Explaining the Capture of the University

Abstract

The original academy was committed to the cooperative search for truth alone, wherever that search might lead. The truth was held to produce upright lives, which in turn would produce a humane community. Universities from ancient and medieval times to the modern age were designed to create enlightenment and to enrich the culture of societies, along with necessary vocational training within an enlightened milieu. In Australia the universities shared these high-minded cosmopolitan ideals while their autonomy was supported by the state. As neoliberalism took hold, the reduction of state funding became a matter of self-congratulation for governments. Since the 1980s universities have been 'captured' by the forces which control most societies - forces of neoliberal market ideology and managerialism. The opportunities for independent thought, research, and expression have been greatly constricted, to the detriment of a humane and open society.