We’re privileged at ANU to be home to some of the brightest and most dedicated students in the country. They’re heirs to a legacy of achievement that has been built up by successive generations of talented people.

As well as carrying the tradition of this achievement, today’s students are burdened with increasing pressure on their time and budgets. A recent report by the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee on student finances found that just under a quarter of full-time undergraduates missed classes or other study commitments due to work. Almost one-half of full-time postgraduate coursework students, meanwhile, had an annual budget deficit last year.
It’s a great pity that talented people are suffering from the imposts of having to work in order to support themselves while studying for a qualification that will give this country much more than a labour force. The majority of students are supporting a life, not a lifestyle. They’ve got to live somewhere. They’ve got to eat. They’ve got to be able to afford the materials necessary to fulfil their studies, like textbooks. If students have to work to get the resources to do that, and that costs them study time, it has a detrimental impact on the individual and, by extension, the nation.

Our current pool of students is as important to our future as airports, roads and ports. We should think of them in terms of national infrastructure. The talent that is developed in this country will contribute to its national prosperity in ways that are difficult to quantify, yet many other countries have accepted that this investment has to take place.

Governments could do more to support students, but I think that’s only part of the answer. I don’t think it is reasonable to expect governments to do everything. What is important is considering the best way to get the outcome we want – which is high-achieving, highly educated, and highly talented people entering our workforce – and through that contributing to the nation’s social justice system, economic system and culture, making it a better place for us all to live.

Professor Ian Chubb AC
Vice-Chancellor and President

ANU Reporter 
Autumn 2007