The Expert Council on University Governance
On 23 January 2025 the Australian Government announced the members of the new Expert Council on University Governance (the Council).
The Council has been formed to provide expert and technical governance advice to Education Ministers around the improvement of University Governance in Australia. The Council will submit a draft University Governance Principles and Recommendations to the Education Ministers.
The University Chancellors Council welcomes the work of the Expert Council on University Governance.
UCC and the Expert Council
The University Chancellors Council has been invited by the Education Ministers to participate in the Council’s work, with Professor John Pollaers OAM, Convenor of the UCC, as the UCC Council representative.
Due to the 2025 Federal Election and the desire from the Expert Council to make headway on their work, the UCC have accepted the Expert Council information to be received through our website.
Secretariat support for the Expert Council is provided by the UCC for the duration of the Expert Council’s works, per agreement with the Department of Education and the Education Ministers in the commencement of this work. Secretariat support is coordinated by the Chair of the Expert Council, Ms Melinda Cilento.
If you have a question around the UCC’s involvement, please feel free to reach out to: secretariat@ucc.edu.au or expertcouncilunigov@education.gov.au
Engagement with the Expert Council
The Council is committed to wide consultation in its work and as such, is sending targeted invitations to key stakeholders to make a submission for review. The Council has allowed for open submissions, thus those outside of these targeted stakeholders are welcome to provide a submission for the Council.
On the 7 March 2025, the Expert Council invited submissions to their work. Submissions were sent to industry leaders, union bodies, university networks, individual universities, and government organisations and departments. View submissions received by the Expert Council here.
Scope of Submissions
The scope of submissions should be limited to the following:
Where do you think governance most needs to improve relative to your expectations of the role of Australian Universities?
What governance principle(s) do you think could help resolve the issue(s) as you have identified?
Where possible, relate your comments to the key areas identified by the Education Ministers, and the Code of Governance Principles and Practices for Australia’s Public Universities (linked below)
Other related or relevant matters to the governance of universities in Australia
Supporting Documentation
Download or view documents via the link. Documents will open in a new tab.
Making your submission
A submission becomes official Council documentation on lodgement and must not be disclosed to other person/s until it is officially released by the Council, or the Council is no longer in effect.
Unless you have requested a confidential submission, all submissions will be referenced to the Author/Organisation. Author/Organisation will be notified of accepted submissions via submission email and will be invited for further input where required by the Council.
A list of those who have submitted to the Council will be included on this website along with the submissions on request. Individual submissions will be listed as your name, organisation submissions will not include the name of the person submitting. It is your responsibility to ensure that no personal or identifying information is included in the submission document.
Confidential submissions
Please ensure that any submissions that you wish to remain confidential have the word “Confidential” in the title and are clearly marked as such in both document and email submission. Your email or note in the form submission should outline the specific reason for requesting confidentiality. Please reach out to the Council Secretariat for any further advice or assistance on confidentiality.