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Mind of the Nation: Universities in Australian Life
In this thought-provoking and timely examination, academic and writer Michael Wesley asks what Australians really think and how they feel about our universities, and where to next?
In 1964, Donald Horne wrote in his classic The Lucky Country that, in a sense, 'Australia does not have a mind. Intellectual life exists but . . . has no established relation to practical life.' For Horne, Australia's universities were marginalised; they were places where 'clever men nurse the wounds of public indifference'.
Since then, there has been a vast increase in university attendance, but Australians today have mixed feelings about these institutions - a strange blend of antagonism, aspiration and apathy.
In this eloquent and original book, Michael Wesley investigates the forces shaping Australia's universities and their relationship to Australian society. Are universities too commercial? Do they provide value? Are they inclusive? Are they underfunded? What do we want from these institutions, especially post-Covid? Unless a new national vision for higher education is found, Australia's universities could be set for decline.
This is a groundbreaking examination of universities in Australian life - and, more than that, of the 'mind of the nation'.
'Mind of the Nation surveys the mixed feelings Australians have for their universities, often part of their lives but rarely their affections. Michael Wesley's thought-provoking book shows how rising and conflicting expectations of universities create controversies that will not go away.' -Andrew Norton, professor of higher education policy, ANU
In 1964, Donald Horne wrote in his classic The Lucky Country that, in a sense, 'Australia does not have a mind. Intellectual life exists but . . . has no established relation to practical life.' For Horne, Australia's universities were marginalised; they were places where 'clever men nurse the wounds of public indifference'.
Since then, there has been a vast increase in university attendance, but Australians today have mixed feelings about these institutions - a strange blend of antagonism, aspiration and apathy.
In this eloquent and original book, Michael Wesley investigates the forces shaping Australia's universities and their relationship to Australian society. Are universities too commercial? Do they provide value? Are they inclusive? Are they underfunded? What do we want from these institutions, especially post-Covid? Unless a new national vision for higher education is found, Australia's universities could be set for decline.
This is a groundbreaking examination of universities in Australian life - and, more than that, of the 'mind of the nation'.
'Mind of the Nation surveys the mixed feelings Australians have for their universities, often part of their lives but rarely their affections. Michael Wesley's thought-provoking book shows how rising and conflicting expectations of universities create controversies that will not go away.' -Andrew Norton, professor of higher education policy, ANU
- GenresNonfictionEducation
256 pages, Paperback
Published June 13, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 27, 2023
Mind of the Nation is an engaging and informative work about the state of the post-Covid Australian university. It is an accessible and informative read for the general reader interested in Australian higher education and how government politics affects our nations institutions of knowledge and expertise. I commend Wesley's work and I'd recommend it to every academic, student, and parent I know.
The book opens with a quote by Clark Kerr (The Uses of the University, 1995): 'As society goes, so goes the university, but also, as the university goes, so goes society.' Wesley proves time and again that a well-functioning university system that prioritises teaching and research in ALL areas of human knowledge is essential to a well-functioning society.
Detailed summary below:
Each chapter explores a particular aspect of the modern university that presents both an opportunity for growth and a challenge to manage or overcome.
In Chapter 1, Wesley explores the complex relationship between universities and money. The public are unconvinced that universities need more money due to the success of university marketing campaigns that convince the public of the university's prestigious research and world-class facilities, and yet the university needs to market their success and prestige to attract donors and the support of taxpayers.
In Chapter 2, Wesley shows how COVID lockdowns exposed universities' reliance on International students, which drew significant criticism that universities had strayed from their role. However, despite massive changes to the higher education system with the Dawkins reforms and preceding changes, nobody actually took the time to re-define the role of universities. Now, universities are accused of being greedy corporations, and vice-chancellors salaries declared unreasonable, but we haven't taken the time to design our modern universities with a modern role, that emulates the ideal in the modern world.
In Chapter 3, Wesley focuses on the unfair criticisms of Australia's large percentage of international students, which became particularly prevalent during the pandemic. The loudest fears - that international students are taking up domestic spaces or that they are taking their skills elsewhere and that Australian universities should focus on educating Australians - are largely unfounded, but have been difficult to abolish. Wesley points out that a) international student revenue makes up the shortfall for what domestic students are willing to pay for university education, and
b) that the presence of international students in the classroom ought to make education richer for all involved.
In Chapter 4, Wesley explains the history of academic freedom and freedom of speech as a central tenant of healthy universities. It also notes the threat of the 'woke' neoliberal agenda to academic integrity and the courage to form new knowledge even if it goes against the grain of society's beliefs or the current government. Wesley concludes that universities will always have to defend themselves against the shifting social agendas, but that this is important for acting with integrity as the forefront of knowledge creation and higher education.
