Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy will renew calls for funding for the tertiary sector to be bolstered during a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
While he will say universities have been urged to have one million more domestic students graduate by 2050, institutions have not been given support to meet the outcomes.
"We're told this target could add as much as $240 billion to the economy by 2050," Mr Sheehy will say in the speech.
"Every Australian household will be $20,000 better off because of a fully skilled workforce by 2050. Every Australian can get around that. It's a dividend worthy of bipartisan political support.
"Australia's universities need to be growing to skill more Australians, not potentially contracting."
Ahead of the upcoming federal election, Universities Australia has called for a federal education investment fund, which was abolished in 2019.
Mr Sheehy will say the fund would help universities to expand and cater to future students.
"If getting our universities match fit isn't a first-order national priority, how are we going to deliver all of our other national priorities?" Mr Sheehy will say.
"Promises on the campaign trail only get us so far....it's delivery that counts.
"We can't build roads and homes without engineers, transition to a clean energy future without scientists or keep Australians healthy without trained health professionals."
The National Press Club address comes after Education Minister Jason Clare used a speech to university officials to announce a tertiary education commission to oversee reform in the sector.
The commission was a recommendation of the university accords, a wide-ranging document on changes to higher education.
The commission will be set up in an interim basis from July, with the aim for it to be fully operational by early 2026.
Mr Clare said the commission would help to drive long-lasting change.
"(The commission will) help break down the barriers between TAFE and university, help implement the funding model and provide advice on pricing and a lot more," he said in the speech on Tuesday night.
The education minister said the funding model of universities needed to be more equitable.
"We are fixing the funding of public schools so they are fully funded based in need, and we need to apply the same model to universities," he said.
"The evidence tells us that students in the bush and regions, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, are less likely to finish their uni degree than other students. This is designed to fix that."
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