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

The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of the country's largest research-intensive universities, based in Brisbane with additional campuses and research sites. 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. Our corpus holds no current UQ enterprise agreement, so the award tables below are what should be on the payslip; casual academic pay across the university sector has been the subject of Fair Work Ombudsman action, and UQ itself entered an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman in September 2026.

The federal awards relevant to University of Queensland (UQ) 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 Queensland declared 13,571 employees — 35.5% casual and 58.6% 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 Queensland (UQ) agreements in our corpus (2 in total):

• University of Queensland (UQU) Enterprise Agreement 2023-2027 — approved November 2023, nominal expiry 30 June 2027.
• The University of Queensland Enterprise Agreement 2021-2026 — approved January 2024, nominal expiry 13 February 2026.

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 Queensland (UQ) 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.