In Chapter 5, Wesley explores the rise of global rankings and universities' reliance on rankings in their marketing and promotions to attract students (especially international students) and government funding. However, Wesley exposes the preconceptions that rankings are based on and the internal bias in these measurements which inevitably privileges larger, research-focused universities who publish and teach in English over smaller institutions and those which teach in languages other than English. Similarly, the Tehan "Job-Ready Graduates" scheme in Australia which made humanities and other "less useful" degrees more expensive and technology degrees cheaper actually made the "less useful" degrees more profitable for universities while the cheaper courses became uneconomic to teach. Rankings inspire competition between academics, but on the whole, this competitiveness defeats collaboration and collegiality which yields peer-reviewed knowledge and quality innovation. Wesley does not provide an antidote to rankings, but asserts that they cannot be the only, or indeed the primary, means for determining university quality.
In Chapter 6, Wesley outlines the real effect of class privilege (e.g. a private school education) on access to Australia's prestigious universities. Interestingly, in contrast to trends in the US and UK, Australians tend to attend the universities closest to them, and are more likely to commute to university rather than live on campus since the live close by. Again, this is a sign of class privilege because Sandstone universities are located in cities where he cost of living is high, such as Sydney and Melbourne. Therefore, people from remote, rural and regional areas, Indigenous students, people of low socioeconomic status are under-represented elite Group of Eight universities. The shifting of payment for university onto the students themselves has diminished gratitude toward the public for their education, and reduced the perceived obligation to pay this goodwill back through contributions to their city and economy. Similarly, there is a class-like power imbalance between tenured and casual academics. While Wesley does not see a solution to casual employment given current policy and funding frameworks, he argues that 'the norms and traditions of academic collegiality and support are extended to non-tenured staff' (89). It's nice to finally see someone who isn’t just complaining about the over-reliance on casual academics and the unfair job precarity that results, but who is actually suggesting a reasonable first step towards the betterment of the university teaching environment, which will have a positive flow-on effect for students.
It's time for higher education to become an election issue.
The book opens with a quote by Clark Kerr (The Uses of the University, 1995): 'As society goes, so goes the university, but also, as the university goes, so goes society.' Wesley proves time and again that a well-functioning university system that prioritises teaching and research in ALL areas of human knowledge is essential to a well-functioning society.
Detailed summary below:
Each chapter explores a particular aspect of the modern university that presents both an opportunity for growth and a challenge to manage or overcome.
In Chapter 1, Wesley explores the complex relationship between universities and money. The public are unconvinced that universities need more money due to the success of university marketing campaigns that convince the public of the university's prestigious research and world-class facilities, and yet the university needs to market their success and prestige to attract donors and the support of taxpayers.
In Chapter 2, Wesley shows how COVID lockdowns exposed universities' reliance on International students, which drew significant criticism that universities had strayed from their role. However, despite massive changes to the higher education system with the Dawkins reforms and preceding changes, nobody actually took the time to re-define the role of universities. Now, universities are accused of being greedy corporations, and vice-chancellors salaries declared unreasonable, but we haven't taken the time to design our modern universities with a modern role, that emulates the ideal in the modern world.
In Chapter 3, Wesley focuses on the unfair criticisms of Australia's large percentage of international students, which became particularly prevalent during the pandemic. The loudest fears - that international students are taking up domestic spaces or that they are taking their skills elsewhere and that Australian universities should focus on educating Australians - are largely unfounded, but have been difficult to abolish. Wesley points out that a) international student revenue makes up the shortfall for what domestic students are willing to pay for university education, and
b) that the presence of international students in the classroom ought to make education richer for all involved.
In Chapter 4, Wesley explains the history of academic freedom and freedom of speech as a central tenant of healthy universities. It also notes the threat of the 'woke' neoliberal agenda to academic integrity and the courage to form new knowledge even if it goes against the grain of society's beliefs or the current government. Wesley concludes that universities will always have to defend themselves against the shifting social agendas, but that this is important for acting with integrity as the forefront of knowledge creation and higher education.
In Chapter 5, Wesley explores the rise of global rankings and universities' reliance on rankings in their marketing and promotions to attract students (especially international students) and government funding. However, Wesley exposes the preconceptions that rankings are based on and the internal bias in these measurements which inevitably privileges larger, research-focused universities who publish and teach in English over smaller institutions and those which teach in languages other than English. Similarly, the Tehan "Job-Ready Graduates" scheme in Australia which made humanities and other "less useful" degrees more expensive and technology degrees cheaper actually made the "less useful" degrees more profitable for universities while the cheaper courses became uneconomic to teach. Rankings inspire competition between academics, but on the whole, this competitiveness defeats collaboration and collegiality which yields peer-reviewed knowledge and quality innovation. Wesley does not provide an antidote to rankings, but asserts that they cannot be the only, or indeed the primary, means for determining university quality.
