Underpinning change in universities

Jeannie Rea, Immediate Past President

We need to talk about the future of universities. We are in a moment of disruption. Crises can lead to progressive radical change, but also deep conservatism. We have to act quickly, but not hastily, and make time to listen, think and debate. I suggest some starting places to underpin these conversations.

Australian universities are on Aboriginal land

Acknowledging, recognising and respecting that sovereignty has never been ceded is a start. Unpacking what this means is the next step. Universities have a lot of rhetoric, policies and plans, but persistence is lacking. The wavering of institutional commitment to keep going adds to the anger, disappointment and frustration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students and communities who are repeatedly having their hopes dashed, while they are still expected to keep trying.

Starting from recognition that university campuses and other sites are on A&TSI should be fundamental to not just how universities make partnerships with A&TSI peoples and communities, but should be foregrounded in undertaking university operations and across education, research and engagement.

Decolonising universities

Universities must face up to their complicity in colonisation and post-colonialism. The movement for decolonisation has not yet publically erupted in Australian universities nor have demands to dismantle the structures and institutions of white supremacy, as is the case in the UK and North America. But the mumblings are gaining momentum.

The past and ongoing roles of Australian universities will increasingly come under scrutiny, as they must. Universities have direct historical roles in the dispossession, murder and colonisation of First Nations peoples of this continent as well as in the Pacific. And complicity continues today, in what is taught and researched, as well as in ongoing discrimination and racism faced by A&TSI people, other First Nations People and People of Colour. White supremacy remains systemic and systematic.

There is a climate emergency

Australian universities have not joined the international call to declare a climate emergency. Australian universities are engaged in many environmental sustainability and planetary health activities across all aspects of university operations. However, there are also contradictions increasingly evident to internal and external stakeholders.

For example, educating for sustainability and social justice is undermined if research and commercial partnerships and investments continue with organisations who are part of the problem. Declaring a climate emergency would force a closer look – and increase pressure upon universities. Listening, learning and acting upon the intersections with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges, standpoints and perspectives on Country are critical. If universities do not provide leadership in acting on climate change, they are part of the problem.

Equity, inclusion and diversity

The neoliberal university has become more equitable, inclusive and diverse, but this has more to do with the massification of higher education and demand for tertiary qualified workers. Our campuses look different than a generation ago with many more women and children of migrants. They are more representative of the Australian population, but this is also a thin veneer. Women, for example, are the majority of staff and students, yet sexism and gender based violence are still common. A few gaining entry to bastions of pale, male power makes little change.

The racial, ethnic, cultural and religious diversity amongst academic staff is low compared to similar countries. The more diverse student population see this and increasingly ask why. Class, is not spoken of, yet the barriers of low income and expectations start at school and continue through university. Current scholarship schemes make a difference only for the chosen few.

‘Free TAFE’ opened the door again to free tertiary education. The rhetoric of a higher education deferred payment loans scheme making fees a non-issue must be debunked. And fully deregulated fees remain the norm for most postgraduate courses, including those critical to progressing careers. University debts continue to be a millstone, and even a deterrent. Free government funded tertiary education is a reality in some countries and increasingly an election issue in others.

Insecure employment

Australia now has a two tier academic employment model, with a thinning tier of ongoing staff while the majority are employed sessionally and do most of the teaching. The former have a career. The latter have no security, no career paths, no paid leave, no say, and their casual contracts can be withdrawn anytime.

Amongst professional staff more jobs are now temporary. The current trend in university employment is to cobble together a series of casual and short term contract positions. At the same time, these, usually younger, workers are relied upon to implement the new initiatives. Their passion, commitment and loyalty are callously exploited. The impact of this workforce model on quality, integrity and even productivity is under increasing scrutiny.

Queries from students and others are not deflected by explanations that it is because of inadequate government funding. The question being asked of university leaderships is what are you doing about changing this. The option of subsidising domestic student education with international student fee income has finished. And the next generation of academics have had enough and are abandoning academia.

Democratising universities

Decision-making in universities is made by vice chancellors and their coterie, employed on limited term contracts, often with limited loyalty to the university community. University councils have shrunk and are dominated by corporate appointees, while the few elected staff and students are viewed with suspicion. Academic boards are toothless tigers with pre-determined agendas and no time for questioning. Electing leaders from amongst peers, as used to be the case with deans, has disappeared. Student unions still operate under draconian government legislation. And too many staff are afraid to join or become active in their union. There is little scope for staff to exercise any self-determination in their jobs. Critique is construed as criticism. Outcomes of consultation are pre-determined and ‘captured’ with the latest digital tool.

Meanwhile, there is much talk of encouraging student agency and even activism. While staff are constantly judged as to whether they are ‘fit for purpose’, there are few change making role models.

Meanwhile students across the world are increasingly organising and acting for change. I could go on, but this is a start. While there are pockets of recognition of the need to do things differently and cast off the platitudes, across our public university system we need to democratise power and decision-making. ◆

Jeannie Rea was NTEU National President 2010–2018, and is an Associate Professor at VU