Higher education

Understand rights and responsibilities in the higher education sector.

On this page:

Understand the higher education industry

The higher education industry means universities and other educational institutions that:

  • provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses leading to accredited degrees
  • perform research to support and inform curriculum.

Employee entitlements in the higher education industry

There are rules about pay and conditions employees get at work. For example, employees are entitled to minimum wages and leave. These rules can be found in:

National Employment Standards

The NES are minimum entitlements and conditions that all employees in the national workplace relations system must receive. They include maximum weekly hours, leave and public holidays.

Casual employees only get some NES entitlements.

Find out more at National Employment Standards.

Awards

An award is a legal document that sets minimum pay rates and conditions for employees in a particular industry or occupation.

Most universities will have an enterprise agreement but if they don’t, one of the following awards may apply to them:

  • Higher Education Academic Staff Award, or
  • Higher Education General Staff Award.

Higher Education Academic Staff Award

This award covers academic staff including teaching and research staff in the higher education industry.

Find out who is and isn’t covered: Higher Education Academic Staff Award Summary.

Example: Checking pay rates under the Higher Education Academic Staff Award

 Robert has accepted a job as a casual academic tutoring undergraduate students at a university.

Before Robert starts, he wants to check the pay rates and any allowances that might apply. He’s been told by the university they don’t have an enterprise agreement in place, and the Higher Education Academic Staff Award applies to him.

Robert goes to our website and finds the free Pay and Conditions Tool. He follows the steps listed to find his award and enters ‘teaching academic staff’ as a search term. The tool returns a search result of the Higher Education Academic Staff Award.

Robert continues using the tool to check his casual pay rates, reading the different classification definitions to help determine what classification he sits in and may progress to.

Higher Education General Staff Award

This award covers non-teaching and research staff employed by a higher education institution, such as professional, technical, clerical and administrative workers, and trades and services staff.

The award also covers university and student unions, and their employees.

Find out who is and isn’t covered: Higher Education General Staff Award Summary.

Enterprise agreements

Almost all higher education institutions and their employees have enterprise agreements that apply to them.

An enterprise agreement is a legal document that has been approved by the Fair Work Commission (the Commission). It contains agreed terms of employment between one or more employers and a group of employees.

The Commission is the national workplace relations tribunal.

Tip: Finding an enterprise agreement

Some higher education organisations publish their enterprise agreements on their website. If you can’t find it there, you can speak to the employer’s HR department or the relevant union. You can also search the Commission’s website at Find an enterprise agreement.

Types of employment

Employees in the higher education industry can be employed on a full-time, part-time or casual basis.

An employee’s employment type will determine their hours of work and entitlements such as:

  • hourly rate
  • notice and final pay
  • leave entitlements.

Find out more about the different types of employees.

Example: Checking entitlements based on employment type

Paula starts a new job as a full-time administrative employee at a university. Her job includes maintaining student records, timetabling and data entry.

Paula was a casual employee at her previous job and she wants to better understand her annual leave entitlements now that she’s full-time.

The university has an enterprise agreement that covers general and professional staff. This means that Paula’s pay rate and other entitlements (like annual leave) will come from the enterprise agreement.

She visits the Commission's website at Find an enterprise agreement to find the agreement that applies to her.

After finding the enterprise agreement, Paula checks the relevant clauses to confirm her annual leave entitlements. Paula also checks the notice entitlements in the agreement and learns that as a permanent employee she is entitled to notice if her employment ends.

Full-time and part-time employment

Full-time employees are employed on an ongoing basis or on a fixed term contract. Their ordinary hours of work will be outlined in their award or enterprise agreement. They’re entitled to paid leave and notice of termination if their employment ends. Find out more at Full-time employees.

Part-time employees are also employed on an ongoing basis or on a fixed term contract, and generally work less than 38 hours per week. They have regular hours and get the same entitlements as full-time employees, usually on a pro-rata basis. Find out more at Part-time employees.

Tip: Check the agreement if one applies

It’s important to remember that many enterprise agreements that apply to universities provide for different hours of work for both academic and general staff. It’s important to check your agreement for the specific rules that apply.

