UQ vice chancellor Peter Høj sent an email to staff on Tuesday, to inform them of the UQ Senate's endorsement of continuing discussions with the Ramsay Centre with a view to a formal memorandum of understanding, "providing it is consistent with the university’s policies of autonomy over curriculum, academic appointments, academic freedom and governance arrangements".

"The in-depth discussion at the meeting considered the content provided in our initial expression of interest, and a summary of the feedback we received from staff and students during the engagement period, along with the key points discussed at the academic board meeting earlier this month," Professor Høj said in the email.

UQ academics had expressed concerns if the Ramsay Centre major was given the green light.

Last month, it was revealed the prestigious Group of Eight institution had taken a step forward in negotiations with the Ramsay Centre, after the Brisbane university said it was "open to the offer" in September.

In a union meeting this month, academics voted to oppose the Ramsay Centre.

Two resolutions were passed, which included a call for UQ management to "withdraw the current expression of interest in establishing a partnership with the Ramsay Centre".

Staff resolved that "academic freedom, university autonomy and transparency must be non-negotiable preconditions of any relationship with external partners", and rejected the framing of the program as an "explicitly elitist venture, which will disproportionately confer benefits on a small and privileged group of students".

They also voted to reject the proposal that a Ramsay Centre representative might sit on selection committees for UQ staff as a "violation of university independence and autonomy".

Both resolutions passed overwhelmingly.

In an email to all humanities staff earlier this month, Humanities and Social Sciences executive dean Heather Zwicker reported a "remarkable convergence of concerns" following meetings with more than 250 faculty staff.

Staff concerns included academic freedom, institutional autonomy, a potential clash with the Reconciliation Action Plan, the fact that former prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard were on the Ramsay Centre board and reputational risk.

"On the one hand, will the university be seen to support a ring-wing ideological position by entering into partnership with the Ramsay Centre?" she wrote.

"On the other hand, if the partnership falls over, will UQ be seen as catering to the Left?"

However, Professor Zwicker said: "If we can get there with this gift, it will be transformational."

On Tuesday, Professor Høj acknowledged those concerns.

"Many of the concerns you raised reflect the threshold issues I too identified with the Ramsay Centre, when I first met with a senior executive to explore a possible partnership last year," he wrote to staff.

"I was as clear then as I am today that there are threshold issues for the university which are non-negotiable, and that this needed to be understood before we could proceed.

"I felt there was a sound basis to progress our engagement.

"Over the past few weeks, we have already seen some positive steps taken with respect to the kinds of questions you have been asking. For example, last week the Ramsay Centre confirmed that they will include a commitment to academic freedom in future agreements.''

Associate Professor Andrew Bonnell, also branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union at the university, said the Ramsay Centre was opposed on two main grounds.

"One was the general principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, which we don't see as being adequately guaranteed in the currently available documentation," he said.

"And there was also a lot of concern from members that the Ramsay Centre has an explicit political ideological motivation which is at odds with the ideas of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and diversity and inclusion.

"That advocates of the Ramsay Centre have been pushing it in terms of the idea that the program should be not just about Western civilisation, but for it."

Professor Bonnell said staff were also concerned about a consultation period of less than four weeks over the summer break, which closed on February 14.

In May 2018, Mr Abbott wrote in conservative magazine Quadrant that the course would be "not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it".

Mr Abbott also wrote the course would have "a management committee including the Ramsay (chief executive) and also its academic director will make staffing and curriculum decisions".

The chief executive of the Ramsay Centre later said Mr Abbott made mistaken and mistimed comments about the centre's Western civilisation degree that "might have frightened a lot of people".

Negotiations for a Western civilisation program at the Australian National University broke down in 2018 after its vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt, said there were not enough assurances given on academic freedom.