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The Forum > Article Comments > What ails Australia's universities? > Comments

What ails Australia's universities? : Comments

By Marko Beljac, published 12/8/2009

We should seek to create autonomous universities free of control from outside institutions.

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Marco, your following statement is a big call.

"Neoliberal reforms and democracy do not go hand in hand. No major neoliberal reform in Australia has been supported by the public; tax reform was routinely rejected, labour market deregulation has been rejected, privatisation does not command public support and so on".

With 80% of Aust's votign for Labor or the Coalition with their primary votes, I have not observed a mad rush to the Greens, Democrats, socilaists or anyone else.

As for your following statment,

"Free market discipline is a convenient way of bringing the university under control. A core feature of the market, as the philosopher Adam Swift has pointed out, is the satisfaction of the preferences of others. In a class based society that means the preferences of the rich who overwhelmingly have the greater means to satisfy preferences".

I notice it has not stopped you, myself or most other humanities graduates offering much criticism of the status quo.

Sure you have some valid points, but let us not forget that it is rich democratic societies (aided by wealth creation) that has allowed us to spin our bs.
Posted by Chris Lewis, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 8:42:26 AM
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Golly Gosh, what a lot of words to explain that Glyn Davis is repositioning Melbourne's oldest TAFE to extract more funds from its post graduate students who will happily pay to become corporate high flyers, high paid IT specialists, doctors and lawyers. Of course Melbourne is blowing away The Arts because those jobs are poorly paid.

We can't have mass higher education and full fee paying courses. Why would vast numbers study Arts, marketing, IT, law, nursing, science or engineering if they had to pay full fees?
Posted by billie, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 9:16:44 AM
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According to http://www.unijobs.com.au there are over 800 jobs advertised by Universities from all over Australia each month and the supply is increasing. With the demand increasing for University Jobs in the highest areas being in Research, Lecturers and Tutors, Finance and Grants and Scholarships. The supply of Uni jobs has been the highest in Research, Administration, Lecturers and Tutors, Finance and Professors.
Posted by Mrbytes, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 11:26:01 AM
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Alas Marko, Melb arts was in trouble before Davis came along.

You sort of got it right but made a few big claims along the way re the Pentagon funding US unis. I went to Carnegie Mellon and it almost killed me. The workload dwarfes Aussie unis - but that's another matter.

Melb Uni did the right thing for Melb Uni. Specialising in the post grad degrees. They know volume isn't the way to go. Clever but they have the brand strenght to do it.

Swine flu, GFC and Indian students is a triple whammy. There will be more sackings. It's curious that if the media cared as much about the welfare of unis as of international students, unis and TAFEs would be all over the front page. They are running down.
Posted by Cheryl, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 1:04:09 PM
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The education system purchases almost nothing from Australian companies and imports almost everything.

This simply teaches students to believe that Australian products are inferior.

Universities are much a part of this system of importation, and with so many feminists now employed in Australian universities, these universities have also become a main center for discrimination, bigotry and gender prejudice.

More universities should be shut down, and the money saved directed into other areas of education.
Posted by vanna, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 3:39:03 PM
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Vanna ... please excuse the vernacular, that's pure unadulterated bullsh!t.
Posted by Q&A, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 8:54:01 PM
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