Opinions

As AI reshapes how students learn, get assessed, and enter the workforce, one question is becoming more urgent: do students actually know what makes them uniquely human? In this episode, Annabel is joined by Timothy Hodges, Executive Director of the Clifton Strengths Institute at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and Anne Lingafelter, Principal at Gallup, to explore how strengths-based education builds the self-awareness, confidence, and human capability that no AI can replicate. Because in a world where everything can be generated, knowing what you do best — and leaning into it — might be your greatest advantage.

Most universities will tell you they listen to their students. But listening and actually responding are two very different things.
Jasmine Johnston moderates a panel that gets honest about that gap.
Ghazal Duggal, nursing student at USQ and student representative, on what it feels like to carry the concerns of a whole cohort.
Neave Nagel, President of NUS 2026 and UTS Students Association, on why two students on a university council isn\\\’t enough to represent 20,000 people.
Taryn Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie, on what 8,800 students said when asked not about their classes — but about their lives. Loneliness came up more than anyone expected.
And Michael Henderson from Monash on why student voice only means something if it actually changes decisions.
What is a university without its students? That question sits underneath everything in this episode.

Most universities will tell you they listen to their students. But listening and actually responding are two very different things.
Jasmine Johnston moderates a panel that gets honest about that gap.
Ghazal Duggal, nursing student at USQ and student representative, on what it feels like to carry the concerns of a whole cohort.
Neave Nagel, President of NUS 2026 and UTS Students Association, on why two students on a university council isn\’t enough to represent 20,000 people.
Taryn Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie, on what 8,800 students said when asked not about their classes — but about their lives. Loneliness came up more than anyone expected.
And Michael Henderson from Monash on why student voice only means something if it actually changes decisions.
What is a university without its students? That question sits underneath everything in this episode.

Most universities will tell you they listen to their students. But listening and actually responding are two very different things.
Jasmine Johnston moderates a panel that gets honest about that gap.
Ghazal Duggal, nursing student at USQ and student representative, on what it feels like to carry the concerns of a whole cohort.
Neave Nagel, President of NUS 2026 and UTS Students Association, on why two students on a university council isn\’t enough to represent 20,000 people.
Taryn Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie, on what 8,800 students said when asked not about their classes — but about their lives. Loneliness came up more than anyone expected.
And Michael Henderson from Monash on why student voice only means something if it actually changes decisions.
What is a university without its students? That question sits underneath everything in this episode.

Episode 9 of The AI Inflection Point — the last conversation on the student experience.
Most universities will tell you they listen to their students. But listening and actually responding are two very different things.
Jasmine Johnston moderates a panel that gets honest about that gap.
Ghazal Duggal, nursing student at USQ and student representative, on what it feels like to carry the concerns of a whole cohort.
Neave Nagel, President of NUS 2026 and UTS Students Association, on why two students on a university council isn’t enough to represent 20,000 people.
Taryn Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie, on what 8,800 students said when asked not about their classes — but about their lives. Loneliness came up more than anyone expected.
And Michael Henderson from Monash on why student voice only means something if it actually changes decisions.
What is a university without its students? That question sits underneath everything in this episode.

Could undergraduate research help strengthen Australia’s innovation pipeline?
In this Student Experience episode, Dr Sharon Saunders and Ben Roden-Cohen are joined by ACUR leaders Dr Lilia Mantai and Claudia Ghosn to explore how early research experiences build student confidence, capability and career pathways.
They discuss the value of undergraduate research, the barriers limiting participation, and why creating more opportunities for students to engage in authentic research matters for Australia’s future workforce.

Episode 8 of The AI Inflection Point – the second of two conversations on the student experience.
Brandman University went from 65% to 90% graduation rates in five years. Not by adding more services. Just by asking a simple question: what\’s actually getting in the way for students? The answer wasn\’t money or motivation. It was time.
Roger Lee brings together four people sitting with that same question every day. Tania Broadley from Australian Catholic University on moving from reactive to proactive student support. Sam Jacob from Coll Arts on why students once asked for a laundry before any academic resource. Alphia Possamai-Inesedy from Western Sydney University on why adding services to an old system isn\’t enough – the architecture itself needs to change. And Jennifer Lowe, student and co-chair of the National Students with Disabilities Leadership Collective, on why the real problem isn\’t equity students. It\’s institutions that were never designed to include everyone.

Episode 7 of The AI Inflection Point — the first of two conversations on connecting the dots between VET and higher education.
David Turvey, Executive Director of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, brings together four leaders who aren\’t talking about what could happen — they\’re already doing it.
Pascale Quester, Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University, on what it actually takes to run a dual sector institution — and why for some students it\’s still easier to go somewhere else. Michelle Lincoln, DVC of the University of Canberra, on five concrete areas of integration with CIT that are already underway. Margot McNeill, CEO of the Canberra Institute of Technology, on why rigid qualification design is still getting in the way. And Taryn Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie, on why parity of esteem — not policy — might be the real barrier.

At the HEDx Conference at UTS, Ben Roden-Cohen and Madison Piper talk with Pascale Quester, Rachel Wilson, Rachel Fitzgerald, Danny Liu, Tim Fawns and Katie Ford to ask what the future of higher education should look like — and who gets a say in shaping it.The conversation goes beyond technology to explore the value of student voice, the importance of diverse perspectives in decision-making, and why innovation in teaching needs both time and investment. The guests discuss critical thinking, human connection, the joy of learning and the need to rethink how graduate success is defined and measured.Ultimately, it raises a bigger question for the sector: what does it cost to create the kind of higher education experience we want — and what is the cost of not doing it?

Nothing about us, without us: Beyond the student panel.At this year’s HEDx Conference at UTS, students weren’t just attendees- they were embedded across the program, contributing to the hosting, and delivery of sessions. So what shifts when the student voice moves beyond the traditional panel format?In this episode, ⁠Student Voice Australasia⁠ speaks live with delegates on the ground- from vice chancellors to nursing students attending their very first conference- capturing a diverse range of perspectives on what it means to genuinely include students in spaces where decisions are made.Together, they explore the value students brought to the conversations and what changes when the student voice is not just heard, but meaningfully integrated into the discussions that matter most.