By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). There is a perception that radical change in the higher education sector is inevitable. This paper argues that the university model of higher education is fundamentally sound and by implication, is not necessarily subject to the same forces acting on other industries. If changes are to affect higher education, these are likely to come from forces seeking to capitalise on the success of the higher education model, and in doing so place the entire model at risk. More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). The modern idea of the intellectual crystallised at the end of the nineteenth century, in dramatic circumstances. Captain Dreyfus, a French army officer of Jewish background, had been framed by right-wing officers in an espionage case, and condemned by a biased military court to prison on Devil’s Island. When evidence clearing Dreyfus came to light, the army refused to budge. More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). The one chosen to lead a university will start by framing another design for it, that is, by getting in quick before being obliged to face mounting tides of reserve about purposes and credibility. A public relations disaster became occasion for António to institute a root-and-branch review of organisational structures. There could be no better place to start than by cobbling-together a new school, the one he called School of Communication and Arts; and within that, to bring in new blood in (what else?) public relations. More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). Among the 60 or so university satellite campuses in Australia are many that are probably failing to meet the high expectations of their universities and the communities they were designed to serve. While in some cases this may be due to the demand driven system, it may also be attributable in part to the ways in which they are managed. More...