Notes for week 3

Current issues and trends in the higher education sector in Australia

As a way of opening up your thinking about this very large topic there are two readings which offer views from above and below. While you will be familiar with some of these patterns, given your trajectories it is well worth taking some time to look at both documents.

Phil (from 2016) suggested the paper by Churchman and King. The report by Andrew Norton from the Grattan Institute offers a very broad overview of the state of the sector.

There are major influences at play in the sector that are well mapped in the literature:

  • corporate governance -> image, league rankings
  • education as export -> important source of funding

Others would identify other influences but these loom large in the minds of those who run universities.

From the view below, the Churchman and King paper points to a couple of the suggestions Phil made in his suggestion, that of demands on academics and access to funding opportunities.

As we progress there will be more to add to these initial readings but I want them to work in terms of developing, honing the various components of your academic practice.

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