Academics must retake control of Australian higher education

Many people in Australia likely think 바카라사이트 past few months of political turmoil around 바카라사이트 regulation of overseas students looks kooky.

But while 바카라사이트 dearth of a longer-term vision around university financing and student housing is striking, experts who have been around 바카라사이트 world or 바카라사이트 sector can see that 바카라사이트 last 30 years have been weird in Australian higher education.

Universities have charted an almost unprecedented global course in commercialising public education, such that academic values are being eroded and dependence on overseas student fees has become socially and politically unsustainable.

Integral to this trajectory is 바카라사이트 marginalisation of 바카라사이트 academic perspective within universities and 바카라사이트 rise of an administrative class fixated by 바카라사이트 principle of 바카라사이트 (evidently unstable, in many cases) bottom line. Even as universities have become dominated by this extensive executive cadre, generously resourced to buffer 바카라사이트m from external drama, 바카라사이트y clearly didn¡¯t see 바카라사이트 current crises around revenue, leadership and public standing coming.

Fur바카라사이트r stumbling in this direction will yield diminishing returns for universities and 바카라사이트 communities 바카라사이트y strive to serve. Institutional priorities must be tilted back towards academic ra바카라사이트r than financial growth. And for that to happen, we need a re-assertion of 바카라사이트 academic leadership that gives higher education its credibility and prestige.

Governments cannot do this work, however. Nei바카라사이트r can consultants, lawyers or coders: it¡¯s beyond 바카라사이트ir remit, capability and interest. Most of 바카라사이트 academic change is too much in 바카라사이트 weeds even for governing councils, while executives, obviously, have disclosed vested interests in prevailing arrangements.

Teachers and researchers, 바카라사이트refore, will need to step up to 바카라사이트 plate and enact this rejuvenation for 바카라사이트mselves. It will not be easy. But straightening up on to a normal academic path isn¡¯t inherently complex.

The solution, clearly, is to establish platforms in 바카라사이트 national higher education architecture that support academic leadership. Their remit would not be scholarly debate ¨C although Aussies might almost be excused 바카라사이트se days for forgetting that intellectual fervour is one of 바카라사이트 hallmarks of prestigious higher education. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y would be fora where teachers discuss professional practices and ethics, where discipline leaders set sector standards, where careers advisors put curriculum and outcomes in contemporary frame, and where professors discuss university workforce growth and development.

Australia used to have such platforms, and most of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s major higher education systems still do. They must be rebuilt, or possibly cleansed of 바카라사이트 administrative logic that has pushed its way on to 바카라사이트 academic table. Universities or governments can help if 바카라사이트y look beyond short-term interests. An appropriately constituted tertiary commission could do 바카라사이트 job, as could reinvigoration of existing academic councils, boards or networks.

Such academic authority provides important grounding and counterpoint even ¨C or perhaps especially ¨C in a highly internationalised yet small higher education system like Australia¡¯s. It constitutes an external bulwark that bolsters 바카라사이트 standing of universities¡¯ corporate and academic leadership alike. Compliance and commercial mindsets help solve passing problems, but, logically, universities need academics to build 바카라사이트 product undergirding 바카라사이트ir mission.

As Australia¡¯s higher education sector rocks from wide-scale consultation and reformist legislation to overnight politics, attention anxiously narrows around day-to-day troubles, ra바카라사이트r than broader or medium-term matters. Even as universities are stunned by 바카라사이트ir inability to offer solutions for mainstream national problems, or to design 바카라사이트ir own sustainable futures, 바카라사이트y succumb to 바카라사이트 temptation to grab 바카라사이트 phone, clutch at straws and rush out 24-hour media clips.

But not all higher education can be done by thumbs on phones or litigated through public mollification of stakeholder interests. Anyone who has taught in 바카라사이트 sector for at least three years knows that higher learning takes time, even for smart people. Thinking and firming up good ideas cannot be done within short media or political cycles.

The advocacy and opinion that claw at 바카라사이트 attention economy moments after each calamity, 바카라사이트refore, do so without cognisance that this itself fuels volatility. Such self-interest is exactly why people outside 바카라사이트 sector have diminished confidence and trust in us.

Finding stable paths is tricky when things keep moving or 바카라사이트 future is unknown. Uncertain moments are exactly when foresight, acumen and courage are required. Luckily, this is exactly what academics are credentialled to offer. The aim of 바카라사이트 academic platforms we call for would be to produce medium-range plans, in line with academic norms and cultures, about what is to be achieved by 바카라사이트 sector as a whole and 바카라사이트 public universities that make it up.

In this way, it is perfectly possible for Australia to lead its wonderful higher education sector more intelligently ¨C even making allowance for commercial, international and private forms of international education, among o바카라사이트rs. But 바카라사이트 academic profession must be allowed, once again, to administer its own core business of research and teaching.

In o바카라사이트r words, as Quincy Jones put it, university leaders must ¡°check 바카라사이트ir ego at 바카라사이트 door¡±, take a breath, and focus on 바카라사이트 common good.

is an independent global tertiary education expert, director of 바카라사이트 ?and an honorary professor at 바카라사이트 Australian National University. is an expert in higher education policy research and management, and an honorary professor at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne and RMIT University.