UQ Senate Dinner 2024

Minister for Education and the Arts, the Honourable Mr John-Paul Langbroek MP; Shadow Minister for Education and the Early Years, Shadow Minister for Youth Justice and Member for Bulimba, Ms Di Farmer MP; University of Queensland Chancellor, Mr Peter Varghese AO; Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Deborah Terry AO; Senate Members, Executive and staff; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by joining the Deputy Chancellor in acknowledging the Turrbul and Jagera people, the Traditional Owners of the lands around Brisbane, and paying my respects to their Elders and to any First Nations people here tonight.

This is the third occasion on which Graeme and I have had the pleasure of joining you for this annual dinner. On the first occasion, in 2021, I had been sworn in as Governor less than a month beforehand – and the World Health Organisation was still 18 months away from declaring the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A year later, when Graeme and I attended our second senate dinner, we were all still learning to live with COVID which continued to cause global economic disruption and unprecedented levels of social uncertainty.

Now, three years into my term as Governor, I am very much aware of the extent to which educational and research institutions around the world felt the effect of the pandemic – and paid the cost.

But, as Official Visitor to the University of Queensland, I am proud to see that this remarkable institution today is well on track to addressing the financial impacts of the pandemic, and I thank and congratulate everyone concerned on embracing the University’s bold vision for the future and on their dedication and determination to carry it forward.

In particular, it has been wonderful to see the University attain the rank of number 40 in the world and maintain its position in the top three per cent of institutions worldwide, as assessed by QS World University Rankings.

To achieve this position among fifteen-hundred peers is a significant achievement but, in addition, the University has now improved its QS rank for the past two years, reinforcing its reputation as a destination of choice globally for both students and researchers.

Domestically, its reputation has also continued to grow, topping the Australian Financial Review’s Best Universities Ranking for the second consecutive year. This result is particularly satisfying because, unlike many international ranking systems, the AFR assessment does not focus principally on research but takes quality of teaching, equity and graduate outcomes into account.

This success is due, in no small part, to the efforts of the Senate and Senior Management, particularly the exceptional leadership of Professor Terry since her appointment in August 2020, and I take this opportunity to publicly congratulate her on the extension of her contract as Vice-Chancellor to February 2029.

Congratulations to all of you on another exceptional year – may you all have a restful and joyful festive season and a successful and satisfying 2025.

Thank you.