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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Vanna ... please excuse the vernacular, that's pure unadulterated bullsh!t.

Q&A
I’ve noticed that the author also used a vernacular when describing a build (i.e “s…th….e).

All the years of studying arts and humanities has done much for the author’s vocabulary.

Please prove me wrong that Australian schools and universities do not import just about everything they purchase (which only makes students believe that Australian products are inferior).

The universities are now saturated with feminists, and please nominate just one such feminist who has ever said a single positive word regards the male gender.

Not only do these universities import just about everything they use, many of their staff also go about their daily task of denigrating 50% of the Australian population.

Time to start shutting universities down, which appears to be what governments are doing.

cheryl, there is absolutely nothing "clever" about the melbourne model. it is the same crap, done slower, a parody of the quality liberal arts programs in america.

Bushbasher is another one using the vernacular. A great deal of good arts and humanities courses do when the graduates talk in terms of: -
"s...th....e"
"b..ls..t"
"c..p"

The author wants universities to be free of outside institutions (ie. no accountability). Shortly universities won't even be using a dictionary.

Start shutting Australian universities down.

From my personal experience at university, I would have to agree with Vanna.

Honest debate and intellectual freedom were strangled to death in Australian universities long ago. The prevailing academic culture is that deemed acceptable by left-wing professors and student activists. Any challenge to that culture is punished by marking the uppity student down, as well as ad hominem attacks along the lines of "racist", "ethnocentrist" and, my personal favourites, "misguided" and "uninformed". Note how they hijack the intellectual high ground by pretending to be privy to facts that we stupid commoners are not. Makes them look like they know what they're talking about!

Those of us who disagreed with the numerous offensive stances taken by our professors (and there were many of us) learnt to simply keep our heads down and just get through the course. There is no arguing with people who can and do fail you on the grounds of personal differences - though they present it as something else.

Universities are simply hotbeds of extremist ideologies, trendily masquerading as compassionate and humanistic activism. In a way, they are campaigning for noble goals: Equality for all cultures (except Western culture); equality of all peoples (except whites); understanding and tolerance (whites must understand and tolerate, no matter what); and honest appraisals of history (everything was the white man's fault).

The real success of equality will be found in my fellow students who were female and/or of non-white background, who also took umbrage with the extremist views forced down our throats. Don't dismiss all university students as dumb - we are a microcosm of society. Small, loud minority, and a quieter, more commonsense majority.

benny tea

I agree with your general view, but there are some humnanities academics that are more balanced, albeit they may be a quiet minority.

Challenge for those more driven to offer a balanced view of the evidence is to get published to refute the status quo.

Vanna

<< 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. >>

What actually has your comment got to do with the article?

You are sounding like an aggrieved supplier of goods/services to universities that has a race/gender issue and who just wants to hijack the article for your own personal agenda.

Ok, you have a problem ... start a general discussion thread and tell us about it.

Close down universities? What next ... close down TAFE, put the shutters up on the private/public school system, or black-list the ABC Learning Centres because they don't use locally resourced stuff.

As much as I hate the concept of globalisation and neo-con "free market" economics - we're stuck with it.

It was the Howard government who started pulling resources and finance out of universities, forcing them to chase funds where and when they could, and often forcing them to acquire goods/services at the cheapest cost.

That is no excuse to shut them down.

My background is in science and engineering, not humanities/arts. Whilst I think not enough effort is being made to attract students/staff/resources to the fundamental disciplines, I understand why the 'softer' options are preferred - survival.

benny tea - also OT.

So, are you an "uppity" student or a "stupid commoner"?

Sounds like your own personal beliefs are being challenged, and you are taking offense.

It would be nice for university students to think beyond their upbringing - but most don't, as you have amply demonstrated.

Those that do (tende ad astra), well ... they most often go on to contribute in a constructive and meaningful way, for the benefit of the whole society. The university, of course, has got nothing to do with it, has it?

benny tea, the French Revolution was prefaced by 'honest debate and intellectual freedom (being) strangled to death' by the right-wing aristocracy.

