STATEMENT FROM THE ANU GOVERNANCE PROJECT REGARDING THE 12 AUGUST SENATE HEARING

The ANU Governance Project was cited several times in today’s hearing of the Senate Inquiry into the Quality of Governance at Higher Education Providers. 

What is the ANU Governance Project?

The ANU Governance Project is a solutions-focused project, built to capture all-staff, student, and stakeholder views and offer data-driven and constructive recommendations for governance reform at our national university. We believe the innovative co-design of governance reform with the ANU community is a constructive step forward for our university, an opportunity for good-faith engagement, and will help to build a culture of trust. 

To this end, on 6 August 2025 we launched a broad consultation process including an all-staff, student, and stakeholder survey, a series of kitchen table conversations, and a workshop to generate solutions. Our process was designed in consultation with governance, higher education, and survey design experts. The timing of the project has been shaped by the re-opening of the Senate inquiry, its submission deadlines, and the Albanese Government’s commitment to improving university governance.

We are delighted to report that since our launch less than a week ago over 300 hundred ANU staff, students, and stakeholders have participated - and counting. The vast majority of participants are current ANU staff. 

What was the report cited at the Senate hearings today?

Ahead of the start of Senate hearings, we publicly shared via our website a First Findings Report from the first 209 participants survey response and the first two kitchen table conversations. We also shared information about our project with the ANU Executive team. 

The first findings are preliminary and we will publish full results from the survey in the coming weeks. Of the 209 first survey respondents, a significant majority (75.1%) were current staff followed by former staff (12%) and students (8.6%), alumni, and stakeholders including parents of ANU students and donors. 

The preliminary survey results reflect the deep concern shared by ANU staff, students, and members of the ANU community over the quality of governance at the ANU. It also demonstrates a clear appetite within the community to be genuinely and constructively consulted on the future design of ANU governance. 

We welcome constructive engagement from all members of the ANU community, including ANU council and the Executive. We especially welcome the ANU Executive’s statement in the hearing today that they are interested in supporting an all-staff survey - such as the one we have initiated through the ANU Governance Project. We invite them to engage with our Project and with the full spectrum of ANU community views shared through our consultation process at their earliest convenience.