Ambitious goals set for merged mega-uni in new vision statement

A new vision statement for the planned university merger in South Australia sets an ambitious benchmark for success.

The University of Adelaide will be part of the new mega-university if the merger goes ahead.

A new vision statement for South Australia’s planned mega university – a merger of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia – sets ambitious and challenging goals.

Success benchmarks for the new institution, to be called Adelaide University, include:

• Ranking first in Australia for student employment outcomes.

• Ranking in the top five in the nation for student experience.

• Being one in the top five Australian educators of students in regional and rural areas.

• Creating an online curriculum of higher quality than any other Australian university.

• Offering every student an entrepreneurship experience.

The new Adelaide University – which will begin on January 1, 2026, if a decision to go ahead is made this year – also would “work confidently to be recognised among the world’s top 100 universities on an ongoing and sustainable basis”.

It would be the university that “would be Australia’s most connected” with its community and would boost SA’s “measured economic complexity”.

Another goal that is less tangible is to be globally recognised as “Australia’s leading future-making university”.

The vision statement, issued jointly by the two universities, is optimistic about the financial viability of the new institution saying “detailed projections of the financial outcomes capable of the combined university suggest that the university could generate substantial and sustainable operating surpluses over the medium to longer term, with capacity to support ongoing investment in the university’s ambitious strategic priorities”.

The two universities are also confident about opening new avenues of financial support for the mega university. “We believe that close collaboration with industry, driven by a strong fundamental capability, would secure further investment from government, business and private stakeholders,” the statement says.

The merger has strong backing from the SA government and the two universities will make a final decision in mid-2023 about whether to go ahead.