By Chancellor Dr Diane Smith-Gander and Vice-Chancellor Professor Amit Chakma
More than a century ago, The University of Western Australia was founded with a clear purpose: to ‘advance the welfare of our communities’.
While that purpose remains as relevant today as it was in 1911, advancing WA’s welfare now requires us to think boldly about the future of higher education and the role our universities can play in shaping the next chapter of our State.
WA has extraordinary advantages. We are rich in natural resources, home to a remarkable and pristine environment, equipped with modern infrastructure and increasingly powered by knowledge, innovation and enterprise. Generations of Western Australians have built a prosperous State that boasts an enviable quality of life.
Now we have an opportunity is to turn those advantages into something even greater.
A stronger, more connected university sector could help WA become one of the world’s most dynamic regional economies. Working alongside government, industry and communities, our universities can accelerate discovery, translate ideas into new industries and educate the talented, adaptable workforce our future demands.
That is why the State Government’s decision to evaluate the business case for bringing three universities together deserves serious and constructive consideration. Any merger must be supported by a compelling business case and deliver clear benefits for students, staff and the wider community. But we should not allow the complexity of change to diminish the scale of opportunity.
WA’s universities have served our State well. The question now is whether our current structure can deliver the scale, reach and research strength required for an increasingly competitive, knowledge-based global economy.
Scale matters. It can bring researchers, infrastructure and investment together around the challenges that matter most to Western Australians. It can help improve health outcomes, lift agricultural productivity, protect our environment, add value to our mineral wealth and lead the industries that will define the coming decades.
It can also help build the workforce our State urgently needs.
With Edith Cowan University remaining independent, the creation of a larger institution would leave WA with two public universities capable of working collaboratively while retaining distinct strengths. Together, they could educate the agricultural scientists, teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, lawyers, engineers, entrepreneurs and civic leaders our State will depend upon.
This vision must reach far beyond Perth.
WA’s prosperity should be shared across our vast State. A university with greater scale could revitalise regional campuses in Albany, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie, while opening the door to a stronger presence in places such as Karratha and Geraldton.
That would mean more than expanding access to education. It could allow more doctors, nurses, dentists and other health professionals to train closer to the communities that need them. More students could complete practical placements in regional Western Australia, strengthening local services and creating an immediate and tangible benefit for regional communities.
Our opportunity also extends beyond Australia.
A combined university could position WA as an educational powerhouse across South-East Asia and the Indian Ocean Rim. Through an established presence in cities and regions including Chennai, Colombo, Dubai, Mumbai, Malaysia and Mauritius, a larger WA university could create an international network of exceptional reach.
Those connections would bring students, researchers and industries closer together. They would deepen Western Australia’s relationships across our region and strengthen our place in the world.
Imagine a university created for our State’s future: world-class, outward-looking and deeply connected to the communities it serves.
Imagine three vibrant campuses, working seamlessly together and each with its own distinctive strengths. Murdoch could be a global centre for agriculture and the environment. Curtin could be a powerhouse of technology, innovation and industry. Crawley could build on its excellence across the arts and sciences, medicine, business and law.
Different strengths. One shared ambition.
This is not simply a conversation about institutional structures. It is a conversation about what Western Australia wants to become, how boldly we are prepared to pursue that future and what kind of legacy we want to leave.
Whatever the business case ultimately concludes, approaching the opportunity with rigour and imagination will deepen our understanding of what our State needs from its universities.
And it will help us make wiser choices about the future.
After all, that is what our university’s motto asks of us: Seek wisdom.