Extending the educational franchise: the social contract of Australia’s public universities, 1850–1890

Horne, Julia; Sherington, Geoffrey

doi:10.1080/00309230903528637

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Despite the intentions of these legislative acts, higher education was primarily accessed in practice by the elite and ruling classes (Horne and Sherrington, 2010, 2012; North, 2016). The gradual move to accepting members of other classes was connected to the social and class influences experienced in the various states of Australia (Forsyth, 2015).…”

Section: Results: Establishing Government–governance Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How do government policies influence the governance paradigm of Australian public universities?

Christopher

Ukwatte

Yapa

2020

JMH

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Purpose This study aims to examine how government policies have influenced the governance paradigm of Australian public universities from a historical perspective. In doing so, it addresses current uncertainty on government-governance connectivity. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and governance and uses a developed framework of three constituents of governance to explore government–governance connectivity through a critical discourse analysis. Findings The findings reveal that government policies have influenced the three constituents of governance differently since 1823, resulting in three distinct governance discourses. In the third governance discourse, the findings reveal a deviation from policy directions towards corporate managerialism, resulting in a hybrid governance control environment. This scenario has arisen due to internal stakeholders continuing to be oriented towards the previous management cultures. Other factors include structural and legalistic obstacles to the implementation of corporate managerialism, validity of the underlying theory informing the policy directions towards corporate managerialism and doubts on the achievability of the market based reforms associated with corporate managerialism. The totality of these factors suggests a theory practice gap to be confirmed through further empirical research. There are also policy implications for policymakers to recognize the hybrid control environment and ascertain the risk the hybrid control environment poses towards the expected outcomes of corporate managerialism. Research limitations/implications The findings are limited to a critical discourse analysis of data from specific policies and journal publications on higher education and a developed framework of constituents of governance. Originality/value The study is the first to examine government–governance connectivity in Australian public universities and also the first to introduce a three-constituent governance framework as a conduit to explore such studies. The findings contribute to the literature in identifying a theory-practice gap and offer opportunities for further research to confirm them.

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Section: Results: Establishing Government–governance Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How do government policies influence the governance paradigm of Australian public universities?

Christopher

Ukwatte

Yapa

2020

JMH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is evidence that religious-blind admission processes succeeded, to a degree. Using student records, researchers Julia Horne and Geoffrey Sherington determined the religious background of students attending the University of Sydney between 1852 and 1861 (Horne & Sherington, 2010). Anglican students dominated; however, there were significant numbers of Roman Catholics and Presbyterians, with relatively small proportions of other religions and denominations.…”

Section: 'A Manly Woman': Australian Universities As Both Enablers An...mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Profitable for the country’. An Australian historical perspective of the contested purpose of public universities

Pitman

2020

Higher Education Research & Development

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This article analyses the social contract formulated between state and university, in the period 1850-1930. Using contemporary recordsfor example, legislation, parliamentary debates, university acts, newspaper articles, senate and professorial board minutes, and similarthis article examines how Australia's early scholarly community contested and negotiated what it believed to be the purpose of higher education, with a sometimes-conflicting view held by the state. The analysis indicates that, from the outset, certain paradoxes have inscribed into these foundational negotiations. Conflicting narratives of opportunity and privilege positioned universities, simultaneously, as agents for social inclusion and maintainers of social privilege. The purpose of knowledge as either/both pure and practical has been another point of contestation. Consequently, universities vacillate between acts of social conservatism and progressivism. These tensions remain apparent in the modern purpose of higher education institutions.

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“…Written history states the rationale for establishing universities in Australia was based on grounds of "openness and equality" (Selleck, 2003, p. 9)the removal of religious bias and the pragmatism of professional training (Turney et al, 1991;Macintyre and Selleck, 2003;Selleck, 2003; These institutions, with their accompanying councils, professors and programmes of study were instrumental in shaping an education that was different from that of the old British academic world. By expanding their "educational franchise" (Horne and Sherington, 2010;Pietsch, 2013), these early Australian universities laid the foundations for opening higher education to all those who could meet matriculation requirements, regardless of class or creed.…”

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confidence: 99%

Privileged knowledge, privileged access: early universities in Australia

North

2016

History of Education Review

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that Australia’s first two universities were connected to class status. It challenges the idea that these universities extended the “educational franchise” at their outset, by interrogating the characteristics of the student population in comparison with the characteristics of the population in the colonies. It looks at the curricula within the university system to show it is always “interested”, never neutral – it may be unique to the social, cultural, political and economic location of each university, but ultimately it benefits those who hold power in these locations. Design/methodology/approach – This research involves empirical analysis of characteristics of university students in Australia in the 1850s, including country of birth, religion, age, previous education and fathers’ occupation, as well as population demographics from the censuses that took place in the colonies of NSW and Victoria at that time. It also involves an analysis of the sociology of knowledge in nineteenth century Australian universities in light of this empirical data. Findings – Socio-political influences on the establishment of the first universities in Australia highlight the power of conferring legitimacy to particular areas of knowledge and to whom this knowledge was made available. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to using the student data for the first three years of enrolment because in order to make comparisons between the student population and the population of the colonies, the student data needed to be from a time as close to the population census as possible. The Sydney census was in 1851, so student data from the University of Sydney was 1852-1854. The Melbourne census was in 1854, so student data from the University of Melbourne was 1855-1857. Originality/value – Australian historiography suggests that early universities in Australia were open to all, regardless of background. This paper challenges this orthodoxy through empirical findings and theoretical analysis.

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Extending the educational franchise: the social contract of Australia’s public universities, 1850–1890

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

How do government policies influence the governance paradigm of Australian public universities?

How do government policies influence the governance paradigm of Australian public universities?

‘Profitable for the country’. An Australian historical perspective of the contested purpose of public universities

Privileged knowledge, privileged access: early universities in Australia

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