Two Big Adelaide Universities Are Thinking About Merging

The chancellors of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia have announced that the two universities will “explore the merits of a merger to create a new, leading Australian university”.

Joint statement from the Chancellors, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce (Adelaide) and Mr Jim McDowell (UniSA):

“The national and international landscapes of higher education are rapidly changing. Now is the time to facilitate a conversation about whether uniting our universities would create a new internationally renowned university of scale that would be well placed to anticipate and respond to this changing landscape.

“We need to determine whether this would enable us to deliver greater access and benefits to students, create more opportunities for staff, enable greater collaboration with and contribution to our community, and make greater economic, social and cultural contributions to South Australia.

“Today we are announcing the start of a conversation and an exploration, not a destination.

“The question of mergers between universities has bounced around South Australia, as it has in other States, for two decades. As two institutions that already sit alongside one another on North Terrace, that collaborate in areas like the SA Biomed City project, and are successful in their own right, we should now grasp the opportunity to consider the merits of a shared future for both institutions.

“We can foresee, for example, that combining and consolidating our complementary expertise, particularly in areas like defence, health, agriculture, education and engineering, would position a new University in the top few in Australia for size and scale; may place it firmly within the world’s top 100; and have a reach that could make it one of the most international universities in Australia.

“The economy and nature of our society is changing rapidly, and we want to ensure that we have considered all strategic avenues to develop the best breadth and depth of expertise that will provide our students with the opportunity to thrive in the workforce of the future.

“We also need to explore whether this new university will create a wider range of pathways to enable greater access to education for more South Australians.

“Both our universities have unique histories and we have both evolved to meet the needs of each generation. We are now wanting to explore together whether we might build on that proud history, leading to more opportunity for the communities we serve.”