Higher education and its role in strengthening democracy in Australia’s public perceptions
Discussion Paper 15
Biddle, N., Fischer, A., Gray, M., Mulgan, G., and Tourky, R., (2026) Public perceptions of Higher Education and its role in strengthening (and weakening) democracy in Australia Australian Resilient Democracy Network Discussion Paper 15, Australian National University
Full Paper Available here
Universities, democracy, and public legitimacy
Universities are core knowledge institutions strengthening Australia’s democratic conditions. At their best, they are environments for evidence-driven innovation translating new ideas into societally relevant practices, enabling new generations with conditions for economic and social participation and critical engagement, asking questions for democratic accountability, and enabling generations for workforces and public services for societal wellbeing. Yet despite their centrality, universities are increasingly contested. They are debated through the lenses of affordability, access, housing pressure, culture wars, and public value, often without clear evidence about how Australians actually perceive them.
These trends raise a fundamental question: how do Australians view one of the country’s critical knowledge institutions, and how do those views relate to democratic confidence and resilience?
This recently released discussion paper is the first in a series from the Australian Resilient Democracy Network, exploring Australia’s knowledge infrastructure and intelligence systems, beginning with higher education.
Drawing on new nationally representative data from the September–October 2025 ANUpoll, and making comparisons with data back to 2008, it examines how Australians perceive universities, how those perceptions have changed over time, and how they relate to broader democratic outcomes.
Key findings
Confidence in Australian universities is declining
Australians continue to report higher confidence in universities than in many other institutions, including the Federal Government. In 2019, nearly eight in ten Australians express quite a lot or a great deal of confidence in universities, placing them among the more trusted institutions in public life.
While high relative to some other institutions confidence has declined steadily since 2019. The sharpest fall occurred between 2019 and 2020, followed by a slower but persistent decline through to 2025. From nearly eight in ten Australians in 2019, today around six in ten Australians report confidence in universities.
Decline in confidence is not evenly distributed
The most striking pattern in the data is a widening gap between graduates and non-graduates. Australians with a university degree remain significantly more confident in universities than those without one. Importantly, this gap was small or negligible half a decade ago. Its growth mirrors international trends in which education increasingly structures institutional trust and political attitudes.
The implication is not simply that graduates like universities more. Rather, universities are becoming markers of inclusion for some and distance for others. That divide has consequences for democratic cohesion.
Perceived value of higher education is shifting
Only a small minority now believe that a university degree is necessary to succeed in today’s workforce. This view has declined since the late 2000s, despite strong evidence that economic returns to education remain positive. Younger Australians and those born overseas in non-English-speaking countries place a higher value on university education, while older Australians and those without post-school qualifications are more sceptical.
At the same time, Australians increasingly believe that getting a university education has become harder. Over four in ten think access is more difficult than it was a decade ago. These perceptions are strongest for students from low-income families and those from regional and remote areas. By contrast, Australians believe access has become easier for private school students and overseas students.
These perceptions matter even if they do not perfectly align with enrolment data. Perceived unfairness in access to education shapes trust, legitimacy, and democratic satisfaction. Where opportunity is seen as narrowing, democratic confidence weakens.
Funding and expectations
Public attitudes toward costs of university educations reflect growing tensions. Australians strongly support increased funding for public schools and TAFE, and a substantial share also support increased funding for universities. Support for university funding is highest among those who trust universities and among those who believe access has become more difficult. In other words, confidence and fairness go together.
When asked about what universities should do, Australians express strong support for economic and workforce roles. Training young people for future jobs and developing new ideas attract the highest endorsement. Support for civic roles is more muted. Around three in ten Australians believe universities should actively help strengthen democracy or provide spaces for controversial ideas to be debated.
This does not mean Australians reject universities’ civic role. Rather, it suggests that public expectations remain anchored in instrumental functions, even though democratic outcomes are closely linked to how universities perform.
Universities and democratic resilience
One of the paper’s most important findings is the relationship between perceptions of universities and democratic satisfaction.
Australians who believe universities are doing a good job are far more satisfied with democracy than those who do not. This association is large and persists even after accounting for education, income, age, and other factors. Perceptions that university access has become more difficult, by contrast, are associated with lower satisfaction with democracy.
These findings position universities as more than service providers or economic actors. They are part of the fabric of democratic trust. When universities are seen as effective, fair, and socially valuable, democratic confidence is stronger. When they are seen as distant or inaccessible, democratic resilience weakens.
Implications and future work
This paper opens several important avenues for future work.
First, it points to the need for better measures of how knowledge institutions contribute to democratic resilience. Despite their importance, universities and other knowledge institutions are largely absent from standard democratic indices. Developing consistent measures of public trust, access, civic contribution, and community engagement would strengthen both policy and accountability.
Second, it highlights the importance of engagement beyond degree programs. If universities are to rebuild confidence among non-graduates, they need visible, meaningful ways to support communities, regions, and lifelong learning.
Third, it raises questions about inclusive access as a democratic issue, not only an equity or economic one. Perceived barriers to education are closely tied to democratic attitudes. Addressing them strengthens both opportunity and trust.
Finally, future work will explore how universities can contribute more directly to collective intelligence, social innovation, creative policy thinking, democratic accountability, and constructive disagreement, particularly in contested information environments.
Looking ahead
Australian higher education and Australian democracy are both at potential inflection points. Confidence in universities remains comparatively high, but it is declining. Evaluative divides are widening. Public expectations are shifting.
The findings in this paper suggest that strengthening democracy will require a higher education system that is trusted, accessible, and able to demonstrate its public value across economic, social, and civic domains. This is not a call for universities to become political actors. It is a reminder that their legitimacy, openness, and connection to the broader community matter deeply for democratic resilience.
The good news is that the foundations remain strong. The challenge now is to ensure that Australia’s universities continue to serve not only those who pass through their gates, but the democratic system they help sustain.