STATEMENT Regarding Release of the ANU Governance Project Draft Report

9 September 2025

 

The ANU Governance Project Working Group (Working Group) is a diverse group of academic staff, professional staff, students who started working together in mid 2025. The Working Group believes there is an opportunity to achieve better governance at our national university and the higher education sector more broadly. 

Using a process that has involved deep listening and a participatory and deliberative process across the ANU community, we have compiled a unique and valuable body of evidence that documents what’s wrong with governance at the ANU and charts a way forward to help rebuild trust and to deliver best practice governance. 

Over 600 ANU staff, students, and stakeholders have participated in this project, and in contributing constructively to the future of ANU. This includes 590 members of the community who participated in our survey, 75 who participated in one-hour small group discussions, and over 40 from across the university who participated in our project workshop. 

 

The ANU community told us there a critical need for change:

  1. Over 96% of survey respondents and all discussion group participants believe current ANU governance is not fit for purpose and should be reformed. 
  2. Over 92% of survey respondents and all discussion group participants expressed dissatisfaction with current ANU governance.
  3. Over 93% of survey respondents said they were dissatisfied with current practices of transparency at the ANU. 
  4. Over 93% of survey respondents said they were dissatisfied with accountability frameworks at the ANU. 

The ANU Community has proposed near-term steps forward for a reformed ANU: 

  1. Council must direct Finance to produce and publish a current budget breakdown.
  2. Council must revise and publish selection criteria for Executive positions.
  3. Council meetings must immediately be made fully accessible to the community.
  4. Academic Board must regularly review and assess the financial decisions of senior executives and Council.
  5. Commence senior leadership listening tours with the ANU community.

The Working Group invites the ANU community and stakeholders to offer feedback on the draft report over the next 48 hours (by midnight on Thursday, 11 September). This deadline is set in order to allow us to incorporate community feedback ahead of the release of our final report on Friday 12 September for submission to the Senate Inquiry on Quality of Governance at Higher Education Providers. 

For further information please contact the ANU Governance Project Working Group.