In Chapter 6, Wesley outlines the real effect of class privilege (e.g. a private school education) on access to Australia's prestigious universities. Interestingly, in contrast to trends in the US and UK, Australians tend to attend the universities closest to them, and are more likely to commute to university rather than live on campus since the live close by. Again, this is a sign of class privilege because Sandstone universities are located in cities where he cost of living is high, such as Sydney and Melbourne. Therefore, people from remote, rural and regional areas, Indigenous students, people of low socioeconomic status are under-represented elite Group of Eight universities. The shifting of payment for university onto the students themselves has diminished gratitude toward the public for their education, and reduced the perceived obligation to pay this goodwill back through contributions to their city and economy. Similarly, there is a class-like power imbalance between tenured and casual academics. While Wesley does not see a solution to casual employment given current policy and funding frameworks, he argues that 'the norms and traditions of academic collegiality and support are extended to non-tenured staff' (89). It's nice to finally see someone who isn’t just complaining about the over-reliance on casual academics and the unfair job precarity that results, but who is actually suggesting a reasonable first step towards the betterment of the university teaching environment, which will have a positive flow-on effect for students.
It's time for higher education to become an election issue.
July 2, 2023
Michael Wesley's Mind of the Nation is about the place of Australia's universities in its culture and politics. I wrote a blog post prompted by its themes.
My main point in the blog post is that conflicting visions of what universities should be and should do come from their history. Functions have been added which are in tension with each other and with historical modes of university governance.
While I am more optimistic than Michael Wesley that these tensions are manageable, and don't agree with all his analysis, his book is very readable and makes many interesting points. One I had not thought of before was that even though going to university is now a common experience in Australia it is only rarely portrayed in our TV, films and books.
My main point in the blog post is that conflicting visions of what universities should be and should do come from their history. Functions have been added which are in tension with each other and with historical modes of university governance.
While I am more optimistic than Michael Wesley that these tensions are manageable, and don't agree with all his analysis, his book is very readable and makes many interesting points. One I had not thought of before was that even though going to university is now a common experience in Australia it is only rarely portrayed in our TV, films and books.
August 17, 2023
Worrying about getting into a good University? I’m more worried about returning this book I accidentally damaged back to the library without punishment
October 20, 2023
Articulate and we-balanced review of the history and current status of Australia's 42 universities with some thoughtful considerations about their future.
August 20, 2023
The book starts out telling us how little the university is revered in Australian life, other than as a utilitarian piece to get us to the next hurdle. As a society, we don't have a great warmth of tradition about our universities, even if we do rank the prestige of the sandstone versions more highly in terms of social climbing. Wesley takes universities in Australia apart, examining them from perspectives of 'Money', 'Value', 'Loyalty', 'Integrity', 'Ambition' and 'Privilege'. It is telling that money is first, and is at the centre of the conclusions as well. A great piece for those who are removed from universities, to understand how many faces universities have to wear, and how many different masters they serve, the conundrum of academic ideals and corporate concerns meeting in a mish mash of tension.