Casual employment

Casual employees have no firm advance commitment to ongoing work when they start employment. They usually receive a casual loading or a specific casual pay rate according to an award, enterprise agreement or employment contract. Find out more at Casual employees.

Converting to full-time or part-time employment

Under the Fair Work Act casual employees who have been employed for at least 6 months (12 months if employed by a small business) have the option to change to full-time or part-time employment if they believe they no longer meet the requirements of the casual employee definition.

Eligible casuals can notify their employer in writing of their intention to change to permanent employment. Employers can only refuse the notice for certain reasons.

If an enterprise agreement applies it may have additional rules about converting to full-time or par-time employment.

For more information about casual conversion, visit Becoming a permanent employee.

Tip: An agreement may have additional pathways

Casual employees should also check their enterprise agreement to determine if it provides an additional process for conversion from casual employment to full-time or part-time employment.

Visa workers

Visa holders and migrant workers have the same workplace entitlements as all other employees in Australia, regardless of their migration status. There are extra protections for eligible visa holders who experience workplace exploitation.

Find out more at Visa holders and migrant workers.

Find help in your language

For information in your language, you can:

  • translate pages by choosing your language from the menu at the top of the page
  • find information and resources in our Language help section
  • call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call us on 13 13 94.

Fixed term contracts

Fixed term contract employees are employed on a contract for a set period. For example, a university semester or the duration of a particular project.

Employers must give every employee engaged on a new fixed term contract a copy of the Fixed Term Contract Information Statement (FTCIS) when they enter into the contract.

Find out more about Fixed term contract employees.

Tip: Check your enterprise agreement

Many enterprise agreements in the higher education industry set limits on when an employee can be employed on a fixed term contract. Employers and employees should check the terms of their applicable enterprise agreement for the specific rules that must be followed.

Casual and fixed term contracts

Casual academic or teaching staff employed by a higher education institution can’t be engaged on a fixed term contract if both of the following apply to them:

  • they’re covered by the Higher Education Academic Staff Award or Higher Education General Staff Award
  • they’re not a state public sector employee.

This rule doesn’t affect fixed term contracts that existed before 26 August 2024.

Example: Academic casual employee

In January 2025, Stephen is engaged as a casual economics tutor at a university. He’s not a state public sector employee and is covered by the Higher Education Academic Staff Award.

Stephen is offered a casual position for the following semester.

Since Stephen is a casual, he can’t be engaged on a semester basis, as this is a fixed term contract. He raises this with his boss, Angela, who agrees to keep him on as a casual with no advance commitment to ongoing work.

Stephen and Angela agree to discuss changing to permanent employment at the end of the semester.

Limitations on fixed term contracts

Under the Fair Work Act there are limitations on how fixed term contracts can be used. These include:

  • time limitations
  • renewal limitations
  • consecutive contract limitations.

Some of these limitations only apply to new fixed term contracts entered into on or after 6 December 2023. Find out more about these limitations at Limitations on fixed term contracts. 

Higher education institutions are exempt from these limitations for contracts entered into on or after 6 December 2023 and before 1 November 2025, if they’re covered by one of the following awards:

  • Higher Education Academic Staff Award
  • Higher Education General Staff Award.

This is the case even if an enterprise agreement applies to the institution. However, an institution’s enterprise agreement may still set limits on when an employee can be employed on a fixed term contract. In these circumstances, the limits set by the enterprise agreement will apply.

Example: Employee covered by an enterprise agreement in the higher education industry

In January 2025, Lloyd is offered a 3-year fixed term contract as a full-time research fellow at a university.

The terms and conditions of his employment come from the university’s enterprise agreement.

The Higher Education Academic Staff Award still covers him even though an agreement applies.

Lloyd can be offered a 3-year fixed term contract because the 2-year limitation doesn’t apply to the university for contracts entered into before 1 November 2025, and there are no other limitations in his enterprise agreement.

Hours of work

Awards, enterprise and other registered agreements set out the:

  • maximum ordinary hours that can be worked in a day, week, fortnight or month
  • minimum ordinary hours that can be worked in a day
  • times of the day that ordinary hours can be worked.

