New regional national university proposed in Australian Universities Accord interim report

The Australian Universities Accord panel interim report released on Wednesday proposed five immediate actions and further areas of discussion to set the university sector up for a future where 55 per cent of all jobs will require higher education qualifications by 2050.

The report said the sector would benefit from having a wider range of complementary institutions with unique missions and raised the concept of a national regional university.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the proposed new national university did not suggest that the Australian National University and the existing regional universities were not adequately serving regional populations.

"What the report says is that if you develop a university model like this, that it would create a university system of scale that might attract more of the best and brightest students and academics from the rest of the world to come and participate," Mr Clare said.

"It might reduce some of the cost centres that exist in all of these different universities that you can do by centralising some of those services."

The Australian National University is currently the only university established under federal laws which received the National Institutes Grant, whereas all other universities are governed by state and territory legislation.

An Australian National University spokesman did not directly respond to questions about what a second national university could mean for its role.

"We will engage with all the ideas in the report during the consultation phase, and do so in the spirit of ensuring Australia's universities are excellent and resourced to be so," the spokesperson said.

University of Canberra vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon said the proposed second national university was an example of the bold thinking that the accord process was trying to provoke.

"They want people to think differently about how we solve the regional education piece. How do we give it that level of reputation and gravitas? Well, one answer to that is making a national university out of it," he said.

Professor Nixon said he was not concerned about new, niche universities providing competition for students because five out of 10 jobs by 2030 would require a degree.

The vice-chancellor said he would like to see some of the promised new regional study hubs in locations that would support his university, such as on the NSW south coast. He also said Canberra could be a testing ground for greater collaboration between vocational education and universities, as suggested in the interim report.

The report also said the former Coalition government's signature higher education reform, known as the Job-ready Graduates package, should be redesigned before it causes long-term damage.

The report said a student-centred, needs-based funding model similar to the school funding model could be explored to encourage institutions to seek out currently underrepresented groups of students.

It suggests re-establishing a Tertiary Education Commission to oversee the major reforms to the higher education system.