Government funding cuts have provided a new impetus to Australian universities to re-examine their value proposition and corporate focus. While the sector has gone through waves of change in recent times, institutions are now scrambling for their place in a highly competitive market. Institutions explore new revenue opportunities and digital…

The pressure to publish or perish or, more recently, to be visible or vanish, marginalises a culture of critical reading and reflection that has historically been the province of book reviews. Today, book reviews are roundly rejected by academic bureaucrats as unimportant, easy to write and hence, easy to get published, mere summaries, uncritical…

Academics today face an array of challenges to their enthusiasm, including teaching students from diverse backgrounds with wavering levels of engagement with their studies. Furthermore, reform to the tertiary education sector has seen the corporatisation of universities with management increasingly measuring academic outcomes in respect of both…

The author states that in earlier pieces (O'Neill, 2002, 2010, 2012), he chewed on and tried to digest newspaper advertisements made by universities. Byproducts did not come out smelling like roses: universities are scarcely able to present themselves without boasting, crass displays of salesmanship, and brazen invocations of virtue. This…

Australian policy relating to knowledge exchange has never been well articulated, notwithstanding that the nexus between knowledge, engagement and higher education in Australia has been on the national agenda for several decades (Grattan Institute, 2013). In universities, this policy deficit is reflected in a lack of project management and…

Snobbery in academia can involve academics, general staff, students and members of the public, and can be based on degrees, disciplines, cliques and other categories. Though snobbery is seldom treated as a significant issue, it can have damaging effects on morale, research and public image. Strategies against snobbery include avoidance, private…

Mental health problems in young Australians continue to be a major public health issue. Studying at university can generate social pressures particularly for youth, which have been associated with the onset of a mental illness or a worsening of an existing condition. Many universities provide health services to support students with health…

Drawing on various secondary sources and direct encounters with casual academic staff, this article examines the emergent context and lived experiences of casualisation in Australian universities, with specific reference to on-going developments in teaching arrangements across the sector. Particular attention is paid to the challenges associated…

The advent of a new national regulatory and quality assurance regime in Australia, through the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), presents additional requirements to university governing bodies, for compliance with standards and for risk management. This paper discusses TEQSA's approach and potential vulnerabilities for…

From 2015, Australian universities will be required to demonstrate that their programmes explicitly teach and assess achievement of, knowledge and skills, and the application of both as specified by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Over the last twenty years, the sector has applied significant effort and resources to embedding the…

This paper provides an overview of recent trends in the provision of general infrastructure funding by the Commonwealth for Australian universities (Table A providers) over the period 2004 to 2011. It specifically examines general infrastructure development and excludes funding for research infrastructure through the Australian Research Council or…

The concept of academic rights is greatly misunderstood, even among some university academics. This paper provides a summary of the historical development of the academic rights from the Roman to the modern era. Many documents and declarations advocating academic rights have been produced, and this paper presents a discussion of the recent…

Academics can engage in and contribute to activism in various ways. Some are involved in action groups on issues such as climate change and treatment of asylum seekers. Some undertake research and speak to the media about indigenous, environmental, gender and other issues. Others campaign on matters of concern within universities, including…

Projected student enrolment growth places the Australian higher education system on the precipice of significant change, leading to philosophical debates about how the system should respond. One suggested policy change is that resources be redirected from non-research intensive regional universities to other providers. The Liberal Party is the…

Universities live in interesting times. For instance, government policies in Australia are allowing for more deregulation of the student market while overseas universities are entering the Australian domestic market. In an environment of increasing uncertainty, sound strategic planning is important. Processes including benchmarking, environmental…