☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑💻<p>What does the AFR say about University administration? <br> <br> “Are Australian university <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/bosses" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>bosses</span></a> worth the big bucks? Australian vice chancellors earn far more than their <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/peers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>peers</span></a> in the <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/UK" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UK</span></a>, <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/US" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>US</span></a>, <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Canada</span></a> and <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/NewZealand" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NewZealand</span></a>. Is this justifiable?”</p><p>“Australian <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/universities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>universities</span></a>, it seems to me, are subject to two different forces: <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/managerialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>managerialism</span></a> and a heightened <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/regulatory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>regulatory</span></a> state. By having so much <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/RedTape" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RedTape</span></a> attached to universities by <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/government" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>government</span></a>, we end up needing a lot of processes and the VCs are there to make sure their universities are fulfilling all those sets of <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/regulations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>regulations</span></a>,” Forsyth says.</p><p>She agrees with Robinson that university governance is at the core of the explosion in executive salaries. Whereas Robinson points to a lack of <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/experience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>experience</span></a> and <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/expertise" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>expertise</span></a> on university boards, Forsyth blames the loading of <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/CorporateTypes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateTypes</span></a> on university <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/councils" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>councils</span></a> and in <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/Chancellor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chancellor</span></a> positions, which she says fundamentally changes the focus from academia to money-making <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/enterprises" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>enterprises</span></a>.</p><p>“I think this has enabled councils to leave the managers in charge and act in solidarity with them,” she says. “Councils are stacked with people who are going to be on the vice chancellor’s side from an ideological perspective.”<br>Forsyth, author of “A History of the Modern Australian University”, was made redundant last year from <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/AustralianCatholicUniversity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AustralianCatholicUniversity</span></a> after it shut down a raft of courses in the humanities, including <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/ResearchInstitutes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ResearchInstitutes</span></a> in <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/philosophy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>philosophy</span></a> and <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>history</span></a>.</p><p>She notes that for decades, <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/ViceChancellors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ViceChancellors</span></a> have been whinging about the lack of <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/GovernmentFunding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GovernmentFunding</span></a>, but achieved very little in return. At the same time, they have overseen mass <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/casualisation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>casualisation</span></a> of staff – <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/HigherEducation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HigherEducation</span></a> has the largest proportion of causal and contract staff of any sector in the economy – while ignoring widespread <a href="https://ioc.exchange/tags/WageTheft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WageTheft</span></a> – now estimated to be as high as $160 million affecting 100,000 employees in almost all universities”</p><p><<a href="https://archive.md/uJS5u" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">archive.md/uJS5u</span><span class="invisible"></span></a>> / <<a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/are-australian-university-bosses-worth-the-big-bucks-20240122-p5ez5x" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">afr.com/work-and-careers/educa</span><span class="invisible">tion/are-australian-university-bosses-worth-the-big-bucks-20240122-p5ez5x</span></a>> (paywall)</p>