No End of a Lesson Australia’s Unified National System of Higher Education

A revolution swept through universities three decades ago, transforming them from elite institutions into a mass system of higher education. Teaching was aligned with occupational outcomes, research was directed to practical results. Campuses grew and universities became more entrepreneurial. Students had to juggle their study requirements with paid work, and were required to pay back part of the cost of their degrees. The federal government directed this transformation through the creation of a Unified National System. How did this happen? What were the gains and the losses? No End of a Lesson explores this radical reconstruction and assesses its consequences.

Stuart Macintyre is Professor Emeritus of the University of Melbourne and has written extensively on Australia's political and social history, as well as its intellectual traditions. His most recent book is Australia's Boldest Experiment: War and Reconstruction in the 1940s. André Brett researches in political, economic, environmental, and transport history and takes a particular interest in the formation, modification, and demise of institutions. He is the author of Acknowledge No Frontier: The Creation and Demise of New Zealand's Provinces and a University of Wollongong Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow. Gwilym Croucher is a public policy academic and adviser specialising in higher education at the University of Melbourne. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education as well as Principal Policy Adviser in the University of Melbourne's Chancellery.