Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The benefits of higher education are clear. University graduates are more likely to be employed compared to their non-graduate counterparts, with 72 per cent of bachelor degree graduates in full-time employment within four months of completing their studies, compared to 58 per cent of people with only a high school qualification. Australian workers with a university degree earned 55 per cent more than those who only completed year 10. In summary, those with a university degree are more likely to be in full-time employment and are more likely to be earning more than those who don't have a degree.

What is lost in these numbers, though, is the transformative power that higher education can have on an individual, and the impact that they can go on to have on our society. Consider someone like Professor Rae Cooper from the University of Sydney. She was the first in her family to go to university. It was a big adventure for a country kid from Merriwa in the Upper Hunter to move to Sydney to study. The adjustment for a country kid studying at one of Australia's leading universities can be overwhelming. It was something Professor Cooper experienced, and she dropped out in her first semester. She returned the next year, and not only did she survive university but she thrived. Majoring in industrial relations at the University of New South Wales, Professor Cooper was awarded the University Medal, and so began a lifelong love of researching work, employment and women. From there, she went on to complete her PhD at the University of Sydney, and she has been there ever since. We are all the beneficiaries of that.

Professor Cooper has gone on to become one of the most influential researchers and thinkers on women in the workplace. She's the co-director of the Women, Work and Leadership Research Group at the University of Sydney Business School, an initiative studying gender and work, women's careers and flexible employment. Such has been the invaluable contribution of her research that she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019. Her contribution, however, extends beyond research and its application. Professor Cooper has also been a mentor for so many students who needed extra support at university. In her own words, she spent:

… 20 years identifying and seeking out students who looked lost in my classes. Down to the last one, they are first in family students, usually from the country or outer suburbs.

Professor Cooper was also my PhD supervisor, so I experienced firsthand how invaluable her mentorship can be. Sadly, that PhD is on hiatus now that I'm in this role, but I'm thankful to Professor Cooper for her support of me and so many other students. She changed lives in more ways than one. Professor Cooper's story is just one example of the transformative power of education.

I'm proud to be part of a government that recognises this and values our universities. Where the previous coalition government actively undermined the sector, they oversaw the most amount of job losses the sector has ever seen, with estimates of around 12,000 jobs lost during the pandemic. In contrast, we've committed $485 million to fund an additional 20,000 university places in areas of skills shortages. These places have been specifically set aside to increase participation for underrepresented groups, those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, regional students, students living with a disability, First Nations people and those who are the first in a family to study at university.

There's more for us to do, and that work is currently underway with the Australian Universities Accord, a 12-month review of Australia's higher education system. Led by an expert independent panel, the accord will drive lasting and transformational reform in the higher education sector, because, on this side of the House, we want to make sure the doors of higher education and the doors of opportunity are open to all.

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