Announced last year by Education Minister Jason Clare, the Accord is reviewing the higher education system and examining topics including funding, affordability, employment conditions and regulation.

Speaking ahead of the release of the interim report at the end of the month, Professor O’Kane said Australia should be thinking more about how it could “teach jointly with other countries on certain topics”.

“One thing Covid taught us, and something that universities have been saying, is that online is possible,” she said.

“We might not have done it as well through Covid or with enough sensitivity because we didn’t have time to suit student needs, but … flexible delivery can be great.”

Mr Clare has pointed to the growing opportunities for Australian universities to teach international students online or to open campuses offshore, particularly in countries such as India, which has relaxed regulations on foreign entities operating offshore.

Professor O’Kane said Australia needed to get “much better” at how virtual classrooms were conducted, ensuring they fostered the people-to-people links that were an important part to the international education experience.

“Australia has seen we can do great things in international education,” she said.

“But why can’t we now turn to doing great things in international education that’s got this bigger virtual component?”

Effectively managing the return of international students following Covid has been a focus of governments around the world.

Britain has been looking at restricting the number of international students entering the country.

Professor O’Kane confirmed the Accord was also looking at caps, which some institutions such as the University of Technology Sydney and the Australian National University had considered before Covid.

“It’s certainly being discussed," she said.

This follows increasing concern over universities’ reliance on international student fees before the pandemic, particularly from China.

Institutions such as the University of Sydney reported nearly a quarter of its revenue came from international students in 2019.

The Accord – which will hand down its final report to government at year’s end – also will scrutinise how domestic student debts are calculated, taking into account recent increases linked to soaring indexation.

“We’re examining it from all angles,” Professor O’Kane said.

“This debate is horrible for those who are worried about it, but in a way it’s been useful for the review because it’s highlighting the issues so well.”

The government has come under fire for not intervening last month after the 7.1 per cent indexation rate hit three million students and graduates with HECS debts, with calls for an overhaul of the way such debts are calculated.

Professor O’Kane said incentivising students to do degrees in sectors where there was the most demand would be needed into the future but the Job-ready Graduates package, which doubled the cost of degrees where there was the least demand, had not worked.

On Monday, Premier Daniel Andrews announced that Professor Gardner would start her new role at the beginning of August after she concludes her role with Monash University.

She will succeed to Governor Linda Dessau and will be in this position for the next five years.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Professor Gardner's achievements in the higher education sector were key factors in her appointment.

"Throughout her celebrated academic career, Professor Gardner has broken new ground for women, created fairer and more inclusive spaces for them – and held the door open for those to come after her," Mr Andrews said.

"[She] has dedicated her work to the service of others. I was proud to recommend her appointment to His Majesty."

Professor Gardner became the 10th vice-chancellor of Monash University in 2014 - she was the first woman to score the top job at the Victorian University.

Before joining Monash, she was RMIT University's vice-chancellor from 2005 until 2014.

She was also appointed Chair of the Group of Eight Universities from 2020 until 2023 and Chair of Universities Australia from 2017 to 2019.

Under her tenure, Monash University improved its ranking position to reach the world's top 50 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023.

Monash University Chancellor, Simon McKeon AO, thanked Professor Gardner for her work at the university throughout the years.

"She leaves behind a significant legacy of growth and achievement which will be felt within the Monash community for generations to come," said Mr McKeon.

"The people of Victoria can be assured they will be well-represented nationally and globally and that their interests will be fiercely advocated for with Professor Gardner in post."

Monash University is now seeking a new vice-chancellor and will announce Professor Gardner's interim replacement in the next couple of weeks.

He shares thoughts on the global move towards lifelong learning and a competency based approach to the future of higher education and its relevance to the Australian Universities Accord.

He shares lessons that are vital for us to hear in shaping the future of our HE system through once in a generation change.

WSU has topped over 1,500 universities from 112 countries and scored first place in the latest round of The Times Higher Education (THE) impact rankings.

