Ebook: No end of a lesson: Australia's unified national system of higher education

Introduction -- 1. Dawkins takes charge, 1987 -- 2. The winds of change -- The predicament of higher education -- Australia reconstructed -- He who pays the piper -- The search for solutions -- Changes abroad -- 3. How to proceed? -- Higher education as a market -- Rethinking the role of the state -- The collapse of the policy community -- Few friends -- 4. A unified national system -- Abolition of CTEC -- A statement of intent -- The green paper -- User pays -- Joining the unified national system -- The new model of higher education -- 5. Amalgamations -- The process -- The pattern -- Success and failure in two regional amalgamations -- Success and failure in four metropolitan amalgamations -- How unified was the national system? -- 6. Compliance -- Equity and access -- Credit transfer and the competency movement -- Governing bodies and university management -- Sticks and carrots -- 7. Finance -- Funding expansion -- The allocation of funds -- Performance-based funding -- and three years of rewards for quality -- International fees -- Domestic fees -- A higher education market? -- 8. Teaching -- Changes in provision -- Open learning -- Teaching the teacher -- The student experience -- 9. Research -- Setting directions -- Concentration and selectivity -- Competition and control -- Research training -- Innovation, commercialisation and public research -- 10. The university changed -- Growth -- Convergence and differentiation -- The university brand -- Management -- Managers and managed -- Conclusion -- Lament for the lost university -- The durability of the unified national system -- A final reckoning.;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.