Australian Universities Accord chart a course towards a higher education system that is more accessible, more equitable, and more sustainably funded, particularly for universities like ours that serve and are so much a part of regional communities. We are navigating a complex time on the way to that brighter future. The Federal Government’s changes to international student policies have been particularly challenging for universities like ours but we continue to work hard to manage the impact.

We are a university that has shown it can rise to a challenge. In the face of the great global challenge that is climate change, the University of Tasmania has emerged as a world leader. In 2024, we ranked #1 in the world for climate action in the Times Higher Education Impact rankings and #2 in the world for sustainability overall.

We take great pride in the impact we have on the lives of Tasmanians, on the lives of people who chose to come to our university to study and work, and on the future of the places we call home: our island and the planet we all share.