It seems you have a lot to learn about freedom ... of thought, action and the written word.

Q&A,
While universities are fond of calling themselves an "export industry", they are also fond of calling for more taxpayer money. Funny that.

If they are an export industry, they can stand on their own two feet without the taxpayer.

We have more that enough arts students and social science students (many of whome will later live off the taxpayer), but not enough people who are actually producing something that can be sold and exported to help pay for all the imports.

I don't believe any member of the public should be funding an orgabisation that routienly denigrates 50% of Australia's population (ie. an academic feminist) and then spends as much as it can posiibly spend of taxpayer funding on imports. But that is an Australian university.

Start shutting Australian universities down. Find something better.

There has been lots of comment on this post firmly based on total ignorance of university finances. Most universities will spend about 75-80% of their annual funds on wages and salaries. Clearly this money will be largely spent in Australia. Of the remaining funds much will be spent on imported materials such as advanced technological items, books and journals, consumables etc. Most of these are not available from local industry and must be imported. Universities do 'export' education through enrolling overseas students . The fees from these students are welcome sources of funds but go nowhere near matching the money from publicly funded local students, the major source of university revenue. Shutting down the universities might be an answer to some of the difficulties some people have with them. However, it will also serious damage many regional areas where universities are the major employer.

The proposition that university faculties in the humanities are full of male denigrating feminists is among the more ludicrous allegations made on this post. That committed feminist women occupy teaching posts in universities is well known. They have no need to hide their beliefs. That they allow this to bias their teaching is, in my experience, false. As background I am male and have held senior academic posts in the sciences. I have recently completed a BA in history as a retirement project. I know bias when I see it and hear it. None of the able female lecturing and tutoring staff I met displayed any anti-male propagandist tendencies whatsoever. That these sorts of allegations are made is simply the triumph of prejudice over fact. It's much easier to remain ignorant than to seek knowledge.

AyJay
You're suggesting that arts and humanities courses are not heavily corrupted by male denigrating feminists? Consider the following:

“also gives succour to all the men bashing their wives in teleland: they can all imagine themselves to be rugged, adventurous “risk takers”, just like Inglis. It’s a win-win strategy for all men, rich or poor”

“Men all over Australia would be given reason to think that their violence against women might actually have lasting consequences.”

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9320

The above are typically generalised and discriminatory statements made about the male gender by a pHD candidate from the University of Melbourne.

The pHD candidate has not said one positive word said about males in their article on males, but of course their statements would not apply to any male inside the arts and humanities department of the University of Melbourne. Their statements would only apply to ALL MALES outside of the arts and humanities department of the University of Melbourne. This now includes yourself.

Did you know that you are a woman basher?

The pHD candidate is just regurgitating feminist doctrine, but the question is: “How can a pHD candidate get so far in their university education while having such bigoted, myopic and negative opinions of the male gender”.

Answer is: “Because the university system is so heavily corrupted by bigoted, myopic feminists with negative opinions only of the male gender”.

While lying that they are an “export industry”, universities continually ask for more taxpayer money, and ignore the fact they have created a $14 billion HECS debt that has to be paid off by the public at some time in the future.

Instead of helping to develop Australian industry, many university staff spend every cent they can spend of taxpayer funding on imports, which is the laziest way of purchasing something.

While portraying themselves as being wonderful individuals helping to eliminate bigotry and prejudice, many university staff routinely carry out bigotry and prejudice towards 50% of Australia’s population.

Start shutting the archaic, elitist, expensive, feminist corrupted, debt ridden, lying and rather useless Australian university system down. Establish something better.

Well I am very disappointed. I have been purposely placing spelling errors in my last few posts to see if any arts and humanities devotees would find them and make comment.

None have.

Their has been a gradual removel of maths and science out of universities, (because such subjects are just “too male”), and in the future there may be the gradual removal of English as well.

Students will have to “feel” their way through their socialist and feminist orchestrated subject material, being ever so mindful of who they denigrate, and then ask for more money.