Maskell said on Tuesday night,in his fifth annual vice chancellor’s address,that he had been the beneficiary of a “free” education.

“It is unequivocally true,coming from my background,that if I had been required to take out a loan,I would not have gone to university,” he said.

“I suspect that the prospective burden of significant debt is still a big factor in people choosing not to go to university.”

Maskell said the normalisation of university fees had entrenched the idea that higher education was only of private benefit to individuals,not an advantage to society.

“This is a gravely mistaken emphasis,I would argue.”

He said the positive revenue implications from having more university-educated people in the country would “easily outweigh” any burden to public finances,with increased earnings naturally resulting in increased taxation.

“The essential point here is that the year-on-year public revenue at stake in funding student learning is not the main issue,” he said. “This is fundamentally about the kind of population that we want to shape for the future in this country.

“Of course,I am not arguing that there is no private benefit in education. But from a nation’s point of view,the private benefit is not,and should not,be the whole story that determines our policy choices governing student fees.”

Maskell also used his address to call for greater transparency around the cost of research and reiterated the university’s support for a Yes vote in the Voice referendum.

He said the University of Melbourne had emerged from the pandemic a stronger,more focused institution,resetting its approach in a number of important areas,including in responding to sexual harassment and the over-casualisation of its workforce.

The universities accord is the first broad review of Australia’s higher education system since 2008. It is due to report in December.

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