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Broken
Universities, Politics and the Public Good
Series: In the National Interest
Brief Description
A strong higher education system is fundamental to civil society. The building of knowledge and the dissemination of information are vital to the proper functioning of our democracy. At the economic level, higher education is in the top three of our export industries; international students have...
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Broken
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A strong higher education system is fundamental to civil society. The building of knowledge and the dissemination of information is vital to the proper functioning of our democracy.
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Description
A strong higher education system is fundamental to civil society. The building of knowledge and the dissemination of information are vital to the proper functioning of our democracy. At the economic level, higher education is in the top three of our export industries; international students have become central to the hospitality, retail, and agricultural economies; and the country desperately needs well-trained, knowledgeable citizens to shore up its future.
Yet, in February 2024, a detailed review of higher education in this country concluded that the system is broken and urgently needs fixing. The problems that afflict it are legion, including over-investment in international enrolment, an epidemic of casualisation, and the burning out of a generation of academics. Additionally, there are culture wars over the content and orientation of university research and teaching, a lack of sectoral coordination around the national interest, and the consequences of decades of funding cuts.
In Broken, Graeme Turner provides a reality check for those who imagine the academic life is one of privilege and leisure, laying bare the enormous challenges and lack of hope experienced by many in academia. He unearths the foundations of this crisis, then explains how the solution lies in an overhaul of the one-size-fits-all approach to university funding, the establishment of genuine full-time career paths, and the formation of an independent body to ensure our university system serves the national interest in both teaching and research, rather than the ferocious competitiveness of the marketplace.
Above all, we need to jettison the current economic focus on education and re-embrace the idea that higher learning is a fundamental public good and should be funded as such.
Series: In the National Interest
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A Decade of Drift
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Dismal Diplomacy, Disposable Sovereignty
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Easy Lies & Influence
In Australia, corruption spends public funds in pursuit of power, rewards favour, and strips support from worthy programmes. It silences journalists and those charged with upholding standards of integrity by depriving them of funding. Grift and stacking are commonplace as those chasing influence infiltrate the structures of power. Corruption rewards loyalty through appointments to office and by preferencing those within...Paperback$2299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Enough is Enough
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Gladys
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Good International Citizenship
Why should we in Australia, or any country, care about poverty, human rights atrocities, health epidemics, environmental catastrophes, weapons proliferation, or any other problems afflicting faraway countries, when they don’t, as is often the case, have any direct or immediate impact on our own safety or prosperity? Gareth Evans’ answer is the approach he adopted when Australia’s foreign minister. He...Paperback$2299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Governing in the Internet Age
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Our National Shame
The exposés in early 2021 of sexism and sexual violence in Parliament House prompted women across the country (and some men) to take to stages, lecterns, and social media to express their rage and demand action. However, while these events highlighted that violence against women is an ongoing issue in our community, in many ways the allegations and incidents should...Paperback$2299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781923192270
Publisher: Monash University Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 July 2025
Country: Australia
Imprint: Monash University Publishing
Illustration: Illustrations
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 10.0mm
Width: 111.0mm
Height: 175.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 96
About the Author
Graeme Turner AO is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. He has published thirty books and his work has been translated into eleven languages. He has served as president of the Academy of the Humanities, is a former Federation Fellow, and is the only humanities scholar to have served two successive terms as a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He has had extensive engagement with higher education policy, research assessment and commentary on the sector, including prominent roles with the Australian Research Council, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, and the Learned Academies. He co-authored the landmark 2014 study of the state of the humanities, creative arts and social sciences disciplines in Australia, Mapping HASS. His AO was awarded in 2019 in recognition of his pioneering work in cultural studies and his contribution to higher education.
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