Money ‘…is the medium through which Australia’s growing demand for higher education confronts the limits to its willingness to pay for it’ page 27
‘…incentivisation of research and pursuit of research funding is linked to growth in student numbers, producing a reinforcing cycle. Government research grants are not funded to cover the full cost of research, therefore universities have to cover the shortfall from other funding sources. The more successful universities are in winning competitive research funding, the larger the gap they have to fill to cover the full costs of research. The most fungible source of funding is tuition revenue, meaning that as a university becomes more successful in attracting competitive research funding, it needs to recruit more students whose fees will help fund a widening research funding shortfall’ Page 33
‘Kemp reflects that any institution that relies on public funding will be underfunded, because governments are always under pressure to deliver new initiatives, leaving existing commitments to be funded according to their political salience. For most of the history of universities in Australia, the financial requirements of higher education have outstripped government’s willingness to pay.’ Page 47
‘Australia seems to want its universities to be public institutions but is unconvinced of their need for more money’ page 48
‘Australia’s universities are a strange hybrid: part tightly regulated, underfunded public institutions; part highly entrepreneurial, innovative education exporters. Herein lies the contradiction: universities seem to be rich and successful but are always complaining about being underfunded’ Page 48-49
‘Why don’t Australians admire the success of their universities as they celebrate the success of their sporting teams, film makers, musicians and actors? Why is their entrepreneurialism in earning significant revenue in a global market not appreciated in the same way that the commercial success of Australia’s mining companies or our investment banks are? Why was the closure of Australia’s borders a reckoning for universities’ ‘broken business models’ but a national concern for the tourism industry’ page 50-51
‘The problem is that considerations of money have been allowed to lead and mould higher education policy rather than to follow a bigger conversation and consensus about the role of universities in Australian life’ Page 52
'At the centre of much of the angst about universities lies confrontations between incompatible values: academic versus commercial concerns; collegiality versus competition and corporatisation. '
p197
'Governments of both sides of politics have pressed forward with three broad objectives in higher education policy: to expand the proportion of Australians with tertiary education while maintaining the highest quality of that education; to contain the costs of that expansion to the Australian taxpayer while ensuring universities are kept strictly accountable for that public funding; and to ensure that Australia remains prosperous by reaching the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution.' p198
'The application of market principles to higher education was based on a range of assumptions. Foremost was that universities are able to deliver economies of scale, providing high-quality education to larger and larger numbers of students by becoming more efficient. Introducing scarcity and competition, along with corporate management, would deliver these efficiencies. Universities, like other utilities, should be able to serve both private and public interests simultaneously; and would soon, it was held, discover that the rewards of commercial success were more effective drivers of innovation than aimless academic inquiry. Many believed that introducing a user-pays element to higher education would increase its value to consumers as well as raising the quality of its provision; and that drawing a clearer link between the specific skills learned and the employment outcomes would increase the individual and aggregate benefits of higher education. It is time to consider whether these assumptions are actually appropriate to higher education." p198-99
Money ‘…is the medium through which Australia’s growing demand for higher education confronts the limits to its willingness to pay for it’ page 27
‘…incentivisation of research and pursuit of research funding is linked to growth in student numbers, producing a reinforcing cycle. Government research grants are not funded to cover the full cost of research, therefore universities have to cover the shortfall from other funding sources. The more successful universities are in winning competitive research funding, the larger the gap they have to fill to cover the full costs of research. The most fungible source of funding is tuition revenue, meaning that as a university becomes more successful in attracting competitive research funding, it needs to recruit more students whose fees will help fund a widening research funding shortfall’ Page 33
‘Kemp reflects that any institution that relies on public funding will be underfunded, because governments are always under pressure to deliver new initiatives, leaving existing commitments to be funded according to their political salience. For most of the history of universities in Australia, the financial requirements of higher education have outstripped government’s willingness to pay.’ Page 47
‘Australia seems to want its universities to be public institutions but is unconvinced of their need for more money’ page 48
‘Australia’s universities are a strange hybrid: part tightly regulated, underfunded public institutions; part highly entrepreneurial, innovative education exporters. Herein lies the contradiction: universities seem to be rich and successful but are always complaining about being underfunded’ Page 48-49
‘Why don’t Australians admire the success of their universities as they celebrate the success of their sporting teams, film makers, musicians and actors? Why is their entrepreneurialism in earning significant revenue in a global market not appreciated in the same way that the commercial success of Australia’s mining companies or our investment banks are? Why was the closure of Australia’s borders a reckoning for universities’ ‘broken business models’ but a national concern for the tourism industry’ page 50-51
‘The problem is that considerations of money have been allowed to lead and mould higher education policy rather than to follow a bigger conversation and consensus about the role of universities in Australian life’ Page 52
'At the centre of much of the angst about universities lies confrontations between incompatible values: academic versus commercial concerns; collegiality versus competition and corporatisation. '
p197
'Governments of both sides of politics have pressed forward with three broad objectives in higher education policy: to expand the proportion of Australians with tertiary education while maintaining the highest quality of that education; to contain the costs of that expansion to the Australian taxpayer while ensuring universities are kept strictly accountable for that public funding; and to ensure that Australia remains prosperous by reaching the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution.' p198
'The application of market principles to higher education was based on a range of assumptions. Foremost was that universities are able to deliver economies of scale, providing high-quality education to larger and larger numbers of students by becoming more efficient. Introducing scarcity and competition, along with corporate management, would deliver these efficiencies. Universities, like other utilities, should be able to serve both private and public interests simultaneously; and would soon, it was held, discover that the rewards of commercial success were more effective drivers of innovation than aimless academic inquiry. Many believed that introducing a user-pays element to higher education would increase its value to consumers as well as raising the quality of its provision; and that drawing a clearer link between the specific skills learned and the employment outcomes would increase the individual and aggregate benefits of higher education. It is time to consider whether these assumptions are actually appropriate to higher education." p198-99
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