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...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). Industry bodies, research and educational organisations have lobbied intensely for increased funding for training in the STEM disciplines. It is time to reassess this advocacy. Undergraduate commencements in STEM fields have increased strongly since 2009, yet the current employment prospects for these graduates are poor. Advocates have not made a convincing case that this situation will change. More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). Quality assurance policies and practices are critical to the performance of Australian universities both in terms of national funding and international prestige and are redefining the future of the academic enterprise. Quality assurance is not merely the systematic measurement of quality. It is a political and heuristic process, which has significant gendered consequences for academic women in higher education. More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). Teaching and learning research since the 1980s has established a trend in students’ learning approach tendencies, characterised by decreasing surface learning and increasing deep learning with increasing age. This is an important trend in higher education, especially at a time of increasing numbers of older students: are we graduating more deep learners? In revisiting these trends, our study elaborates on the past model by using the revised two-factor questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). More...

By Ian Dobson (NTEU National Office). Providing higher education to offenders in custody has become an increasingly complex business in the age of digital learning. Most Australian prisoners still have no direct access to the internet and relatively unreliable access to information technology. As incarceration is now a business, prisons, like universities, are increasingly subject to economistic pressures and priorities. More...