Well, this was unexpected.
A letter from the Prime Minister of Australia, and, although not personally but through his Office, it is the first time I have had an acknowledgment from the highest office in our beloved country; a life changing event, and, seriously, proud to be Australian existentially.
I now have hope. Yes, the letter has only referred the matter to the Federal Department of Education, but is a referral from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. In the way that the government works, this is significant.
I will give the Department of Education time to digest the issue as I raised it, and then follow up.
THE MATTER
This is what I plead.
Dear Prime Minister,
I am make this plea for your consideration in the reform of higher education funding policy, from this blog and correspondence which I am having with higher education policy players. Your secretary, and my old employer, Professor Glyn Davis, can assist you in the translation:
Dear friends,
My assessment from Professors Simon Marginson and Michael Wesley’s conclusions.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/top-australian-universities-slide-down-world-rankings-20230926-p5e7po.html
In the “to” list, I am including Michael Macklin, former Dean at the University of New England, because I believe the Vice-Chancellors of today need to take a hard, long look at his successful person-oriented strategy during his tenure. It is time to stop compromising with the governance bullies. Whatever the outcome of the referendum on October 14, Noel Pearson is correct: compromise can only go so far.
Kind regards,
Neville.
I do not require a reply.
And passed on addendum to the Prime Minister the next day:
Dear friends, including the Prime Minster here in this correspondence, from my last plea,
I get concerned that the powers-that-be think “my” policy position is “radical”. Nothing can be further from the truth. First, I am saying only something fresh from the field of critical thinking on where the failures are rooted from the neo-liberal policies, and where many other academic critics have demonstrated the failure in the fields of economics and political theory. However, to the key point, this (image featured; see Poster in https://drnevillebuch.com/the-misery-of-rankings-and-machine-thinking/) is radical compared to my balanced approach:
My policy approach is the same as Noel Pearson’s Voice strategy. There has been too much compromise with the neo-liberal economy in the last 25 years and more. I do not propose to “burn down the neoliberal university”, but simply stop compromising with the big business demands on what the university should deliver.
The historic choice is yours. Keep compromising with one side of politics or stop and rebuild value from the other side (“radical”), or face the overwhelming “radical” backlash.
Kind regards,
Neville.
I do not require a reply.
Hope.
Featured Image: A road sign with the word hope ahead with rainbow and clouds in the background. Photo 22268416 | Hope © Valentin M Armianu | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch
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