Historic merger of the universities of Adelaide and South Australia gets green light
A decision on whether to go ahead with the historic merger of the universities of Adelaide and South Australia has been made. So what does it mean for our state?
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A long-vaunted merger of the universities of Adelaide and South Australia has the green light after being backed by both councils and almost $450m in state government funds.
Premier Peter Malinauskas will on Sunday announce the government and universities have signed an heads of agreement to create the new Adelaide University after a feasibility study outlined “compelling” benefits.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we are seizing it,” Mr Malinauskas said.
The new university is forecast to generate an extra $500m annually for the state economy by 2034, create an extra 1200 jobs and educate more than 70,000 students – about 13,000 more than today’s combined total.
Also by 2034, the universities’ feasibility study forecast it would attract 6000 extra international students, generate an extra $100m in research revenue annually and help an extra 800 low socio-economic people into study.
The Liberal Opposition, which Mr Malinauskas hopes will support law changes needed for the merger to proceed, has demanded clear details of the plan’s cost to taxpayers and economic return to the state.
Mr Malinauskas on Sunday will reveal a state funding package to back the merger including:
- $300m to establish two state-owned perpetual funds enshrined in legislation and invested in Funds SA.
- ONE is a $200m fund to back research.
- THE other is a $100m student support fund to encourage enrolments from low socio-economic groups.
- BUYING university land with $114.5m, involving $64.5m for the UniSA Magill campus and $50m for occupation rights for a surplus part of its Mawson Lakes campus.
- ANOTHER $30m over three years to attract international students to Adelaide University.
Both universities have committed to no compulsory redundancies or retrenchments because of the new university, ahead of its expected January 2026 opening, or for 18 months after that.
In an interview with the Sunday Mail, Mr Malinauskas argued the measures achieved his policy objectives of building international student numbers, growing research capacity, as urged by a SA Productivity Commission report, and enhancing access to higher education for regions and outer suburban Adelaide.
The funding package would remain on the government’s balance sheet and not add to debt, with the universities getting the returns on the $300m investments, while the land purchase is designed to add to government assets.
“The government was only ever willing to support the endeavour, financially, through carefully calibrated policy. that minimises the impact on the budget, but helps realise the collective aspirations of the universities and the government combined,” Mr Malinauskas told the Sunday Mail.
Mr Malinauskas vowed the new university would be “the largest educator of domestic students in Australia and will have the scale and resources to be sustainably positioned in the top 100 in the world”.
“We will sustainably have one of Australia’s best and top ranked universities here in our state. Importantly, this new university will be accessible to everyone with the capacity to succeed,” he said.
“This is an idea which has been talked about for years and years. The time for talk is over, the time for action has arrived.”
SA’s most senior federal Liberal minister lent his support to the merger, saying it was a “huge opportunity to create an institution with global scale and impact”.
“It deserves both scrutiny and support, to ensure the specific reforms accelerate South Australia’s economic growth throughout the decades to come,” he said.
The government’s Commission of Inquiry into universities – a cornerstone election promise – will now be axed because of the Adelaide and UniSA agreement to merge.
Instead, the government will introduce The Adelaide University Act 2023 to parliament, which is required because universities are established under state law.
The Magill campus purchase is likely to trigger ongoing questions about open space, although UniSA insists it has long held sale plans.
The site will be leased back to UniSA at a peppercorn rent for as long as needed, while courses are relocated.
The state government will develop “a detailed master plan for the future use” of the site.
The Mawson Lakes campus will continue to operate and the new Adelaide University has expansion plans in the northern suburbs.
Deputy Premier Susan Close said the combined university would have a “new contemporary curriculum with flexible entry requirements and learning aligned to the needs of industry and professions”.
In a joint statement, Adelaide and UniSA chancellors Catherine Branson and Pauline Carr said: “Our councils found the benefits of combining the two universities to create a new Adelaide University to be significant and in the best interests of each of our institutions, as well as the state of South Australia.”
Also in a joint statement, Adelaide and UniSA vice-chancellors Peter Hoj and David Lloyd said: “We believe the new institution will, in the medium and longer term, be of higher national and international standing than anything we could achieve individually. It will be better for our students, our staff and our community.”
Merger critics have warned of staff and resource cuts, highlighting that some of the world’s top institutions are of similar size to the state’s existing universities.
Five UniSA staff town hall meetings have been scheduled from Thursday, July 6, to discuss the merger.
The universities last December inked an unprecedented deal to start a merger process, including agreement on name, leadership and starting date.
The statement’s terms included no net job losses, a new brand and an immediate initial “co-leadership model” for two vice-chancellors (one from each university) until the combined university appoints one in an open and competitive process.
The level of agreement between two of the state’s three universities went far beyond their scuttled talks in 2012 and 2018.
It triggered the feasibility study, business case and financial plan phase, ahead of the final merger deal.
Mr Malinauskas faces a challenge passing the necessary legislative changes through the upper house, because the Greens are likely to push for a parliamentary inquiry that could delay the combined universities’ opening by up to a year.
He is likely to focus on convincing the Liberals to back the merger, which deputy leader John Gardner on Wednesday said would require the “government to be upfront and clear about how much money this is going to cost and what taxpayers are going to get for their money”.
In parliament on Tuesday, Mr Malinauskas declared the university merger decision a test of the parliament and the state’s resolve to make bold decisions for the future or slump into a “holdback mentality”.
Treasurer Stephen Mullighan told parliament on Wednesday that his June 15 state budget had been prepared with “sufficient room to make a contribution to the universities in the event that they should agree amongst themselves to pursue a merger”.
In his first major economic policy release as Labor leader, Mr Malinauskas in October, 2020, vowed merger talks between Adelaide’s universities would be triggered by a Labor government, which would effectively compel them to combine if deemed in the state interest.
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Originally published as Historic merger of the universities of Adelaide and South Australia gets green light
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