Ordinary hours can be different for full-time, part-time and casual employees.

An employee may be asked to work outside of the ordinary hours. If work is performed outside of an employee’s ordinary hours, the employee may be entitled to overtime.

However, note that under most higher education enterprise agreements, full-time and part-time academic staff do not have ordinary hours, and hours of work are not regulated on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Instead, most university enterprise agreements set a number of hours of work that can be allocated to a full-time or part-time academic on an annual basis.

You should check the terms of any applicable enterprise agreement to confirm the working arrangements for academic staff.

For more information about ordinary hours, visit Hours of work.

Tip: Download the Record My Hours app

It’s important for employees to have a record of the hours that they’ve worked. Our Record My Hours app makes it quick and easy to record and track work hours.

The app lets you:

  • add rosters to a calendar
  • receive notification reminders about upcoming shifts
  • take photos of information that belongs to an employee, like their own pay slips.

It's free and available in 18 languages.

Right to disconnect

Eligible employees have the right to refuse employer or third-party contact outside of working hours in some circumstances.

When determining if an employee’s refusal is unreasonable, certain factors will apply including the reason for the contact and how disruptive the contact is. An enterprise agreement may also include a specific right to disconnect or similar type of provision that limits employer contact with employees outside of working hours.

Learn more about the right to disconnect and access tips to manage these issues in the workplace: Right to disconnect.

Pay slips and record-keeping

Pay slips

Pay slips must be given to all employees within one working day of their pay day, even if an employee is on leave.

Pay slips can be given in electronic form or hard copy. Electronic pay slips must have the same information as paper pay slips.

For more information about what details should be included in a pay slip, visit Pay slips.

Record-keeping

Employers need to keep records of hours worked for all employees, including casual and part-time employees. Employers must keep time and wages records for 7 years.

Time and wages records can’t be:

  • changed unless the change is to correct an error
  • false or misleading.

Learn more at Record-keeping.

Workplace protections

The Fair Work Act contains protected rights for employees. These are called general protections and include protections:

  • relating to workplace rights
  • for workplace delegates
  • for industrial activities
  • against discrimination.

For more information about the protections and how to resolve general protections issues, visit Protections at work.

In addition to the general protections, employees also have the right to not be bullied or sexually harassed at work.

Bullying

Bullying in the workplace happens when:

  • a person or group of people repeatedly behave unreasonably towards another worker or group of workers
  • the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety.

For more information about protections from bullying and where to seek help for employees and employers, visit Bullying in the workplace.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is:

  • an unwelcome sexual advance or request for sexual favours to the person who is harassed
  • other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to the person who is harassed.

Learn more about the protection from sexual harassment in the workplace and how to make a complaint about or manage harassment at Sexual harassment in the workplace.

Resolving workplace issues

We encourage employers and employees to address workplace problems before they escalate into workplace disputes.

We have useful information about how to resolve common workplace problems including:

We have a checklist you can follow when raising your problem in the workplace. You can also refer to our guide to resolving workplace issues for employees or employers.

How we can help with workplace issues

As the Fair Work Ombudsman, we:

  • monitor compliance with the Fair Work Act
  • investigate and inquire about alleged breaches
  • take enforcement action when appropriate
  • are impartial.

We can help with workplace issues related to the Fair Work Act, including awards and agreements. For more information about when and how we can help, visit Get our help with your workplace issue.

Report an issue anonymously

You can remain anonymous and report a workplace for not following the law. We’ll need basic information about the business but we won’t contact you. To access the form, go to Send us an anonymous tip-off.

Other useful information

Tip: Subscribe to email updates

Make sure you subscribe to email updates to get notified when workplace laws change.

We send out:

  • alerts about pay and award changes, including for the higher education industry
  • important industry updates
  • our employer newsletter
  • media releases.

Webinars

We host free webinars to help employees and employers understand their rights and responsibilities. Find out more and register for our upcoming webinars.

Online learning centre

Our online learning centre contains free interactive courses for employees and employers. There are a range of topics including:

Fact sheets

Download our fact sheets which outline minimum rights, responsibilities and entitlements under Australian workplace laws, as well as information about us.

Tools and resources

Related information