The ranking measures universities' efforts to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), which include gender equality, sustainable cities and communities, no poverty, zero hunger and climate action.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Barney Glover AO said scoring the world top position for the second time showed the "dedication and passion" of staff, students and community partners.

"Western Sydney University is proud to be an institution working with its students, staff and communities to make the world a better place," Professor Glover said.

"We are a young and modern university, and tackling the most pressing social and environmental challenges has always been important to our core mission."

According to Professor Glover, the University has worked to ensure its teaching, research and international partnerships are fully aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals since it was adopted by all 193 United Nations member states in 2015.

"For example, our world-leading researchers are finding practical solutions locally and globally on important issues like food and water security in the face of climate change, and addressing housing affordability and creating more sustainable, resilient urban communities," said Professor Glover.

Western Sydney University also reached its carbon-neutral target and hopes to become 'climate positive' by 2029.

The ranking included 24 Australian universities, of which three were in the top 10.

The University of Tasmania ranked fifth worldwide - a jump from its 25th position in 2022 and 76th overall position in 2021.

Utas Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rufus Black, said the results showed Tasmania's response to climate change could be a "model" for the rest of the world.

"We need a bold shift in our global trajectory if we are to be more a sustainable, more just, and more equal world," Professor Black said.

"This achievement recognises the excellence and dedication of so many of our staff and students who are deeply committed to embedding sustainability in all that we do.

"Their efforts are making the University of Tasmania a recognised global leader in how universities can contribute to tackling our planet's greatest challenges."

In Victoria, RMIT scored seventh worldwide for its environmental, social and economic impact.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Alec Cameron said the ranking showed staff and students' determination and hard work.

"I'm incredibly proud that RMIT has been ranked seventh globally in the 2023 THE Impact Rankings," Professor Cameron said.

"This is a significant rise and a direct reflection of our impact on society through stewardship initiatives, leading education offerings and impactful research," Cameron said.

Worldwide, the UK was the most-represented nation in the top 100 with 26 institutions, followed by Australia with 16 and Canada with 15.

The University of Manchester scored second worldwide, while Canada-based Queen's University took third place.

Through the new Australian Research Council industry fellowship, Flinders Professor Svetlana Bogomolova will work alongside Foodbank SA and state agency Green Industries SA to develop strategies to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce.

"In the face of rising living costs, families prioritise fixed expenses such as housing and utilities, leaving limited resources for food," Professor Bogomolova told Campus Review.

"Food insecurity is not just about food; it is fundamentally caused by poverty, which leads to a lack of financial, social, and cultural resources to be engaged in the community."

The new ARC scheme was launched this year and aimed to support researchers working with industry to develop applicable research to be scaled up nationwide.

Only 25 researchers across the country were awarded ARC grants in this years' funding round to investigate Australia's water supply, creating drugs from fungi and developing more educational resources on Indigenous languages.

Professor Bogomolova said the ARC industry scheme offers researchers a unique opportunity to see their ideas come to life and have a tangible impact on the community rather than simply publishing a paper in an academic journal.

"It's a real celebration of the move by the ARC in the right direction in supporting and promoting and encouraging researchers to put forward proposals in very close collaboration with industry partners," she said.

"But equally, to win this highly competitive scheme, it rewards people like me who spent 20 years doing industry-engaged research."

For the next four years, Professor Bogomolova will explore new ways to preserve fruits and vegetables from harvest surplus to ensure food banks and charities can distribute healthy food options without requiring refrigeration or shorter distribution circuits.

She said refrigeration facilities are a luxury, making it difficult for food charities and those in need to preserve fresh food without access to a fridge.

"We need to think about how we can make a healthy and fresh product with a long shelf life in the ambient temperature, but it also needs to be appealing," Professor Bogomolova said.

"The way we deliver food relief must be in the most dignified and 'normal' life-like manner.

"The last thing people need is being made feel like they're sort of getting some sort of secondhand food."

