Australians have a generally expansive view on what they think a role of the university should be. These range from providing skills for the future job market to coming up with new ideas and playing a role in public policy. Training young Australians for the future workforce was seen by the most respondents as universities' main role.
93% of respondents to the 2019 ANU Poll thought universities should train young Australians for the future workforce.
There appears to be a greater level of support for basic as opposed to applied research, with 94.1% of respondents thinking a role of the university is to develop new ideas.
Coalition voters were less likely to support universities having a role of ‘holding governments to account’. 73% of Labor voters thought that was the university’s role versus 52% of Coalition voters.
Respondents thought the 3 most important skills from a university education were those needed to get a job, an ability to solve problems and think analytically, and preparation for the future work force.