Alistair Jarvis CBE, Chief Executive, Advance HE, reflects on his recent visit to member institutions in Australia

Last month, I had the privilege of visiting a number of our member institutions across Australia, accompanied by our Head of Partnerships (Australasia), Adelaide-based Fi Whittenbury. With 35 members now in Australia, including our most recent who joined last week, it felt like exactly the right moment to be there in person, listening and learning.

These visits matter to me. No online roundtable discussion or survey, however well designed, quite replaces the experience of sitting with colleagues, hearing their concerns directly, and understanding the context in which they are working. Australian higher education is a sector of real energy, quality and ambition, and that came through clearly in every conversation I had.

What struck me most was not any single issue, but the sheer complexity of what institutions are navigating simultaneously. Financial pressures, regulatory reform driven in part by the Universities Accord, shifting student expectations, the rapid advance of artificial intelligence, changing political expectations, and significant workforce challenges are not arriving one at a time. They are arriving together, and institutions are being asked to respond to all of them at once, often with constrained resources and limited internal capacity for staff development.

Many of these pressures will be familiar to colleagues in higher education across many countries – the challenges across the globe are not uncommon. But they have a particular texture in the Australian context. Members cited highlighted the widespread use of a casualised academic workforce which is creating real gaps in professional development pathways; addressing the deep inequalities faced by indigenous people is a genuine concern; and the capability challenges around AI and digital transformation are felt acutely at an institutional level. These are not abstract policy questions; they are day-to-day operational realities for the people I met.

Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy remains the cornerstone of what Advance HE offers in Australia, and its value was clearly recognised. But members were also honest with us about where we need to do more. They want clearer pathways for professional development across career stages. They want us to be a more visible and credible regional voice. And they want the support we offer to be practical, accessible, and aligned with their institutional priorities and challenges.

I heard those messages clearly, and I take them seriously. Workforce development is among the most pressing areas where Advance HE can and should play a meaningful role. Whether through strengthening the Fellowship ecosystem, exploring leadership development programmes tailored to the Australasian context, or building deeper partnerships with respected regional organisations, we are committed to ensuring our membership offer reflects what institutions here actually need.

We are also mindful that demonstrable impact and value for money matter enormously at a time when every area of expenditure is under scrutiny. Our job is to demonstrate, through evidence and through the quality of what we deliver, that membership of Advance HE is a sound investment in the development of people and institutions. We will work with our members and our expert Australasian Strategic Advisory Board to make sure our services remain relevant and clearly meet our members’ contemporary needs.

I left Australia energised and grateful. The sector’s challenges are real, but so is the commitment and the quality of the people working within it. I am determined that Advance HE will be a trusted partner in supporting that work, and I look forward to continuing the conversation and more – delivering the work.

Advance HE has 481 member institutions around the world, including 35 in Australia. There are over 220,000 Advance HE Fellows – Australia has the greatest proportion of these outside the UK with more than 9,000 Fellows.