The University of Adelaide and University of South Australia have reached an historic agreement regarding a formal pathway to pursue the creation of a university for the future, signing a Statement of Cooperation with the State and Federal Governments.
The agreement is the result of months of discussions between the two universities and the State Government. The parties will now work together to progress a feasibility and business case to chart the path forward. The combined university would be the biggest in Australia for domestic students.
Importantly, if a final decision is made to establish a new combined university, following the feasibility and approval of the business case and financial plan, the leadership of both universities have already agreed to the following:
- The combined university would be called Adelaide University and is intended to be operational from January 2026.
- There would be no net job losses as a consequence of creating the combined university.
- A Transition Council would be created with up to 14 members plus a Chancellor.
- Each university would nominate half of the members of the Transition Council.
- UniSA would nominate the Chancellor of the Transition Council subject to consultation with University of Adelaide.
- A co-leadership model would be implemented initially, with each university appointing one of two co-Vice Chancellors
- The Transition Council would oversee an open and competitive process to appoint a Vice-Chancellor for the combined university.
- The Transition Council would also determine the process and time frame to be used to identify and appoint a new Chancellor for the combined university to commence by the second year of the combined university’s operation.
The combined university would be created and governed by new legislation modelled in large part on the University of South Australia Act.
In recognition of the significant benefits the combined university would have for South Australia, including the economy, the State Government has agreed to provide a financial contribution to maximise the transformational opportunities being pursued.
These arrangements will be developed further in coming weeks.
The Commonwealth together with the South Australian Government will support the feasibility assessment and the development of an agreed business case and financial plan by providing relevant data and policy input as required.
As a result of this agreement, the State Government will defer the establishment of a South Australia university merger commission until at least mid-2023.
Premier Peter Malinauskas MP says “This is an historic moment for our state and I want to thank the leadership of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia for working cooperatively with the State Government over recent months.
“The creation of a university for the future would put South Australia at the forefront of education in Australia, with a truly globally-competitive tertiary education institution.
“The combined university would make South Australia a magnet for domestic and international students and a global leader in research – unlocking incredible benefits for our state’s economy.
“This was a promise I took to the election, and we are now working towards delivering on our promise.”
Susan Close MP, Deputy Premier and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, said “Creating a university for the future will be transformational and build on the combined strengths and legacies of both institutions.
“This will a deliver significant benefit for South Australia, Australia, and globally.
“This combined university would aim to be a leading university across four objectives: contemporary and comprehensive education, impact, research excellence, and equity and access.”
University of Adelaide and University of South Australia Chancellors, The Honourable Catherine Branson, AC KC and Pauline Carr echoed the sentiments, saying “We are delighted our institutions have agreed a shared vision for what we believe a University for the Future could deliver.
“We believe that through a union of equals and combining the best of our present institutions, a future institution could deliver teaching of the highest quality, further address educational inequality, underpin social cohesion through its actions and through future making research of scale and focus, and contribute to the economy of this state and nation for generations to come.
“With appropriate government support, we believe this is all possible and through our feasibility phase we hope to show that it can be realised.
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