Adjustment of Australian Academics to the New Commercial University Environment

Abstract

Major changes in government policy and institutional management have impacted adversely on Australian university academics who tend to be highly critical of the new directions and their effects on the academic profession. Academics strongly oppose reduced government funding per student unit, higher workloads and new styles of corporatist university management that have resulted in reduced collegiality. At the same time, many academics have made surprisingly impressive transitions to the new environment. National survey data demonstrate that the changes have not adversely affected the commitment of academics to teaching and research. In fact, academics in both science and technology fields and in the social sciences show high rates of interest in academic work. They work longer hours per week than in the past, report higher levels of research outputs, and have achieved substantial success in attracting external research funds. The paper thus provides an alternative view to the dismal portrait in the scholarly literature about recent changes in the Australian academic profession.