Our universities survived the tempest: now for more sea-change

Last week a higher education journal published my review of a new book by Griffith University professor Martin Betts on the Australian university sector's pandemic responses during 2020-2022, and what forms of future shock may lie ahead. Launched at this week's Universities Australia conference, The New Leadership Agenda recounts how local lockdowns meant pushing campus-based…

Hard heads, soft hearts: why our universities need both

In Australia and New Zealand, university leaders have called on their institutions to promote more open-minded and constructive debates, to help societies respond in more enlightened ways to complex challenges. University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater writes that campus communities should be exemplars where scholars speak bravely and freely and with respect. At the University…

Discussion Paper (final draft)

Introduction - the Australian context In Australia (as in many other liberal democracies), ours is an age of high anxiety and deep uncertainty. We are a successful multi-cultural nation where half the population was either born overseas or has an immigrant parent, and where 1 in 4 people speak a language other than English at…

Viewpoint visibility in Australian universities: project update

Preamble: this project is an issue-mapping-and-engagement exercise, funded by Heterodox Academy. (The HxA agenda is: to improve the quality of research and education in universities by increasing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement). At the June webinar I shared insights from interviews in March and April and took up points raised at the first May webinar.…