This paper reports on research conducted with staff employed in the Australian higher education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector has been significantly impacted, particularly those institutions heavily reliant on revenue from international student enrolments. Universities moved swiftly to introduce cost-savings measures such as,…

After 40 years as a hardworking and productive academic, here I was on a Zoom call fronting two senior colleagues telling me I no longer appeared on the new 'organisational chart'. In short, I was being made redundant. It was no surprise really, as another 40,000 professional and academic staff were to suffer the same fate. And really by then I…

At a time when universities internationally participate in continual processes of restructuring, repositioning and reprioritising, calls for 'voluntary' redundancy among teaching and learning staff become frequent events. Australian and New Zealand academics, whose stories inform this study, have, particularly, been made subject to severance,…

This paper summarises the evolution of student contributions in Australia since 1989, exploring system redesigns that commenced in 1997, 2005 and 2021. Public and private benefits are recurring themes in setting student contributions, both as high-level justifications for government policy and in pricing specific disciplines. Professor Andrew…

In Australia, both Christian and non-Christian higher education institutions (HEIs) have experienced a rapidly changing external environment that is becoming more performance-driven, particularly in relation to faculty research. Academics working in Australian Christian HEIs often feel pressure to keep pace with their counterparts in non-Christian…

This article explores the issues casual academics face in Australia and whether these pose risks to teaching quality. The logic of the rampant casualisation in Australian universities is exposed first (i.e., mainly flexibility and cost saving to offset drops in government funding), followed by a discussion on the theoretical risks casualisation…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

This is a research paper describing the impact of globalisation on the provision of preservice teacher education in Western Australia. The author utilises a range of research methodologies to gather and analyse current data, finally a range of possible futuristic scenarios are presented. The paper has significance for those concerned with future…

"Steady state" implies that as students and their requirements change, so must the academic staff. The present and foreseeable future in Australia is reviewed briefly along with implications for faculty in both teaching and research. (LBH)

Problems posed by abrupt transition to a steady state following rapid expansion in Australian universities are reviewed. Focus is on demography of departments, new developments in academic disciplines, tenure, and early retirement. (LBH)

Budget cuts lead to demands for "teaching smarter," which means larger classes, less student-contact time, more technological delivery, and student self-direction. However, social interaction is essential for learning, and intellectual independence does not happen automatically. Genuine commitment to facilitating adult learning and more…

Two suggestions are offered for alleviating the apparent stagnation of departments in Australian universities: a higher proportion of limited term appointments, and interchange of staff between universities and other agencies. Implications for recruitment and promotion are discussed. (LBH)

The recommendations of a national committee on the organization, quality, and efficiency of Australian universities are reviewed. They cover accountability, flexibility, and efficiency of operation. Implications for the future of universities, especially small ones, are discussed. (MSE)

Based on the recommendation of the Partridge Report that Graylands Teachers College, Western Australia, be phased out, an inquiry concerning the future of the college was undertaken. Graylands was the second teachers college in Western Australia when it was established in 1955. The following areas are addressed: background of the college, the…

The responses of higher education institutions in the United States, England, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the rest of Western Europe to declining enrollments, changing financial support, fiscal problems, and changes in the professoriate and academic careers are compared. (MSE)