Australia's First University Press

The Dawkins Revolution

25 Years On

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John Dawkins was Australia's most influential higher education minister. He turned colleges into universities, free education into HECS, elite education into mass education, a local focus into an international outlook, vice-chancellors into CEOs, and most academics into both teachers and researchers.
The publication of this volume marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the revolution that John Dawkins started, creating what became known as the Unified National System of higher education. While John Dawkins' reforms were and often remain controversial, they have had a lasting impact on the shape of university education in Australia.
This edited collection of research papers, histories and personal accounts from key players analyses the antecedents, details and legacy of this remarkable period in higher education policy in Australia.


Gwilym Croucher

About The Author

Gwilym Croucher is a public policy academic and adviser specialising in higher education at the University of Melbourne. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education as well as Principal Policy Adviser in the University of Melbourne's Chancellery.

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Simon Marginson

About The Author

Simon Marginson is Professor of International Higher Education at the UCL Institute of Education at University College London in the UK. He is Director of the ESRC/HEFCE Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), and Joint Editor-in-Chief of Higher Education. From 2006-2013 he was Professor of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne. He works primarily…

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Andrew Norton

About The Author

Andrew Norton is professor of higher education policy in the Monash Business School at Monash University. Until December 2024 he was professor in the practice of higher education policy at POLIS: The Centre for Social Policy Research (formerly the Centre for Social Research and Methods) at the Australian National University. He has worked in higher…

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Julie Wells

About The Author

Julie Wells has over thirty years experience leading in higher education, and in public policy roles in Government and trade unions.

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