The Australian Academy of the Humanities has made a submission to the to the Senate Education and Employment Reference Committee’s Inquiry into Australian University Graduates.
Australia’s universities are more important than ever. They are the engine rooms of knowledge and research, preparing graduates with the critical thinking, communication, creativity and ethical judgement needed to navigate an increasingly complex world. They educate not only the future workforce, but also the informed citizens on whom Australia’s democracy, prosperity and social cohesion depend.
Seeing the bigger picture
The Academy’s submission argues that Australia needs a broader understanding of graduate success than short-term employment outcomes.
The Job-ready Graduates (JRG) Package, introduced to steer students towards so-called “job ready” degrees, has failed to achieve its objectives. The evidence shows it is not only ineffective, but also economically inefficient, socially regressive, and strategically misaligned with Australia’s future workforce needs.
New analysis from Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), using linked administrative datasets that track graduates over time, shows that humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) graduates enter more than 300 distinct occupations and enjoy strong long-term employment outcomes. Around 90 per cent are employed full-time three years after graduation, with average earnings comparable to the broader university graduate population.
These findings demonstrate the limitations of relying on graduate surveys conducted just four to six months after graduation. Such measures fail to capture career progression, cross-sector mobility and the adaptability that increasingly characterise modern careers.
The Academy argues that Australia should value the long-term capabilities graduates develop—not simply where they are employed a few months after completing their degree. Humanities and creative arts graduates demonstrate strong adaptability, resilience and the capacity to apply their knowledge across diverse industries as labour markets evolve.
Our recommendations
The Academy’s submission calls on the Inquiry to:
- adopt a broader definition of graduate employability and educational value;
- improve national graduate outcomes data and capability intelligence through the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC), drawing on Jobs and Skills Australia;
- address the inequitable impacts of the Job-ready Graduates Package;
- better recognise and incentivise the capabilities of humanities and creative arts graduates; and
- develop a national AI Capability Strategy that recognises the enduring value of human capabilities alongside technological capability.
Repealing the Job-ready Graduates Package
The Academy supports the Universities Accord recommendation to repeal the Job-ready Graduates Package as a matter of priority.
The evidence also shows that the Job-ready Graduates Package has disproportionately affected students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Analysis by the IRU found that between 2020 and 2024, commencements by low-SES students fell by 9.8% compared with a 2.2% decline for non-low-SES students. In disciplines with the highest student contribution rates—including humanities, commerce and law—low-SES commencements declined by almost 20 per cent. At a time when Australia needs graduates with the capacity to navigate technological, social and geopolitical change, the policy imposes the greatest debt burden on students studying qualifications that are vital to the nation’s long-term capability.
