Senate Inquiry Highlights Deep-Rooted Governance Issues at Australian Universities
CANBERRA – A Senate Education adn Employment Committee report is exposing a crisis of governance within Australian universities, fueled by concerns over undue influence from wealthy donors and a lack of protection for whistleblowers. The inquiry follows recent cases of alleged corruption and suppression of academic integrity, prompting calls for a truly self-reliant ombudsman too oversee university operations.
The issues surfaced publicly again with the dismissal of University of Sydney neuropathologist professor Manuel Graeber after he made a public interest disclosure, echoing a decades-old case at the University of Melbourne. In the 1990s,a student allegedly offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in consultancy contracts to lecturers,and a substantial donation negotiated by the Dean,often just before examinations.
Dr.Kim Sawyer, a retired Associate Professor from the University of Melbourne, recounts being labelled a whistleblower after raising concerns about the offers and initiating an inquiry.Despite a Vice-Chancellor acknowledging “the Dean made a terrible mistake and that the student was…”, Sawyer says she was not protected and was subsequently removed from her position as Associate Dean. an internal report had exonerated both the student and the staff involved in the negotiations.
“Nothing seems to have changed,” Sawyer writes in a recent article published by Independent Australia.”A recent case at the university of Sydney echoes the 1990s… The case shows the need for an ombudsman with the independence to regulate fairly, or else, there will be more Professors Scott and Graeber. The loss to Australia will be significant.”
These incidents are framed within a broader critique of the Dawkins reforms of the 1980s and 90s, intended to broaden access to higher education. Sawyer argues these reforms inadvertently created a system prioritizing fundraising over academic merit, describing it as a “C-grade system, where the only As are awarded to those who can raise the most money.”
The Senate Committee’s recommendations aim to address these systemic issues, but concerns remain that, like previous reports, they may lack the force to enact meaningful change. Sawyer, who scrutineered for John Dawkins during his initial election to Federal Parliament in 1974, expresses hope the committee’s words will be heeded, warning that inaction will perpetuate a cycle of compromised academic integrity and loss of expertise within the Australian university system.