Several Australian universities — including UNSW Sydney, the University of Sydney, La Trobe University and the University of Adelaide — have established collaborations with OpenAI to provide students and staff with access to advanced generative AI tools. The initiatives aim to integrate AI into teaching, research and industry-facing projects rather than only offering tool access.
What’s happening on campus
Students, educators and IT teams are applying AI in areas such as clinical simulations, robot-assisted teacher training and industry-linked student projects. Examples reported by the institutions include:
- creating simulated clinical cases and ECG interpretation exercises for paramedicine students,
- using Fletch, a social robot powered by OpenAI models hosted on Microsoft Azure, to let trainee teachers practice difficult conversations with parents,
- deploying Codex and ChatGPT tools for software engineering, agentic tasks and prototype development.
Student attitudes and survey findings
A Pureprofile survey commissioned by OpenAI polled 1,018 Australian university students aged 18 and over from 3–7 August 2026. Key findings include:
- 81% said they use AI several times a week; 33% use it multiple times a day,
- 28% said they had already built an AI agent or assistant to help manage study, work or personal life,
- 79% want their university to offer more opportunities to use advanced AI tools on real-world projects,
- 61% believe AI skills will be essential for success in their chosen careers,
- 65% believe AI skills will give Australian graduates an advantage in the global workforce,
- 76% expressed interest in starting a company or working for themselves, and 68% said AI would make it easier to start a business.
Institutional responses and programs
UNSW Sydney is expanding its collaboration with OpenAI by rolling out ChatGPT Edu to more than 80,000 students and staff in stages. The university plans to integrate generative AI foundations and Codex into courses and create opportunities such as hackathons and industry projects, while also linking students to internships and startup networks.
The University of Sydney will provide supported access to ChatGPT Edu along with training and guidance, with a staged rollout and access for all students planned for Semester 1, 2027 after a trial. It is also establishing a US$1 million AI Sustainability Research and Innovation Fund to support sustainability research.
La Trobe University already gives all 3,500 staff access to ChatGPT Edu and plans universal access for its roughly 45,000 students and staff in the first quarter of 2027. La Trobe is introducing Australia’s first Bachelor of AI Engineering (Honours) with its first cohort in 2027 and the country’s first AI MBA. Phil Laufenberg was appointed as La Trobe’s Pro Vice-Chancellor AI and Chief AI Officer to lead the university’s AI strategy.
The University of Adelaide, as a recently established institution formed by a complex merger, has the opportunity to embed secure, governed and scalable AI practices from the start. It is among the first higher education institutions in Australia to use OpenAI Daybreak Blue for authorised defensive security work including vulnerability discovery, secure code review, malware analysis, incident response and patch validation.
Governance, assessment and skills development
Universities are pairing tool access with governance frameworks and guidance that clarify when AI is acceptable and when students must demonstrate their own knowledge. Examples include:
- UNSW’s "Can, Can’t, Must" framework for assessment, which lets educators specify whether AI use is permitted, prohibited or required depending on learning goals,
- The University of Sydney’s responsible AI framework combined with supervised assessment approaches to ensure students can both show their own capabilities and demonstrate effective AI use in open assessments,
- La Trobe’s free Responsible and Safe AI learning modules provided through the library and plans to embed AI skills development into 50 priority first-year subjects for Semester 1, 2027, with tailored modules for Education, Law and Health.
La Trobe also reports dozens of live use cases, training for hundreds of participants and around 10% month-on-month growth in active users, while operating institutional safeguards and token-economics for safe access.
Why this matters
The survey and institutional initiatives indicate that students are already experimenting with AI and want more structured, equitable opportunities to develop practical skills. By broadening access to tools like ChatGPT Edu and Codex and pairing them with assessment rules, training and industry projects, Australian universities aim to prepare graduates who can use AI to learn, create and solve problems while exercising professional judgment in the workplace.