The project will use harvest surplus from farms that often grow more than their supermarket contract requirements and cannot be sold to other entities.

In Australia, food banks are often challenged by the unpredictable amounts of fresh fruit and vegetable donations from farmers, which causes distribution challenges, often resulting in food waste.

Professor Bogomolova and the industry partners will work alongside nutritionists to try out various techniques such as pickling, freeze drying, canning, pureeing and juicing to meet the demand for healthy food year-round.

According to the not-for-profit charity FoodBank, over 2 million Australian households have experienced severe food insecurity in the last year, with food waste costing the nation about $36.6 billion per annum.

In 2022, FoodBank distributed more than 82 million meals nationwide, providing food relief to more than a million people monthly.

In the tertiary education sector, a recent Monash survey has shown that international students are experiencing food insecurity at rates three times higher than the general population.

University staff have also been struggling to buy basic groceries, with a study from the University of Tasmania highlighting that one in six academic staff were experiencing food insecurity.

The survey found that casuals were at higher risk of food insecurity, with one in five professional staff and one in three casual academics skipping meals regularly.

According to Professor Bogomolova, experiencing food insecurity impacts people's physical health and also affects their confidence and social interactions.

"Individuals without sufficient resources may feel embarrassed and excluded from social gatherings due to their inability to afford a meal - it impacts their whole life," she said.

"Food is not just nutrition and survival, but also a critical social element that allows us to function and enjoy and feel, you know, loved and cared for and included."

In addition to providing immediate food relief, the Flinders project aims to create accessible job opportunities by offering training, volunteering, and skill-building in supply chain networks focusing on understanding food sources, processing, storage, and distribution within food relief networks.

Professor Bogomolova said providing food relief is a "band-aid" that isn't sustainable long-term.

"The underlying cause is not just lack of food, but lack of financial, social, and cultural capital," she said.

"So how can we facilitate a pathway out of poverty and out of food insecurity?"

She said the social aspect of the project would help empower people to get their life back on track.

"Food is a critical social element that allows us to function and enjoy and feel loved, cared for and included."

Said to be the first of its kind in Australia, UniMelb's new PhD aims to recognise Indigenous Knowledge as a distinct field of study and foster "genuine and ethical" research collaborations between researchers and Indigenous communities.

University of Melbourne Professor Barry Judd, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), said the new PhD significantly changes how the university engages with Indigenous communities .

"Once Indigenous peoples were positioned as the passive objects of research and knowledge were generated about them by outside researchers," Professor Judd said.

"This PhD helps position Indigenous people as active researchers and as the holders of knowledge systems that are both ancient and critically important to solving the social, climatic, and environmental issues that confront global humanity today."

In Australia, Indigenous knowledge encompasses practices, skills, innovations, understanding of animals, plants, and traditional cultural expressions such as language, stories, art, dance, and architecture.

According to the United Nations, more than 370 million Indigenous people worldwide live across 70 countries.

In Australia, government data estimated the Indigenous population at 881,600 in 2021 and forecasted it would reach about 1.1 million by 2031.

UNESCO recognises that Indigenous people have 'unique ways of knowing are important facets of the world's cultural diversity, and provide a foundation for locally-appropriate sustainable development'.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO) said it has been challenging to share Indigenous knowledge in Australia as many misappropriation, misuse and commercial exploitation have occured.

From this year onward, UniMelb PhD candidates will explore Indigenous knowledge and its public impact on language, education, health, and justice.

The Indigenous Knowledge Institute will coordinate the new PhD in partnership with other UniMelb faculties and be accessible to PhD candidates in any field.

The course also focuses on meeting the research needs of Indigenous students, bridging an opportunity gap as course access will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Islander students as a priority.

According to government data, in 2020, only 586 out of 58,110 PhD students across all Australian universities were from Indigenous backgrounds.

Professor Aaron Corn, director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, said the course is the first PHD program to be accepted at the University of Melbourne in five years.

