Featured in Farrago 2025 - Volume 101, Edition 6.

The Victorian Parliament will conduct an inquiry into university governance, Minister for Skills and TAFE Gayle Tierney announced.  

The inquiry will centre university councils, focusing particularly on elevating staff and student representation in governing bodies. 

On 17 October 2025, the Education Ministers Meeting considered the Final Report and Principles of the Expert Council on University Governance. The Final Report scaffolds recommendations around 8 key Governance Principles for public universities to improve governance. 

The Governance Principles are as follows: Accountability, Diversity of perspectives, Independence, Transparency, Trustworthy, Inclusive & Responsive, Sustainable, Responsible. 

Under the new principles, universities will be required to report annually to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) on an “if not, why not” basis.  

University governing bodies will also be required to publish meeting outcomes, key decisions, Vice-Chancellors' external roles, annual remuneration reports, the composition of governing bodies, and justify consultancy spending. 

TEQSA will take compliance action against universities that repeatedly fail to meet the Principles. 

The State Government seeks to align with the national plan to improve university governance through the inquiry. Measures to further this plan include setting limits on Vice-Chancellor pay and requiring university councils to publish their decisions and comply with long-established governance standards in the private sector. 

“This is about giving students and staff a seat at the table at the highest levels of our universities – making sure our world-class institutions are focused on education, not profit,” Minister Tierney says. 

Recent consultation of key stakeholders by the Council revealed an “observed lack of trust” about the motivations and actions of public universities and their major actors. Feedback outlined scepticism about the contributions of staff and student representatives, deep concerns about confidentiality and conflicts, as well as distrust in communication channels between universities and regulatory bodies. 

The Council cites that many submissions received from universities themselves failed to “engage proactively” and take accountability for weaknesses in governance, conveying the need for further inquiry and report. 

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has been campaigning for Government scrutiny of university governance for several years. Their three-pillar reform program has been backed by the government in the announcement of the inquiry.  

“The inquiry provides a vital opportunity to reform a broken governance system that has marginalised staff and student voices and undermined Victorian universities as institutions of education and research,” says NTEU Victorian Division Assistant Secretary Professor Joo-Cheong Tham. 

The union’s statement centres its members’ ongoing and instrumental role in government consultation and inquiries, outlining key issues such as “wage theft, outrageous executive pay packages, toxic governance cultures, boards stacked with corporate appointees, and serious conflicts of interest” that have been brought to light. 

The Council’s final report details 5 key priorities for trust re-building for public universities, a factor that has eroded significantly over time. The priorities are 1) Leadership and culture, 2) Accountability, 3) Inclusion and engagement, 4) Transparency, 5) Renumeration. They overlap with the Governance Principles and outline the areas to be targeted by reform. 

The Victorian inquiry follows similar federal and NSW inquiries this year, demonstrating a national push to hold universities to account.