Key findings from the 2025 Higher Education Staff Statistics

Section 1 – Full-time, fractional full-time (part-time) and casual staff

Total staff (based on full-time equivalence (FTE)) are at a decade high

• Overall total staff FTE (including full-time, fractional full-time, and casual^[1] staff) increased by 2.3 per cent, from 142,605.5 in 2024 to 145,882.4 in 2025.
• Full-time staff FTE increased by 2.6 per cent, from 104,285.8 in 2024 to 107,001.2 in 2025^[2].
• Fractional full-time staff FTE grew by 6.4 per cent, from 18,303.3 in 2024 to 19,479.1 in 2025.

^{Note: Values between 2016 – 2024 are the actual casual staff FTE, whereas the value for 2025 is an estimate provided by universities known as ‘estimated casuals’}

Section 2 – Full-time and fractional full-time staff data

This section contains data for full-time and fractional full-time staff employed at Public (Table A) and Private (Table B) universities as of 31 March 2025. This section does not include casual staff.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff by current duties term

• In 2025, the FTE of tenurial term staff was double that of limited (fixed) term staff FTE.
  • Tenurial term staff FTE increased by 7.3 per cent, from 80,500.8 in 2024 to 86,385.1 in 2025.
  • Limited term staff FTE decreased by 6.4 per cent, from 41,517.6 in 2024 to 38,866.7 in 2025.
• The reduction in limited‑term staffing was evident across contract lengths.
  • Staff on contracts up to 2 years decreased by 7.3 per cent from 2024 to 2025.
  • Those on contracts of 2 to 5 years declined by 6.0 per cent from 2024 to 2025.
  • Staff on contracts more than 5 years declined by 1.2 per cent from 2024 to 2025.
• Staff on limited term contracts accounted for 36.4 per cent of all academic staff FTE in 2025. Figure 2 shows this broken down by length of contract.
• Staff on limited term contracts accounted for 26.6 per cent of professional staff FTE in 2025.
• Teaching only and combined Teaching and research roles continued to be dominated by tenurial appointments, whereas Research only staff were more commonly employed on limited‑term contracts. Across all functional categories, the broader trend was consistent: an increase in tenurial staff and a decrease in limited‑term staff.

Industrial relations reforms

• Limitations on fixed-term contracts that commenced in December 2023 continue to shape workforce trends. These laws prohibit the use of fixed-term contracts beyond two years or two consecutive contracts, whichever is shorter, for workers in Australia.
• The Fair Work Act and Fair Work Regulations allow fixed term contracts to go beyond the limits where genuinely necessary and appropriate, such as where a modern award permits the use of fixed term contracts. The higher education sector had a temporary exception through the regulations, which expired on 31 October 2025. However, the Higher Education Industry – General - Staff Award and the Higher Education Industry - Academic Staff - Award set out the circumstances in which fixed term contracts can still be used under the modern awards exception.
• The 2025 data may reflect early adjustments in terms of the 6.4 per cent decline in limited term staff FTE and reductions across both short (≤2 years) and medium (2–5 years) contract lengths, suggesting institutions were preparing for the compliance deadline. As the data are a 31 March snapshot, the full impact will not be apparent until fixed term contracts that commenced prior to December 2023 have ended.
• Other recent workplace relations law changes influencing workforce composition include the introduction of the employee choice pathway that provides a clear path to permanency for casual employees who want it. Most employees had access to the employee choice pathway from 26 February 2025. Refer to Section 3 for data on casual staff.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff by function

• In 2025,
  • Research only staff accounted for 14.4 per cent of total staff FTE.
  • Teaching and research staff accounted for 22.8 per cent.
  • Teaching Only staff accounted for 6.0 per cent.

Together, these three categories represent 43.1 per cent of total FTE. Other staff made up the remaining 56.9 per cent.