"We are actively pursuing better ways of recognising the significant research contributions that Indigenous knowledge holders make."

After a year of delayed negotiations, hundreds of UNSW staff and students will be on the picket line for 24 hours today.

The strikes follows three weeks of rolling stoppages and coincide with the first week of term 2.

National Tertiary Education Union UNSW Branch President Associate Professor Richard Vickery said the industrial action will send management a "strong message" and "hopefully bring the negotiations to an end."

"We've been aiming to wrap it up; the sooner we can reach an agreement, the sooner we can get those improvements for staff at the university," Mr Vickery told Campus Review.

"But management is responding so slowly; we hope this will convince them they need to make some serious movement on our key issues."

At UNSW, the bargaining process started in March 2022, and while the NTEU said some progress had been made at the table, none of the key claims around workload, de-casualisation and pay had been addressed.

The union said the number of casual professional staff has increased over the past few years and is now equal to casual academics.

"It's very hard to understand why professional staff would need to be in casual roles when their work is ongoing," Mr Vickery said.

Nationwide, nearly one-third of academic staff were employed on a casual basis in 2021, with universities reportedly offering fewer than 1 in 100 casual staff a permanent position.

The NTEU aims to reduce the number of casual academic and professional staff at UNSW by 35 per cent.

The union will also be asking for a "fair" pay rise of 15 per cent compounded in 5 per cent per annum over the life of the agreement to face the rising cost of living.

Management has offered 3.25 per cent per annum over four years, which, according to Mr Vickery, has pushed wages "backwards" with the current inflation.

Last year, the university registered a surplus of $223 million following more than 700 jobs cut in 2021.

Mr Vickery said the sacking of colleagues during covid has left remaining staff picking up the slack.

"Members report feeling trauma from losing so many colleagues in the last few years and then coping with the consequent workload increases," he said.

"Outstanding staff have left due to the workload pressures. I personally lost the colleague that I shared an office with, as well as a key collaborator on an ARC grant we held together."

According to the union, education focussed academics have been impacted the most by increased workloads as the university runs on a trimester system.

The union aims to cap teaching workloads at 60 per cent. 

"Teaching is unrelenting; once you finish one term, doing the marking, and then the next term is already on you, and those staff have been burning out.

"We want these staff to have space to develop their career, innovate, research, or upskill to stay current with their discipline."

A UNSW spokesperson told Campus Review that the university respects NTEU members' decision to go on strike but would have hoped to avoid the action.

"It is disappointing the NTEU has decided to take further industrial action as negotiations have been progressing, with a number of union claims resolved in recent weeks," the spokesperson said.

"All parties have demonstrated a genuine willingness to finalise new Enterprise Agreements for Academic and Professional Staff as a priority over the coming months."

Swinburne astronomer Karl Glazebrook leads a team which has won an extraordinarily valuable 615 hours of observing time on the telescope in the coming year.

Professor Glazebrook said the project, called JWST OutThere, would fill in missing knowledge about the formation and structure of galaxies in the early universe, born in the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.

“We will look at how the clustering structure of the universe grew,” he said.

The $10bn James Webb telescope, built by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies, was launched in late 2021.

It has opened a window into the early universe beyond the dreams of astronomers only few decades ago.

James Webb is larger, and sees much further and more clearly, than the three-decade-old Hubble Space Telescope.

This also means it is seeing into the very early universe because, when a telescope picks up light from, say, 10 billion light years away, it is getting a picture of the universe as it was 10 billion years ago.

The light has taken that long to get here.

Professor Glazebrook leads a team of nearly 30 astronomers on the OutThere project, some of whom are at Swinburne and others who are in universities elsewhere in Australia and in Europe, the US and Canada.

He said the project would be looking into areas of space and time never observed before, looking out for both the “known unknowns” and the “unknown unknowns”.

One key set of data they know they will collect is the “red shifts” in the light spectra of galaxies which will show how fast they are receding as the universe expands, which also tells us how far away they are.

