The Americanisation of Australia's universities

10 November 2014

In April 2012, National Public Radio (NPR) in the US ran a story about student debt, announcing that American citizens owe over one trillion dollars in student loans.

Is this the direction Australia wants to follow?

According to Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, the answer is yes.

Pyne has often stated that universities in Australia are on board when it comes to deregulation. This may be true for management, but not so for lecturers, tutors and researchers.

Every semester I teach English literature to between 75 and 100 (mostly) eager students at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). UWS is the most diverse university in Australia, and possibly the world. I have students from Iraq and Israel, from the Tiwi Islands and Taiwan, South Africa and South America. Most are Australian citizens and 30 per cent are Muslim. Many are the first in their family to go to university.

We sit in a classroom in Bankstown, 20 or 22 in a circle, discussing Plato’s cave and Hamlet’s ghosts. We talk about the nature of utopias and dystopias. Sometimes the discussion veers towards ISIS or the biased portrayal of Muslims in the Australian media.

There are not many places where 20 people from radically different backgrounds can use literature as a jumping off point to discuss contemporary issues of the day, but the classrooms at UWS are one place where this can and does happen.

As a staff member, I am well aware of the financial situation of my students. Most are not well off. Many are in debt. On the first day of every semester, I ask them to tell me by show of hands if they work, and over two thirds have a job. Some work full time. A few are mothers who look after children and work as well as study. For most of my students, finding a way to pay their uni fees already takes away from valuable time that should be spent studying.

Three weeks ago a Charter for Australian Public Universities was published by a group of academics from four public Australian universities. Academics from these institutions have formed the National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU) and voiced grave concerns about deregulating student fees. The charter has already gathered over 1200 signatures from every public university in the country, including that of the Nobel laureate, J.M. Coetzee, and over a hundred professors.

It may well be that university vice chancellors have voiced support

AUSTRALIA

The Americanisation of Australia's universities

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