Analyzes data relating to college faculty's perception of their work based upon surveys conducted in Australian universities from the 1970s through the 1990s. Perceived attitudes are analyzed, compared, and contextualized across the decades, and conclusions are drawn about the perseverance of an academic culture under siege. (Author/MSE)

The effectiveness of Australia's handling of higher education policy at the national level is discussed in terms of the considerable future problems to be faced. Policy successes and failures in the last two decades are assessed, and future prospects are examined. (Author/MSE)

Reactions to recent major changes in the Australian system of higher education are examined, with special attention to "counter imagists" who have taken a prominent but conservative role in debate over the changes. The analysis looks at the nature of the opposition to or reservations about the proposed new system. (MSE)

The institutionalization of faculty development policy and activities is compared for Australia, Great Britain, the United States, West Germany, and Sweden. The factors that precipitated the trend in each country are examined, and it is concluded that the reward systems in each country favor faculty research performance over teaching. (Author/MSE)

Eighteen categories of personal characteristics of Australian university vice-chancellors in three different eras (nineteenth century, early twentieth century, and postwar) are examined and the questions the profile raises about the shape and direction of the higher education system are discussed. (MSE)

Australia's higher education system reform, the booming overseas market, and unmet domestic demand have provided opportunities for private higher education. The growth of private provision, federal and state government responses, and pressures for subsidy and regulation have hastened development of a "peripheral private sector."…

The changing style of interaction between government and higher education interest groups in Australia is chronicled from 1985 to 1994. Three stages of policy formation are identified: a stable policy community until 1987; a period of state direction (1988-90) when major reforms were introduced; and a more recent, unstable "issues…