University mergers could be back on the table in WA as another state takes firm steps towards amalgamating two of its biggest institutions.
Western Australia’s universities could be pushed down global league tables if a proposed merger of two South Australian institutions proceeds, according to this state’s chief scientist.
University of Adelaide and University of South Australia officially came together in December to discuss the possibility of merging as Adelaide University, after an earlier attempt (2018) ended with the two institutions at loggerheads.
That follows SA Labor having campaigned ahead of last year’s state election on forming a committee to investigate a potential merger of the state’s three public universities.
The federal government is supporting merger discussions, with Education Minister Jason Clare in December saying the proposed institution would, if successful, be “a powerhouse of research and a beacon for both domestic and international students”.
Labor campaign literature released ahead of that poll purported to show a proposed Adelaide University would, in the last reporting period, have earned $1.57 billion in revenue.
That would have been more than the Australian National University’s haul of $1.34 billion.
Domestic enrolments would have totalled about 34,000, ahead of University of Melbourne and University of Sydney.
The University of Western Australia, which with $926 million in revenue and 14,000 domestic enrolments is generally comparable in scale of operations to University of Adelaide, would have been dwarfed by a prospective Adelaide University on those metrics.
Attempts to merge universities in WA have proved difficult in the past, with WA chief scientist Peter Klinken making waves in 2021 after advocating for a merger of the state’s four public universities.
That came after Professor Klinken told a state parliamentary inquiry such an institution could become a top 50 university in global rankings, which he believed would attract a greater number of international students and decorated researchers to the state.
Many administrators, including Edith Cowan University vice-chancellor Steve Chapman, opposed the suggestion, arguing such a move was unnecessary and would dilute competition between universities.
Other observers have offered decidedly mixed views, with UWA finance professor Raymond Da Silva Rosa writing in March 2022 that amalgamating universities to ensure the sector’s continued success was “premature”, while conceding it would be “irresponsible” to completely rule them out as a possibility.
However, Professor Klinken told Business News there was a risk UWA could lose its status as a top 100 university if the proposed Adelaide University merger went ahead.
This could prompt further discussions about mergers in WA, he said.
“I think it’s a really important conversation,” Professor Klinken said.
“I look at it from the perspective of what’s in the best interests of WA, not necessarily just the institutions, and so I think we do have to have a really serious, mature conversation around what’s in the best interests of WA.”
Professor Klinken’s preferred University of Perth model – an amalgamation of the state’s four public universities – would have taught more than 80,000 students and earned revenue of $3.01 billion in the most recent financial year.
While such an institution would likely benefit from economies of scale, it would also be expected to improve its performance on global league tables as a result of employing a greater number of credentialed researchers.
That, in turn, would notionally improve the state’s international branding and appeal to overseas students.
“The benefits are enormous,” Professor Klinken said.
“If you were to secure a university in the top 100, let alone in the top 50, the status of higher education in WA would go up enormously.
“Perth is viewed in the top 10 liveable cities in the world, but we’re not in the top five, thirty or forty of higher education destinations, and I think we’re missing out in that regard.
“The state is actually losing market share in terms of international students and competitive grants with the current model we’ve got, so I think it’s a really important time to have a revaluation and a good time to look at a potential reset.”
