University of Adelaide Pay Rates 2026: Professional & Academic Staff Pay

The University of Adelaide is one of South Australia's research-intensive universities, based in Adelaide with additional campuses and a pathway college preparing students for university study. Its workforce spans academics across every faculty and a large professional staff cohort supporting teaching, research and campus operations.

Professional staff sit on the Higher Education Industry—General Staff—Award 2020, and academic staff — including casual sessional teaching — sit on the Higher Education Industry—Academic Staff—Award 2020. The University of Adelaide's enterprise agreements, covering the university and its pathway college teachers (listed below), set pay above these award floors; the tables here are the minimum underneath.

The federal awards relevant to University of Adelaide roles:

• Higher Education Industry—General Staff—Award 2020 (MA000007)
• Higher Education Industry—Academic Staff—Award 2020 (MA000006)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, The University Of Adelaide declared 4,739 employees — 11% casual and 57.4% women. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

Professional (general) staff sit on the Higher Education Industry—General Staff—Award 2020 (MA000007). The first pay point of each HEW level is:

Casual professional staff add the 25% loading. University enterprise agreements set their own HEW scales above these figures.

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

Academic staff sit on the Higher Education Industry—Academic Staff—Award 2020 (MA000006). Step 1 of each level:

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

Casual academics are paid piece rates for each activity under the award. The most common:

The associated-work hours built into each rate are the crux of the sector's underpayment cases — if you are paid for the delivery hour only, or marking is capped below the time it takes, the award is not being met.

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current University of Adelaide agreements in our corpus (2 in total):

• University of Adelaide College Teachers Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved March 2023, nominal expiry 27 March 2026.
• University of Adelaide Enterprise Agreement 2023 - 2025 — approved July 2023, nominal expiry 30 June 2025.

We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.

The patterns worth checking on a University of Adelaide payslip:

• Casual academic piece rates that don't cover the work — paid for the delivery hour only, or marking capped below the time it takes.
• Wrong HEW level for the duties actually performed.
• Rolling fixed-term contracts where the work is ongoing.
• Increments and step progression missed after contract changes.

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.