• Research only roles have shown steady, modest growth over the past decade, with slight declines in 2021 and 2022 during the COVID pandemic (Figures 3a and 3b).
  • Research only FTE increased by 1.8 per cent from 17,867.1 in 2024 to 18,190.1 in 2025, and has increased by 24.4 per cent since 2016.
• Combined Teaching and research roles also experienced modest growth over the decade, with the exception of a 5.7 per cent decrease in 2021 due to the pandemic.
  • Teaching and research FTE increased by 1.6 per cent from 28,353.0 in 2024 to 28,796.3 in 2025, and has grown by 6.8% since 2016.
• Teaching only roles represent a small proportion (6.0 per cent) of full-time and fractional full-time staff FTE as this function is dominated by casual staff (see figure 9).
  • Teaching only FTE has seen the largest proportional increase over the decade, seemingly due to the conversion of these roles from casual to permanent. Teaching Only FTE has grown by 105.2 per cent from 2016 to 2025, although from a very small base.
• The Other category includes all staff not involved in teaching or research, the majority being professional staff who provide administrative, technical, and operational support.
  • In 2025, Other FTE increased by 2.8 per cent, from 69,980.6 in 2024 to 71,909.8 in 2025, and has increased by 21.4 per cent from 2016.
• Since 2016, the proportional share of Teaching only FTE has steadily increased, Research only share has remained relatively stable, and Teaching and research share has decreased slightly.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff by current duties classification

• In 2025, the FTE of academic staff increased by 4.0%, from 51,390.3 in 2024 to 53,459.0.
• The FTE of professional (non-academic) staff increased from 71,198.8 in 2024 to 73,021.3 in 2025, an increase of 2.6 per cent.

Observations within academic classifications

• The highest academic classification^[3] , Above senior lecturer, continued to increase, reaching a 10-year high of 16,542.4 staff FTE in 2025. This is an increase of 3.5 per cent from 2024, and a 10-year increase of 28.8 per cent since 2016.
• The academic classification Above senior lecturer made up 30.9 per cent of the total academic FTE in 2025 after surpassing Lecturer (level B) in 2022, which historically accounted for the largest proportion of academic staff.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff by academic classification and gender

• In 2025, the proportion of females holding academic roles reached parity at 50.2 per cent (26,854.2 FTE) with males, 49.3 per cent (26,377.2 FTE).
• Over the past decade (since 2016), the FTE of females in Senior lecturer (level C) or above academic roles has grown by 45.8 per cent. In 2025:
  • The FTE of females in Senior lecturer (level C) or above classifications increased by 5.0 per cent, from 12,282.8 in 2024 to 12,894.6 in 2025.
  • Females made up 41.3 per cent of Above senior lecturer FTE, up from 40.5 per cent in 2024.

First Nations staff (headcount)

First Nations identification data were incompletely reported in 2025 (consistent with previous years), with approximately 33 per cent of data collected missing this field. The following numbers should therefore be interpreted with caution as they may be an under-estimate of First Nations staff employed by the sector.

• The headcount of First Nations staff has more than doubled (113.2 per cent increase) over the last decade (since 2016) however this largely aligns with population growth over the decade. The growth in proportional share of First Nations staff is more modest, growing from 1.0 per cent of total staff in 2016 to 1.8 per cent of total staff in 2025. In 2025:

  • The headcount of First Nations staff increased from 2,424 in 2024 to 2,618 in 2025 (an increase of 8.0 per cent), and

  • First Nations staff made up 1.8 per cent of the total staff in 2025, the same as in 2024.

• The proportion of reported First Nations staff is still well under the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the wider Australian population (3.6 per cent of working age population^[4]).

Section 3 – Casual staff

This section contains the latest data on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) casual staff to 2025. Figures for 2025 are estimates provided by universities and are referred to as ‘estimated casual’. Historically, these estimates have closely aligned with actual figures. For example, in 2024 the estimated casual FTE was 20,679 compared with the actual figure of 20,016.4. Headcount data are not collected for casual staff.

Legislative context

Recent reforms under the Fair Work Act amended the definition of casual employment to allow parties to consider the practical reality of the employment relationship, not just what was in the employment contract when the employee started working. Higher education employers are not prevented from hiring casual employees; however, they are required to correctly classify their employees on engagement.

