More than one in two Australian voters think the main purpose of contemporary universities is to turn a profit, although one in 30 think that should be the case. And well below half think the scale of tuition fees, and the time needed to pay them off, is reasonable.

A survey of more than 1,500 adults has uncovered widespread perceptions that Australian universities are unduly focused on earning revenue, with their students shouldering an excessive share of the cost.

The online poll, conducted in June by data analytics company YouGov on behalf of the left-leaning thinktank, found that 54 per cent of respondents considered “making a profit” to be a current primary purpose of universities – even though just 3 per cent thought profit should be the primary driver.

Thirty-four per cent thought “getting a high international ranking” was a preoccupation for universities, although just 7 per cent believed it should be.

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On the other side of the ledger, 80 per cent said “educating students” should be a key focus but just 44 per cent thought it was treated that way. Seventy-one per cent said “training people to enter the workforce” should be the main game but just 28 per cent believed it to be a primary driver of today’s universities.

“This contrast in the public mind between mission and performance runs in tandem with a loss of public trust,” Western Sydney University vice-chancellor George Williams notes in a booklet recently published by the institute.

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Williams told 51�Թ� that while he did not believe universities were primarily focused on profit, the findings underlined the importance of “making clear what we stand for. If you don’t…tell your stories in the right way, then it lends itself to misinformation,” he said.

The survey found that about two-thirds of Australians thought university graduates should be able to pay off their student loans within 10 years, and just 4 per cent thought annual fees of more than A$10,000 (£4,973) were appropriate.

The average time taken to repay graduate debt moved above 10 years in 2024-25, having increased by up to three months each year for the past two decades, according to the latest on the Higher Education Loan Programme (Help). And students in 42 per cent of educational fields are paying more than A$10,000 in fees this year, with roughly three-quarters of those fields charging almost A$17,000.

However, the million-odd domestic students in Australia’s 38 publicly funded universities paid much lower average fees of about A$7,230 last year, according to government Help grants and upfront student payments listed in institutional annual reports. And the average repayment duration is set to decline following the government’s move to waive 20 per cent of accrued student debt.

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Twenty-nine per cent of Australian adults think university education should be free, according to the survey.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com