By Ian Dobson. Defenders of the managerialist status quo in Australian universities might argue that the current regime has been remarkably successful. Despite chronic funding constraints, Australian universities continue to perform very strongly on international league tables, whatever the methodological shortcomings of these may be, and continue to attract the international students who help to pay the bills. More...

By Ian Dobson. If we want to combat contemporary ‘neoliberal’ attacks on universities, we should start by refusing the way that their pseudo-rationalities already determine so many aspects of the intellectual and institutional regimes that we consider under threat. This paper sketches an analysis of those aspects of the internal practices of academia that reinforce the interests at the origin of the attack on public education, and that make it possible, and indeed expected, for universities’ leaders to oversee the betrayal of their institutions’ very raison d’être. More...

By Ian Dobson. What does it mean to be an activist or to do activist work in a university context at a time when universities themselves are openly pursuing change in their public role and function? What does activism look like in different disciplines and in diverse academic settings. More...

By Ian Dobson. A few years ago the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) re-badged itself as ‘Universities Australia’ (UA), and since then the assembled vice-chancellors have presented themselves as ‘The voice of Australia’s universities’. That’s what their website says, and this is undoubtedly a rich mine of corporate wisdom. More...

By Ian Dobson. Free universities form around a praxis of ‘prefiguration,’ meaning that rather than (or as well as) mobilising directly against the aspects of conventional universities they oppose, they step outside the university’s walls to re-imagine learning on their own terms. More...

By Ian Dobson. The following paper presents an argument assembled via observations regarding university workplaces, which will be quite recognisable to readers familiar with the Australian academic context. If the argument transpires to be an interesting one, perhaps the most interesting thing about it might be how easy it is to substantiate, and following on from that, the question as to why, given what is known and knowable about universities, they seem generally to trundle along in much the same direction. More...

By Ian Dobson. There are two things about the burgeoning literature on law student wellbeing in Australia that are striking. First, it is very recent, having emerged only in the 21st century; secondly, no explanation is postulated for the suddenness of the eruption of psychological distress. More...

By Andrew MacDonald. Today’s report in The Australian that more than 7000 students allegedly have been left stranded with significant debts after one of the country’s largest private colleges “unilaterally” withdrew them from courses must surely spur this government into ruling out any plans to provide private providers with greater access to higher education. More...

By Andrew MacDonald. Domestic violence leave at Deakin University and La Trobe University will be extended to cover all staff, including casuals, following pressure from the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). More...

By Andrew MacDonald. Equal Pay Day (8 September) is a timely reminder of the need for meaningful action to address the gender equity gap which also persists in Australian universities, says the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). More...