Charles Darwin University - CDU Submission to Australian Tertiary Education Commission Managed Growth Funding System and Needs-based Funding Consultation Papers

Sep 15, 2026

Submission from Charles Darwin University addressing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission consultation papers covering managed growth funding system and needs-based funding. The document outlines CDU’s vision for improving participation and attainment, with emphasis on First Nations students, equity cohorts, and stronger school education outcomes in the Northern Territory. It presents recommendations on establishing the new ATEC approach, phasing implementation, streamlining managed growth targets, supporting commencing EFTSL, and applying flexibility to hard caps.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Australia’s most connected university

Implementing Australia’s Universities Accord

Summary of Recommendations

The Australian Tertiary Education Commission – a new approach to system stewardship.

A New Managed Growth Funding model – driving the vision of a Future Made in Australia.

Needs-based Funding – supporting more students to participate and succeed.

Charles Darwin University Submission addressing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, Managed Growth Funding System, and Needs-based Funding Consultation Papers. Table of Contents Australia’s most connected university 3 Implementing Australia’s Universities Accord 3 Summary of Recommendations 4 The Australian Tertiary Education Commission – a new approach to system stewardship. 5 A New Managed Growth Funding model – driving the vision of a Future Made in Australia. 7 Needs-based Funding – supporting more students to participate and succeed. 9 Australia’s most connected university Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) vision is to be Australia’s most connected university by being courageous and making a difference in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia and beyond. Being a dual sector university allows CDU to meet the education needs of Territorians in campuses in Darwin, Alice Springs, Palmerston and Katherine and in study centres in Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek. CDU has a proud history of delivering on country in some of the NT’s most remote locations, bringing training to communities who need it in places such as Galiwinku, Maningrida, Borroloola, Wadeye and Hermannsburg. At the heart of CDU is to engage First Nations students and support their attainment of vocational and higher education. The NT spans approximately one sixth of Australia’s landmass and yet is home to just one per cent of the population, of whom 30 per cent are First Nations peoples. We embrace the vitality and resilience of the Northern Territory, which is the focus of the nation’s most ambitious plans for future development – to unlock the vast potential of Northern Australia and to engage with our neighbours in the Asia Pacific. Due to our location, we are in an enviable position to contribute to the future prosperity of Northern Australia through innovative and impactful training, education and research. Implementing Australia’s Universities Accord CDU participated extensively in the consultation process to inform the Australian Universities Accord. CDU advocated for and strongly supports the renewed focus on authentic engagement with First Nations and driving greater participation and attainment of tertiary education for equity cohorts. CDU submitted also in the Universities Accord consultation that school education was critical. CDU noted that NT school students have the lowest or near-lowest levels of literacy and numeracy in Australia, compounded by remoteness. CDU stated that if the Accord is to make a difference to the lives of First Nations peoples in the NT, there must be an improvement in school education outcomes. In this context, CDU acknowledges the significant recent commitment from the Commonwealth Government to increase school funding to the NT. This could indeed be the ‘game-changer’ so desperately required and better school educational outcomes will improve CDU’s longer-term pipeline of tertiary students, both vocational and degree students. The 2050 targets set out in the Accord, especially to lift the proportion of university-educated Australians aged 25-34 years old from 45 per cent to 55 per cent will require a substantial uplift in participation from equity cohorts. CDU congratulates the Government for committing to these ambitious targets and notes that it will require significant growth. Maintaining, let alone growing university populations in Australia is a huge task against both the demographic and economic climate. The school leaver cohort has now reached its peak following the baby boom of the early 2000s and with permanent migration likely to stay level, there is simply a slowing number of young adults to apply for tertiary education. Within the NT, the population is currently only growing from net overseas migration. In addition, skills shortages and low unemployment are driving workforce participation and vocational training rather than degree education. This submission responds t

FAQs

What is the submission mainly addressing?

It addresses Australian Tertiary Education Commission consultation papers on the Managed Growth Funding System and Needs-based Funding.

How does CDU link equity outcomes to school education?

It states that improving Northern Territory school education outcomes is required to change the long-term pipeline of tertiary students for First Nations peoples.

What recommendations does CDU make for the new managed growth funding model?

It recommends focusing targets on commencing EFTSL, streamlining managed growth targets, removing constraints on student choice for equity cohorts, and applying a +2% buffer on hard caps to improve load management.

Sep 15, 2026

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