What now? What next? Insights into Australia's tertiary education sector

Claire Field

Claire Field talks with leaders and experts from within the Australian tertiary education sector and across the global ed-tech sector

  • 39 minutes 30 seconds
    Building a legacy in the private tertiary sector - insights from Analytics Institute of Australia

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by three senior leaders at the Analytics Institute of Australia (Pankaj Goel, Sarthak Goel and Rolf Baum) to learn about what it's like leading an international private higher education provider as the sector goes through a number of policy changes, as well as educating and preparing students for work in an AI-era.

    During the interview - Sarthak references TEQSA's new Revised Academic Integrity Toolkit: https://www.teqsa.gov.au/about-us/news-and-events/latest-news/revised-academic-integrity-toolkit-now-available

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    26 March 2026, 1:00 am
  • 39 minutes 28 seconds
    CIT's Dr Margot McNeill on the changes happening in VET

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by the CEO of Canberra Institute of Technology, Dr Margot McNeill, to discuss some of the key reforms in VET including:

    • TAFE Centres of Excellence
    • National Qualifications Reform
    • the National TAFE Network 
    • women in leadership, and
    • why we need to shift from RPL to "recognition of prior experience".

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    26 February 2026, 3:00 am
  • 22 minutes 2 seconds
    Prof. Michael Wesley's reflections on Australian higher education

    In this episode Claire is joined by Prof. Michael Wesley, Deputy Vice Chancellor Global, Culture and Engagement at the University of Melbourne to hear his views on what's happening in Australian higher education from both a domestic and international perspective.

    In her introduction to the episode Claire briefly reflects on the recent Senate Committee hearing into the legislation to introduce the new Australian Tertiary Education Commission. If you're interested you can view a full replay of the hearing on the Senate's You Tube channel.

    And if you're interested in the University of Melbourne's submission on the ATEC legislation, or any of the other submissions, you can find them on the Senate website.

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    15 February 2026, 6:00 pm
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    Claire unpacks the tertiary education sector's response to the ATEC Bill

    In this episode of the podcast Claire unpacks all of the submissions to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee's inquiry into the "Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and a related bill".

    If you want to read any of the submissions you'll find them on the Senate website: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ATEC2025/Submissions  

    Also in this podcast episode Claire shares a few details (much more to come) on two big new initiatives she'll be launching this year - one focussed on VET data and the other on AI.

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    27 January 2026, 6:00 pm
  • 52 minutes 36 seconds
    AI is changing everything - Claire shares lessons from global leaders

    In this episode of the podcast Claire shares insights from three recent events she's attended:

    1. GITEX Global where she learned about: the Canadian government's approach to "sovereignty not solitude" in an era of AI, and Canada's LLM (Cohere), the new Open University of Kenya, Estonia's successful digital economy, the UAE's LLM (Falcon), the Abu Dhabi government's TAMM app, G42's Global AI Institute with Microsoft, Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute, and the UAE's Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI (and here's the IMF's ratings of countries by GDP per capita)
    2. National Summit on AI and the Future of Australian Education - if you're not familiar with the Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools it's making a big difference in the schools sector
    3. Digital Education Council's Global Summit - the chart that DEC CEO Alessandro Di Lullo shared "the scariest chart in the world" from Derek Thompson writer at The Atlantic (using data from the US Federal Reserve), DEC's Ten Dimension AI Readiness Framework. Danny Bielik spoke with Claire in Episode 117 of the podcast and Prof. Himanshu Rai joined Claire in Episode 122 

    And details of The Economist's upcoming AI Innovation Asia summit.

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    11 November 2025, 3:00 pm
  • 35 minutes 59 seconds
    "Representation is highly important but not sufficient" - new views on university governance from ANU academics

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Distinguished Prof. Keith Dowding and Dr Marija Taflaga from the Australian National University - with some answers to the problems of university governance.

    In the episode you'll here references to:

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    13 October 2025, 6:00 am
  • 31 minutes 24 seconds
    A new "AI team teacher" at TAFE NSW - Bala Subra explains

    In this episode, Claire is joined by by Bala Subra, TAFE NSW IT Program Development and Management to discuss their use of a new AI tool, Maya, as a team teacher supporting student learning.

    In the episode Claire refers to the following resources which listeners working in the VET sector will find particularly useful if you haven't come across them before:

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    6 October 2025, 3:00 pm
  • 28 minutes
    Shae McGregor and TAFE Gippsland "creating opportunities... for education to change lives"

    In this episode Claire is joined by Shae McGregor, Pathways Course Transitions Manager at TAFE Gippsland to discuss some phenomenal work they are doing to help learners experiencing intersectional disadvantage to make profound changes to their lives.

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    24 September 2025, 9:00 am
  • 33 minutes 27 seconds
    Prof. Chris Moran - all the ways UNE makes a difference to students (incl. with a new AI tool)

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by the Vice Chancellor of the University of New England, Prof. Chris Moran to discuss the work UNE is doing to engage and support students from less privileged backgrounds to consider university study and find a place at UNE despite many not having an ATAR.

    During the conversation Claire referred to this new report from Jobs and Skills Australia: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/research/studies/gender-economic-equality-study#paper2educationand

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    17 September 2025, 8:00 am
  • 38 minutes 41 seconds
    Encouraging great VET educators - and is it "make or break for the TAE"?

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Dr Tabatha Griffin from the NCVER and Tamie Cousins and Elcin Gul from Melbourne Polytechnic to discuss the next generation of VET educators and the support they need to be great educators.

    Recent research Dr Griffin has undertaken with her colleagues at the NCVER on the VET workforce, teaching, and learning includes:

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    7 September 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 30 minutes 10 seconds
    Dr Julia Anaf explains the impact on staff health of the way universities operate (and so much more)

    In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Dr Julia Anaf from Stretton Health Equity, at the University of Adelaide to discuss the Stretton Health Equity submission to the Senate inquiry into university governance and why university leaders need to be paying much more attention to the psychosocial safety of their staff - particularly as they restructure.

    During the podcast Dr Anaf discusses:

    The submission to the Senate inquiry from the University of South Australia's Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory (submission 47) includes data on the research that Dr Anaf discusses - about the relatively poor psychosocial safety levels in Australian universities relative to other Australian workplaces.

    Contact Claire:


    The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

    24 August 2025, 4:00 pm
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