Professor Brian Schmidt said university funding needs to be fairer for students and should better support research after he announced his shock resignation as vice-chancellor of the Australian National University.
Professor Schmidt will be stepping down from the leadership role at the end of December after weathering a tumultuous time marred by bushfires, a damaging hailstorm, COVID-19 and widespread job cuts at the institution.
The Nobel Laureate said the former government's job ready graduates reforms had "some major flaws" and successive governments had treated universities as an expense to be minimised rather than an investment.
"ANU has more domestic undergraduates than we've ever had in our history and we're getting 15 per cent less money across the various schemes for them than we had a few years ago," he told The Canberra Times.
"As part of the [Australian Universities] Accord process, we need to create a system that is both fair to our students and gives them lots of options. I think it really needs to be thinking what's best for our students and for society, but at the same time, it has to support research."
Professor Schmidt came into the role in 2016, one year before a major survey into sexual assault and harassment in Australian universities revealed the extend of the problem at the ANU.
He said the university "hasn't been fully effective" in addressing the scourge of sexual violence on campus but believes a lot of progress had been made in the past 12 months.
"[There's been] fits and starts over time because it's hard and we're having to develop best practice because it does not exist in Australia," he said.
"But what I can assure people is not for lack of trying, but I will fully admit ... we haven't been fully effective, but it certainly has been front of mind and I think we have laudably fronted up to our shortcomings."
From Harvard to ANU
Brian Schmidt was born in the United States and migrated to Australia as an adult with an established scientific reputation of the highest order.
He grew up in Missoula, Montana, where his father worked as a fisheries biologist, then relocated to Anchorage, Alaska.
He earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1993 and moved to Australia the following year. His discovery that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate won him the Nobel Prize in 2011.
He has clearly come to love the ANU. In the recent 20th anniversary of the 2003 bushfires, he was near to tears as he related how the fire had destroyed the Mount Stromlo observatory where he worked when he first came to Canberra.
Professor Schmidt said he became vice-chancellor because he thought the university was losing its identity as the national university but he now feels that identity has been restored.
He counts this and the programs to support First Nations Australians as his greatest achievement in his time in the top job.
There wasn't a particular moment which led to his decision to step down before his second five-year term was scheduled to end in December 2025.
"I just was watching myself over the last year and realise that I was beginning to think more about preserving the past then pushing the future and that's the natural leadership cycle," he said.
"I knew it was time for me to hand over the reins to someone else and make sure I go out on the top rather than on the way down."
Contribution praised
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said the peak body was thankful for his service to the sector in a time of challenges and opportunities.
"Brian continues to be a pillar of our community, and his work has had a profound and universal impact," Ms Jackson said.
"He has led a career dedicated to excellence and social progression, and will remain embedded in the university community as a teacher and professor where he will continue to make rich contributions."
Australian Academy of Science president and ANU distinguished professor of physics Chennupati Jagadish said Professor Schmidt was a warm and approachable person who was well-liked by students and staff.
"Rarely Nobel laureates choose to become vice-chancellors. But at the same time, Brian beings so caring of the university, he wanted to provide leadership to the university at a critical juncture of the university," Professor Jagadish said.
"We want to sincerely thank you for his contributions to the university in the last eight years or so."
Leader during crises
Professor Schmidt said he expected the vice-chancellor role to be challenging, being connector between thousands of people, but nothing could have prepared him for the series of "catastrophic" events that occurred in rapid succession since 2020.
"It's been a tough time. But on the other hand, I kind of think we've done it as a community, we've done the right thing.
"I'm kind of happy with how we've navigated all those things. It hasn't been pleasant, but I actually think ANU has done remarkably well, in these tough times."
He was keen to get back into astronomy research and to have more time to spend with family and among the grape vines at his Sutton property.
"I do miss astronomy. I had always intended to come back to astronomy from the day I applied to this job and made it clear that was my intent.
"I will still work hard. I love to make things happen. But I'd just like to have that flexibility to maybe take Thursday afternoon off and get the vines in good shape, rather than have it scheduled nine months in the future."
The ANU council will be responsible for recruiting the next vice-chancellor to take the reins after December. But until then, Professor Schmidt has promised to put his full energy into the role.
"People should not think that it's going to be a kind of quiet stroll along the park for the next 11 months. It's going be a sprint to the end."
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