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https://theconversation.com/australias-university-system-is-battered-and-broken-a-new-book-surveys-the-wreckage-and-offers-some-solutions-259273>
"
Review: Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good – Graeme Turner
(Monash University Press)
The Australian university sector has come under considerable pressure in recent
years. It is currently in a parlous state.
Controversy swirls around hundreds of millions of dollars in underpayments to
casual staff. Obscene salaries are paid to senior executives. Weekly
announcements of course cuts and staff redundancies send a clear message that
this is a sector in crisis.
For Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner, a highly respected humanities scholar and
advisor to various governments and industry bodies, the Australian university
sector is “broken”.
Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good covers, in a comprehensive
but concise form, the myriad circumstances that have led to the current crisis,
how that crisis feels for staff and students on the ground, and what some of
the solutions might be.
Turner is an expert in this space, and probably the best-placed thinker in
Australia to write this book. He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Science,
Engineering and Innovation Council in the 2000s. He co-wrote the important
Mapping the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in Australia report for the
Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 2019, he was awarded an AO in
recognition of his pioneering work in cultural studies and the higher education
sector.
Turner has no barrow to push apart from an abiding commitment to the
recalibration and, perhaps, rescue of Australian universities."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics