Brett André - No end of a lesson: Australias unified national system of higher education

NO END
OF A
LESSON

Stuart Macintyre

Andr Brett

Gwilym Croucher

NO END
OF A
LESSON

Australias Unified
National System of
Higher Education

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS

An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited

Level 1, 715 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

www.mup.com.au

First published 2017

Text copyright Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andr Brett, 2017

Design and typography copyright Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2017

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Cover design by Mary Callahan

Typeset by Cannon Typesetting

Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Macintyre, Stuart, 1947 author.

No end of a lesson: Australias unified national system of higher education/Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher, Andr Brett.

9780522871906 (paperback)

9780522871913 (ebook)

Includes index.

Universities and collegesAustraliaHistory.

Education, HigherAustraliaHistory.

AustraliaHistoryStudy and teaching (Higher).

Croucher, Gwilym, author.

Brett, Andr, author.

This book has its origins in a symposium held late in 2012 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of John Dawkins Green Paper on higher education, which foreshadowed sweeping changes to Australias system of higher education. Gwilym Croucher was one of the organisers of that event and co-edited the book that resulted, The Dawkins Revolution 25 Years On. Stuart Macintyre contributed a chapter on how the revolution was accomplished, and Gwil joined Frank Larkins to assess its consequences for university research.

Following the symposium, Glyn Davis suggested a research project to look more closely at what was involved in the creation of Australias Unified National System of higher education. He provided support that enabled Hannah Forsyth to explore records. Then Gwil Croucher, Glyn Davis and Stuart Macintyre joined Stephen Garton and Julia Horne of the University of Sydney in an ARC Discovery Project (DP 14012874) on The origins and effects of the Unified National System of higher education in Australia. That enabled us to work with colleagues at Griffith University and the University of South Australia on studies of how those universities, as well as Melbourne and Sydney, responded to the Unified National System in four monographs, which were published in 2016 and 2017. Andr Brett became involved at this stage and contributed to the Melbourne study.

This national study was planned and discussed by the participants in those institutional ones: Terry Hogan at Griffith and Alison Mackinnon at the University of South Australia as well as us at Melbourne and Stephen Garton and Julia Horne at Sydney. Stuart Macintyre became the lead author, with Gwil Croucher providing drafts on finance and research, and Andr Brett on amalgamations. Alison Mackinnon contributed an appraisal of equity policy, and Tyson Retz provided assistance with preparation of the final manuscript. Gwil undertook the substantial tasks of project management, and we have been assisted by Toni Andon, Amanda Currie and Sally Hayes in the Vice-Chancellors office. We are grateful for the willingness of Universities Australia, the Department of Education and Training and the National Archives of Australia to make records available, and to the National Library of Australia. We made heavy demands on the holdings and interlibrary loan service of the University of Melbourne Library, and the University Archives.

We benefited from advice and suggestions from many of the participants in the events with which we deal. These include Peter Baldwin, Denise Bradley, Max Brennan, Mark Burford, Rodney Cavalier, Ian Chubb, Meredith Edwards, Frank Larkins, Barry McGaw, Ian Marshman, Lin Martin, Peter Noonan, David Penington, Deryck Schreuder, Geoff Sharrock and Roy Webb. The willingness of John Dawkins to participate in the 2012 symposium and a workshop late in 2016, to provide access to records and to subject himself to our observations is greatly appreciated.

Others have contributed advice and information. These include Rodney Cavalier, Hannah Forsyth, Stephen Knight, David Merrett, Deryck Schreuder, Carol Smith and Ross Williams. Any study of this kind draws on conversations and shared experiences with a wide range of colleagues over an extended period, and it would be both difficult and invidious to list all of them, let alone imply that they are responsible for the account presented here. Glyn Davis, Vin Massaro and Peter Noonan read draft chapters and made many valuable suggestions. The willingness of Simon Marginson to read a final draft at short notice is particularly appreciated.

Any evaluation of the changes that overtook Australian universities in the closing years of the twentieth century cannot but be influenced by the authors understanding of what the university is and what it stands for. Gwil Croucher and Andr Brett, who commenced their academic careers in the wake of the changes, brought a fresh curiosity about the old order to the investigation. Stuart Macintyre was a product of it, impatient with many of its characteristics and deeply grateful for its transformative possibilities. Of all those who upheld the academic mission, he was most deeply influenced by Davis McCaughey. Initially as a professor of theology, then the master of a university college, a deputy chancellor, state governor and widely admired public figure, Davis McCaughey spoke with wisdom and humility on the vital importance of a liberal education. The book is dedicated to him.