From public good to corporate enterprise: The financialisation of universities (Part II)
A dominant challenge for universities now is the expectation that they produce graduates who are immediately job-ready.
Recent articles in Education
8 September 2025
New NAPLAN results demand better deal for public schools
The latest NAPLAN results reveal the size of the challenges facing Australia’s school system.
8 September 2025
From public good to corporate enterprise: The financialisation of universities (Part I)
In recent months, Australian universities have faced increasing scrutiny over their role in the economy, particularly regarding their growing emphasis on financial sustainability.
3 September 2025
Reining in vice-chancellor and executive pay: Restoring governance in public universities
In recent years — especially since the COVID-19 pandemic — executive pay in Australian public universities has drawn increasing public and political scrutiny.
2 September 2025
Reining in the consultant culture in Australia’s public universities
The quiet rise of private consultancy in Australia’s public universities has now reached a point where it is reshaping the sector’s priorities, governance, and capacity to act in the public interest.
1 September 2025
Reforming university governance: Restoring accountability and the public mission
Over the past three decades, Australia’s public universities have experienced a profound shift in governance culture.
29 August 2025
How the ALP built the market that is destroying public schools
Australia’s public school system is in crisis, underfunded, residualised, and struggling to retain teachers.
28 August 2025
We have arrested the development of our young
I hope you’re not among those silly people who concluded last week’s economic reform roundtable was just a talkfest that will lead to nothing concrete. Breaking news: we have to get together and talk about things before we agree on what our biggest problems are and what we will do about them.
23 August 2025
The governance crisis in Australia’s universities
Recent media reports that Julie Bishop might have bullied an academic staff representative on the ANU council are alarming.
21 August 2025
'Full of tears', 1000 Palestinian children graduate from Gaza school for orphans
The children wept, as no parents were there to share the moment – their parents had been killed by the Israeli army, said one observer.
21 August 2025
The quest for 21st century Australian productivity is being held back by our archaic TAFE system
It is dynamism in the workplace that leads to productivity improvement.
20 August 2025
Universities, free speech and the High Court
Greg Barns looks at the legal implications for universities, who last year adopted an IHRA-aligned definition of antisemitism, in wake of a large scale boycott of the Bendigo Writers Festival.
16 August 2025
A better and fairer school system? Just look to Canada
Ontario implemented needs-based funding a quarter of a century ago, and the benefits go beyond student achievement.
