Australia's Universities

Australia's universities are in crisis-and this time it's real.

Struck by simultaneous financial, pedagogical, and ideological challenges, Australia's entire university system stands in desperate need of reform. But good reform requires good data, and each of the major players in Australia's university debate has strong incentives to warp the data in its own favour.

In this timely book, sociologist and higher education commentator Salvatore Babones delivers the insights Australians need in order to reform what are, after all, their universities. He demonstrates that (contrary to media accounts) domestic funding has held up relatively well over the last two decades, while international students have actually failed to pay their fair share. He explains how universities have gamed the international rankings by making questionable moral compromises, especially in dealing with China. And he lays out a sensible vision for the future of Commonwealth funding that will expand opportunities while managing costs.

Australia's Universities: Can They Reform? is an indispensable counterweight to reports commissioned by trade associations, staff unions, the government, and the universities themselves. Its independent analyses offer a sneak peek into the inner workings of the university system, with a view to helping Australia avoid disaster and achieve meaningful reform. If universities are the conscience of a nation, Australia needs all the help it can get.

Salvatore Babones is an associate professor at the University of Sydney and an adjunct scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies. His 2019 CIS paper The China Student Boom and the Risks It Poses to Australian Universities presciently warned of the dangers of overreliance on international students. He earned his PhD in sociology and his MS in applied mathematics at the Johns Hopkins University.