This will allow the team to build the first ever 3D map of galaxies in the cosmic morning.

“Possible things we might discover are really bright galaxies in the early universe or weird quasars,” Professor Glazebrook said.

He said the observations might also make discoveries much nearer the earth, such as the much speculated about rogue planets – known as planemos, short for “planetary mass objects” – which are thought likely to be drifting in space after being torn loose from their home star.

Professor Glazebrook’s OutThere team has been given the generous 615-hour allocation on the JWST because it piggybacks on other observations the telescope is making.

When the telescope is pointing at a particular target a separate team of astronomers is interested in, the OutThere team will use a wide-angle device to record, for an hour or two, an area of sky around the target about as wide as the full moon.

“This will be a transformative survey because it’s such a large area,” Professor Glazebrook said.

In total, he expects to get red shift data on about 60,000 galaxies from the cosmic morning period, 10-12 billion years ago.

“We’re not going to get pretty pictures,” he said. Instead, modern telescopes record digital data, only some of which make nice photos – “but we’ll get fingerprints of every object”.

Because there is such a flood of data, the hard part is to scrutinise and interpret it all.

“A big part of our research is to use AI methods to find what’s normal and what’s not normal,” he said. “We also resort to the good old human eyeball and look at the spectra and say, ‘Oh that’s funny’.”

Observation time on the James Webb telescope is highly competitive and only about one out of seven applications by ­astronomers is accepted.

The telescope has to operate in a very cold environment, which is why it was launched so far from earth to a stable gravitational point known as L2.

This 35 year future planning horizon is unheralded in global universities and generates a unique perspective on risk, culture, vision, mission and change.

He outlines the opportunities this creates for differentiation and cultural change and the impacts this has on Waterloo and its partners and staff engaging with broader system-level change to allow the Waterloo culture to fit with the context in which the organisation works.

Monash University researchers interviewed 60 overseas students across Melbourne last year and found nearly half were struggling to afford basic groceries due to skyrocketing living costs and the difficulties of studying and working simultaneously.

The study, conducted by experts at Monash's centre for youth policy and education practice, found overseas students experienced food insecurity at rates nearly three times higher than the rest of the population.

Co-author Professor Lucas Walsh said students were being forced to resort to financial "coping strategies" such as accessing food relief banks or opting for more processed meals.

"International students are strategic and have already developed multiple coping strategies to avoid food insecurity, including adapting their budgets and developing tactics to mitigate the effects of food insecurity," Professor Walsh said. .

"When a crisis like COVID-19 or the cost of living crisis hits, many of these strategies stop working. That's what we need to understand to better support these international students."

According to charity Foodbank Hunger in 2022 about 2 million Australian households ran out of food due to limited finances.

Several studies have shown that food insecurity can severely impact a student's learning capabilities, concentration, and willingness to engage in lectures.

In Victoria, international students represent nearly 40 per cent of the population, with more than 180,000 overseas students living in Melbourne.

While international student numbers are still below pre-pandemic, government data showed that 53,640 students arrived in the country during March, with overseas arrival being 42 per cent higher since January than last year during the same period.

Pre-pandemic research has highlighted that one in four overseas students experiences severe financial stress, causing them to regularly skip meals to pay for tuition, rent and study-related costs.

One Monash survey participant told researchers he didn't "choose what to eat" but his "wallet does".

Another student reported that her relationship with food had changed since she arrived in Australia and ate the "sake of it".

"I don't really enjoy eating nowadays… it's directly showing on my body and my energy levels…[but] I feel I've lost the will to also put in so much effort to cook. And obviously, when you can't have the home food, you miss home even more," a 25-year-old said.

According to co-study author Ms Agrata Mukherjee said for overseas students, food is more than a basic need, "it is an emotion".

"For international students who live far away from home, being able to eat familiar foods is like revisiting their memories - a connection to cultural roots," she said.