Racism is systematically embedded across Australia's higher education institutions, affecting students and staff from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds at every level of university life, according to a landmark national report released on Monday.
The report, one of the most comprehensive examinations of racial discrimination in Australian universities ever conducted, documents discriminatory practices in hiring and promotion decisions, curriculum design, student support services, and the everyday treatment of non-white staff and students on campus.
The findings carry particular weight in a sector that markets itself aggressively — and profitably — to international students from Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Australia's international education sector generates approximately $48 billion a year in export income, making it the country's third-largest export industry. The vast majority of those fee-paying students are from non-white backgrounds.
For Pacific Island communities, where Australian universities have long been a primary destination for emerging professionals — from Papua New Guinea to Fiji to Vanuatu — the report's findings will resonate sharply. Pacific students and academics have documented for years a gap between the welcoming marketing material and the reality of campus culture.
The report found that Indigenous Australian students and staff faced distinct forms of racism — including the dismissal of Indigenous knowledge systems, tokenistic representation, and what researchers described as the "burden of representation" placed on First Nations academics to justify their presence in their own institutions.
For students from South and East Asia, the report documented high rates of microaggressions, a lack of culturally responsive teaching, and a sense of invisibility in curricula that remained predominantly Eurocentric.
Professor Nareen Young, one of the researchers involved in the project, told the ABC that the findings reflected structural problems rather than isolated incidents. "This is not about a few bad actors," she said. "The research shows these are systemic patterns embedded in how our universities hire, promote, teach, and support students."
The report arrives as Australia's universities face mounting financial pressures following the previous government's international student visa caps and a period of cost-cutting that has hit academic staffing hard. Critics have argued the financial squeeze has made equity and inclusion programs among the first casualties.
Universities Australia, the peak body for the sector, said it welcomed the report and that vice-chancellors were committed to addressing systemic racism. It did not specify what concrete changes would follow.
The report recommends mandatory anti-racism training for all academic and professional staff, independent review mechanisms for discrimination complaints, greater investment in Indigenous knowledge programs, and dedicated funding for culturally diverse student support services.
Mate, this is an industry that earns billions telling the world it is a welcoming destination for students from Asia and the Pacific. The gap between that pitch and what this report documents is not a detail — it is a fundamental question about what Australian higher education actually is.
