Australian Universities : A History of Common Cause

The first comprehensive history of Australia's university sector, this book explores how universities work and for whom, and how their relationship with each other, their academics and students and the public has evolved over a century.

Australian Universities is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand where Australian universities have come from, and where they are heading.

Few of our institutions are as significant or as complex as Australia’s universities. This first comprehensive history of Australia’s university sector explores how universities work and for whom, and how their relationship with each other, their academics and students and the public has evolved over a century.

This book tells the story of how Australia’s universities have expanded to usher in an era of much wider participation in higher education, and shaped and been shaped by internationalism. Since coming together as a sector, universities have had many achievements, such as making research a national undertaking during the Great Depression and reshaping themselves as part of reconstruction after World War II. They were also at the forefront of the establishment of the internet in Australia.

Australian Universities shines a light on these achievements and is essential reading to anyone who seeks to understand where Australian universities have come from, and where they are heading.