The University of Canberra’s secret sauce solves “meaty problems”
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The key to a quality education is not locked away in an ivory tower, so I have rarely paid much attention to university league tables in which ivy-clad and sandstone institutions slug it out for the top spot.
But a new ranking system caught my attention recently, after the University of Canberra was named the world’s top university for reducing inequalities. Times Higher Education Impact Rankings is the only index in the world to assess universities according to how they measure up against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
This piqued my interest. As Einstein famously (didn’t) say: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
If we need to look at our problems through a different lens, it seems clear that our centres of learning should be spaces where diverse and different thinkers can come together. It was this idea that reverberated in the back of my head as I convened a Salon Canberra dinner at the University of Canberra recently.
The University’s Chancellor Tom Calma AO and Vice-Chancellor and President Paddy Nixon are both passionate about equity and inclusion. Tom is an Australian Aboriginal elder of the Kungarakan people, a human rights and social justice advocate, and the author of a 2005 report on Indigenous health inequalities which catalysed the Close the Gap campaign. Tom is also the ACT Senior Australian of the Year for 2023.
Liverpool-born computer scientist Paddy was the first in his family to attend university—and he saw first-hand the domino effect that his studies had on his family and friends. He spent five years as Vice-Chancellor of Northern Ireland’s Ulster University before joining the University of Canberra in 2020.
Both Paddy and Tom are very proud of the university’s recognition for its work to reduce inequalities.
“It’s two years in a row, now, so it’s not an accident,” Paddy said.
Rather, the ranking is evidence of three decades of careful decisions and the consequence of the university’s setting in a “designed city”.
“There aren’t any suburbs with a low socio-economic score [in Canberra]. It’s all distributed,” Paddy said.
Jo Metcalfe and Prof Tom Calma AO . Photo credit Rohan Thomson.
Inclusion and equality of opportunity are at the heart of innovation. The MIT Sloan School of Management, for instance, has estimated that America is missing out on “millions” of inventors and innovators—what researchers refer to as “lost Einsteins”—because the richest 1% of society are 10 times more likely to be inventors than those born into the bottom 50%.
Laying the foundations for inclusion and equality starts at the top, Tom said. The university’s council features two student representatives and two staff representatives. “Not all universities have that.”
The university has always been “ahead of its time,” Paddy added. UC boasted a female chancellor years before almost any other university in Australia, and Tom is the first and only Indigenous chancellor in Australia. Paddy says this “speaks volumes” of the institution’s inclusivity.
At the core of the university’s purpose and values is the concept of “galambany”—a Ngunnawal word which means “together sharing knowledge”.
“I can confidently say we’re the only university in Australia that has Indigenous language in our values and purpose statement,” Paddy said.
Earlier this year the University launched Connected, a strategy that outlines a 10-year vision to be a global leader driving equality of opportunity. The strategy rests on three pillars: a commitment to staff and students, to the university’s place in Canberra and the region, and to the Ngunnawal people. This is the “secret sauce” that supports inclusion and sparks innovation.
A sense of place is integral to an institution that sits on 140 hectares of land. Rather than a series of elitist dreaming spires, or an “institution looking inward on itself” UC wants to be “seamlessly integrated” into the community, Tom noted.
“We’re part of the community, and the community is part of us.”
While the principal purpose of any university is to foster education and research, universities can also act as connectors and convenors that help communities solve “meaty problems,” as Paddy called them.
Paddy’s former employer, Ulster University, is ranked the United Kingdom’s number one law school for impact research. It has built up an international reputation for the study of transitional justice—how societies deal with the transition from conflict or oppression—“because the Troubles gave the university a local problem to solve”.
What is Canberra’s “meaty problem” to solve?
One member of the discussion noted students at her local primary school spoke 42 different languages—and while that brought richness it also brought the complexity. How do we make sure these new voices can engage in our collective conversation about Canberra’s future?
Another contributor observed that “our cities will never truly reflect the diversity of our community until they’re designed by a diverse group—and they’re not”.
Canberra is one of the “most designed cities in the world,” Paddy added. Our evolution from a “public service city” to an “integrated community” is underway but our challenge is to reshape our city’s design to reflect this evolution.
Universities offer a paradox. They teach curiosity and innovate “at the frayed edges” but have also survived for a thousand years “by being a bit careful,” Paddy observed. Balancing caution and curiosity can create the safe space for challenging conversations and controversial ideas—and that’s where we’ll find the solutions to those meaty problems.
