For the benefit of Members

Providing value and certainty

"Unimutual are a member focused organisation and the University is treated more like a business partner rather than a customer with a profit motive at the forefront of the relationship. This is in stark contrast to the commercial insurance company industry.”

Paul Hopkins
Insurance Manager
Charles Sturt University

Just as higher education has been at the forefront of technological, medical and social advancements, Unimutual has sought to offer similar leadership to its Members to navigate an uncertain environment.

Owned and controlled by Members for the sole benefit and interest of the membership, Unimutual exists to deliver strategic and economic value to the higher education sector by supporting teaching and research through competitive pricing and unrivalled breadth of cover for essential property and liability protection. Unlike commercial insurance companies, our only goal is to provide value to our Members, not the pursuit of profit.

What the past means for the future

Taking control of your destiny

Taking control of yourdestiny
Over two decades ago, commercial insurers had abandoned cover they could not economically provide – cover that was critical to universities and their unique set of risks. As a result, in 1989, the higher education sector decided to exercise control over its own destiny to protect itself from uncertainty in a challenging market where coverage had become expensive and difficult to obtain.

Unimutual was established to provide this cover for Australian universities, higher education providers and associated entities against a variety of specific risks, thereby giving the sector a more comprehensive and efficient alternative to traditional commercial insurance.

Born from a desire among its Members to have greater control over the particular costs and risks faced by higher education institutions, Unimutual today continues to provide a combination of comprehensive cover, value added advice and deep education sector knowledge that our Members tell us they find invaluable. This approach is as important today as it was in 1989.

Regulated and well supported

Safe hands

Unimutual is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as a financial services provider of miscellaneous mutual risk products and holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. A condition of the licence is that the mutual must have adjusted assets that are greater than its adjusted liabilities at all times.



Unimutual is audited by Deloitte Australia.

What is a mutual and why it works

A shared interest

In simplest terms, a mutual is owned and run by its members. It exists for the benefit of members who share a common interest. Unlike corporations whose shareholders expect dividends, mutuals use financial profits to reinvest in offers such as competitive pricing and/ or new products and services that cannot be found elsewhere in the market.

In the case of Unimutual, Members are all from the high education and research institutions enabling Unimutual to tailor products and services unique to the sector and to use profits to ensure its protection costs are competitive.

Unimutual's strategy statements

Our Purpose

To serve our members through risk protection and prevention

Our Vision

To be the leader in the Higher Education and Research sectors for specialist risk advice and solutions

Our Operating Principles

Members first – we put members' interests as our priority
Agility – we're constantly challenging the status quo and embracing innovation
Precision – we consistently excel in everything we do

Our tagline

Partners in specialist risk protection
Taking control of yourdestiny