Big Little Thought Crimes in Melbourne

Big Little Thought Crimes in Melbourne
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Author: geoffsharrock

For over two decades I've been studying, teaching and writing about higher education policy, organisation and management.

Posted on April 15, 2021April 18, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 10

One quote Hare had got right was my paper's conclusion: For funding advocates, Education at a Glance has been a cherry-picker's picnic ... the more deeply we probe to tell apples from oranges, the more fruit salad we find ... Despite many claims of a serious funding problem for Australian universities based on international comparisons,…

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Posted on March 30, 2021April 11, 2021 by geoffsharrock · 2 Comments

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 9

By the end of my own long March at the University that year, one thing was clear. Hare didn't share my concern with her "misuse" headline. And didn't care what I said my paper actually said. Re-reading her report (Chapter 4), I saw that it misquoted from the text of my paper as well: Geoff…

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Posted on March 23, 2021April 15, 2021 by geoffsharrock · 2 Comments

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 8

In any normal academic debate, a reply in the Journal later that year could have noted that one of my paper's assumptions was wrong. In the OECD report it drew on, the Australian rate of spending had risen. But in the next OECD report, later that year, it fell back. While my case didn't rely…

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Posted on March 12, 2021April 15, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 7

As Voltaire said when a fellow philosopher's book was burned by the Paris authorities: "What a fuss about an omelette!" But this was 2016, not 1758. Then again, it wasn't 2019 either. That was the year the French Review reminded universities that academic freedom and free exchange are crucial to their work - even if…

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Posted on February 16, 2021March 31, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 6

So far, gentle reader, I've been telling my story with the "2020 hindsight" that a spell of unemployment can afford. Now let me pause in this (cleansingly forensic) account of The Year My Career Broke, way back in 2016 - for a 2020 COVID-19 performing arts update... Our first and second waves that year, in…

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Posted on January 19, 2021April 19, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 5

Refutation, refutation, refutation! In the days and weeks that followed the Canberra conference, my paper didn't prompt any public comment at all. No-one on the "attacked" list came out to rebut its case in The Australian. But privately, the first complaints had landed within hours. By the end of Day 3 in University House, I…

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Posted on January 6, 2021March 30, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 4

I woke up one day in early 2017, feeling terrible. Like Lucky Jim after a hard night's drinking. Picking up my phone, I used it to peruse the bruising. My face was a plausible match for the way my head felt. As if at some point during the night, I'd been beaten by secret police.…

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Posted on January 5, 2021March 12, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 3

Even with 2020 hindsight it's hard to explain exactly how the events of 2016 spiralled so far out of anyone's control, from that early storm in an academic teacup. A media story in March drew ripples of concern in Canberra and Melbourne. And in London there was umbrage. Which then morphed into a complaint. Which…

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Posted on December 23, 2020February 16, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 2

In 2016 my career went bung at the University of Melbourne. The academic year began with a bang of bad publicity. And ended with a whimper of exhaustion and despair. Not the end of anyone's world, by any stretch. Trivial compared to your Trumps. A bagatelle compared to your Brexits. Infinitesimally piffling, compared to your…

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Posted on December 17, 2020March 30, 2021 by geoffsharrock

Diary of an academic infidel – Chapter 1

Unemployed at last! Who can forget that feeling of freedom you get when, finally resigned, you clear your desk and walk out the door? Secure in the knowledge - or at least sustained by the hope - that (whoever's banishing whom) there is a world elsewhere? But that was then. Now it's 2020, and I'm…

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