From February 2025, casuals who have a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work can notify their employer that they want their employment status to be permanent after six months of regular service, requiring formal employer consultation and written response.

Casual employees in the higher education sector cannot be engaged on a fixed term contract.

Trends in casual employment

• Following growth from 2016 to 2019 and a pandemic-related decline in 2020, actual casual staff FTE has remained relatively steady. In 2024, actual casual staff FTE increased by 2.1 per cent to 20,016.4, up from 19,602.6 in 2023.
• However, the proportion of total FTE accounted for by casual staff has continued to decline. In 2024, casual staff made up 14.0 per cent of total FTE, down from 14.4 per cent in 2023 and 17.2 per cent in 2015.
• Since 2021, the proportion of casual staff FTE has declined steadily while the proportion of full-time staff FTE has increased. This trend reflects recent industrial reforms, which have reduced reliance on casual employment and encouraged a shift toward permanent employment.

^{Note: Values between 2015–2024 are the actual casual staff FTE, whereas the value for 2025 is an estimate provided by universities known as ‘estimated casuals’.}

Casual staff by academic classification

• The 10-year trend by academic classification broadly mirrors the overall trend for all casual staff FTE, with FTE for both academic and professional casual staff increasing from 2015 to 2019 before a sharp decline in 2020 due to the pandemic and updated Fair Work legislation.

• This overall pattern is underpinned by marked differences in the reliance on casual staff across classifications. Lower academic classifications have substantially higher proportions of casual staff FTE than higher academic classifications. In 2024:
  • 55.0 per cent of Level A (Below lecturer) academic FTE were casual.
  • In contrast, 10.7 per cent of Level B (Lecturer), 1.8 per cent of Level C (Senior Lecturer) and 3.4 per cent of Above Senior Lecturer academic FTE were casual.
  • 8.7 per cent of professional staff FTE were casual.

Casual staff by function

• In 2024, the teaching only function remained heavily reliant on casual staff, with casual staff accounting for 64.0 per cent of total teaching only staff FTE. This proportion has decreased steadily each year from 2015 when 78.8 per cent of teaching only staff FTE were casual.
• Teaching only roles are commonly used to meet increasing student demand; however, these positions have been widely regarded as offering limited career progression because they exclude a paid research component.
• Many of these casual teaching only roles are filled by higher degree research students, whose research activities are funded through scholarships rather than their employment contracts.

Section 4 – Student to staff ratios

The ratios presented in this section are indicative only and should be viewed as a broad measure. They provide a high-level picture and do not account for differences between courses, disciplines, or individual providers.

• The ratio compares the equivalent full-time study load (EFTSL) of onshore students to the teaching staff FTE in Academic Organisational Units at Table A and B universities.
• In 2024, the student-to-staff ratio increased to 22.41 from 22.10 in 2023. This means there are about 22 students for every teaching staff member. While a higher ratio may indicate an increased workload for staff, many factors, such as variations across providers and courses, also influence this figure.
• The slightly higher ratios in 2020 and 2021 (22.42 and 23.19 respectively) were mainly due to a sharper decline in teaching staff FTE compared with onshore student load. The increase in 2024 was driven by a 6.6 per cent increase in student load, partly offset by a smaller 5.2 per cent increase in teaching staff FTE.

^{[1] Values between 2015–2024 are the actual casual staff FTE, whereas the value for 2025 is an estimate provided by universities known as ‘estimated casual’.}

^{[2] The number of full-time staff can be fractional due to full-time staff working in dual-sector institutions working across both Higher Education and VET. This collection reports the proportion of that staff member assigned to Higher Education as reported by the institution.}

^{[3] Above Senior Lecturer consists of: Vice chancellor, Deputy vice chancellor, Professor, Head of school, College fellow and other academic staff in the Level E salary classification Associate Professor, Principal lecturer and other academic staff in the Level D salary classification.}

^{[4] Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011-to-2031), Estimates and projections, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, ABS.}