Gender equality in academia has been monitored in Australia for the past three decades so it is timely to reflect on what progress has been made, what works, and what challenges remain. When data were first published on the gender composition of staff in Australian universities in the mid-1980s women comprised 20 per cent of academic staff and…

The Australian government initiated a review of higher education in 2008. One of the outcomes of the review was the formation of a national regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), with responsibilities to: register all higher education providers, accredit the courses of the non self-accrediting providers, assure…

In this paper, I analyse the history of teacher education in Australia from 1974 to the current policy moment in which questions are increasingly being asked about the quality of teaching and teacher education. Teacher education is, and has been, a highly scrutinised domain in Australia. Since the 1970s, we have seen more than 100 reviews of…

The response of Sydney University to recent union agreements concerning the restructuring of Australia's faculty reward system is described, especially as it concerns new requirements for faculty development and evaluation. It is concluded that the new policy is a more enlightened one, emphasizing development over assessment. (MSE)

A discussion of Australian higher education looks at the nature of quality and its assessment in higher education, particularly in the context of a new national committee on quality assurance. It examines the compatibility of quality management strategies with existing institutional decision-making and management processes. (MSE)

Coordination of post-secondary education institutions means regulation with the aim of developing greater consistancy and overall efficiency, and avoiding overlap of functions and resource waste. Australian coordination plans must balance freedom for academic institutions with the need to be assured these institutions are serving society's needs.…

Discusses several significant regulatory elements of five recent Acts of Parliament (Commonwealth) providing protection to overseas students' education in Australia, such as ensuring that overseas students are compensated for loss of prepaid fees if their education providers fail, and establishment of an enforceable National Code of Practice for…

The continuing intervention of the Commonwealth government in postsecondary education will become increasingly dysfunctional. Some issues discussed are planning and coordination, increasing degree of centralism, growth of bureaucracy, attitudes toward the sectors, and accountability. (MLW)

Implications of two trends in Australian higher education are considered. These trends are shift to a fee-for-services system in which the government pays less of the cost of higher education; and move toward deregulation, with elimination of centralized planning and emphasis placed on institutional response to student demand. (MSE)

Evolution of the relationship between Australian government and universities is traced from 1957, particularly concerning employment practices, union formation, and workplace regulation. The state has taken an increasingly assertive role in shaping universities' internal staffing, within an environment of growing commonwealth budget difficulties…

This paper argues that in the last decade, Australian higher education has moved from a relatively regulated to a largely unregulated model, resulting in reduction of institutional diversity. The advent of external quality assurance processes that reward the traditional notion of universities has further homogenized the system and diluted…

A British government memo on contracts between funding bodies and higher education institutions is outlined and its implications for Australian institutions are discussed, focusing on maximizing institutional control over academic offerings and managing faculty resources. (MSE)

The economic case for the deregulation of Australian universities, for reasons of efficiency and improved access, is presented and the economic and social implications of such a move are considered. Some discussion of the case against deregulation is also given. (MSE)

Implications of academic collective bargaining and unionization in Australian higher education are examined in the context of different models of bargaining advocated by the national government and federal opposition. Problems foreseen include diminution of employment conditions, morale, staff quality, and instructional quality as well as…

Increased government interference in college autonomy is seen to rest on the lack of responsibility of educational institutions and on their lack of sensitivity to community pressure. Increased government interference increases the workload on administrators and the cost of the administration of educational institutions. (MLW)