Australian Universities

Australian Universities: A conversation about public good highlights contemporary challenges facing Australian universities and offers new ideas for expanding public good.

More than 20 experts take up the debate about our public universities: who they are for; what their mission is (or should be); what strong higher education policy entails; and how to cultivate a robust and constructive relationship between government and Australian universities. Issues covered include:

– How to change a culture of exclusion to ensure all are welcome in universities, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
– How "educational disadvantage" in Australia often begins in school and is still the major barrier to full university participation.
– The reality that funding for research and major infrastructure requires significant additional funds from non-government sources (e.g. international student fees).
– A lack of policy recognition that international university students increase Australia’s social, cultural and economic capital.
– Pathways to making policy decisions wide-ranging, consultative, inclusive and inspired rather than politically partisan and ideologically driven.
– The impact of COVID-19 on universities, and particularly how the pandemic and governmental responses exacerbated extant and emerging issues.

Australian Universities rekindles a much-needed conversation about the vital role of public universities in our society, arguing for initiatives informed by the realities of university life and offering a way forward for government, communities, students and public universities – together – to advance public good.

Julia Horne is Professor of History at the University of Sydney. She works on the history and politics of Australian higher education, and her publications include Sydney: The Making of a Public University (Miegunyah Press, 2012, co-authored with Geoffrey Sherington) and Preserving the Past: The University of Sydney and the Unified National System of Higher Education 1987–96 (Melbourne University Publishing, 2017, co-authored with Stephen Garton).

Matthew A.M. Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Education and Sociology of Education at the University of Sydney. His research examines educational policies, pedagogical practices, and teacher and higher education. Most recently, Matthew is the co-editor of Examining Teach for All (Routledge, 2021) and the Handbook of Theory in Comparative and International Education (Bloomsbury, 2021).

Starting the conversation  Julia Horne and Matthew A.M. Thomas

Part 1: Reimagining Australian universities

1. The One Sydney, Many People story  Lisa Jackson Pulver with Peta Greenfield

2. One million livelihoods: granting social citizenship to Australian university students  Susan Goodwin and Ariadne Vromen

3. Why are Australian universities so large?  Glyn Davis

4. Reform for what purposes? Higher education enrolment in Taiwan and implications for Australia  Ren-Hao Xu

Part 2: Reconsidering students

5. When do we answer the call for cultural change? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and higher education  Jennifer Barrett, Lisa Jackson Pulver, Peta Greenfield and Michelle Dickson

6. Beyond “access” and “affordability”: young people talk about university participation  Samantha McMahon and Valerie Harwood

7. International students in Australia since the early 1900s  Julia Horne

8. International students: during, before and after  Gaby Ramia

Part 3: Rethinking structures

9. Who should pay for university? Eight logics of higher education funding in Australia  Gareth Bryant

10. Fees and HECS and the politics of access to university  Gwilym Croucher

11. The Job-ready Graduates Package and what it means for students  Tim Payne

12. Twenty years of research in Australia’s universities and implications for the future  Alan Pettigrew

Part 4: Revisiting the public good

13. Let us have more scientists, and more humanists  Michael A. Goodman

14. Building a university culture fit for purpose  Tim Soutphommasane and Stephanie Wood

15. Teaching and learning at Australian universities in uncertain times  Matthew A.M. Thomas, John Iromea, Remy Low, Victoria Rawlings, and Susan Banki

16. Universities, their publics, and climate change  Tamson Pietsch

Continuing the conversation  Julia Horne and Matthew A.M. Thomas

Format: paperback
Size: 210 × 148 × 20 mm
282 pages
tables
Copyright: © 2022
ISBN: 9781743328705
Publication: 01 Dec 2022
Series: Public and Social Policy Series