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Changed funding arrangements and views of education have resulted in a re-prioritization of activities and practices in Australian universities. While considerable research attention has been given to the consequences of these changes for university policies and the activities of academic staff, less attention has been given to how students perceive these changes. In this paper, undergraduate students’ experience of the commodification of higher education sector are explored. The evidence suggests that the changed context is beginning to affect how students perceive university priorities and their effects on teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines a recent book about the University of Melbourne. It uses this as a case study to explore traditional conceptions of the university in the Western tradition, and aspects of the Australian debate about government policies and institutional strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the Australian Federal Government initiatives in the area of early childhood with regard to the provision of early childhood education and care. These changes have influenced a Western Australian university to develop an innovative birth to 8 years preservice educator education curriculum. Using an ecological approach, this preservice curriculum reform is designed to address the growing need for teachers who recognize the importance of a child's physical, emotional, and cognitive development from birth to 8 years as significant in preparing young children for entry into “formal learning.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 35 years Australian higher education policy, like that of most countries, has undergone radical changes. This article reviews these changes in terms of four key periods, beginning with the abolition of student fees, through to the recent unprecedented levels of government control and intervention. Policies are compared with each other and common themes across periods, attempts at reinvigorating or reintroducing old ideas, and genuinely new policies are discovered. Finally, the impact of these policies over the last 35 years on the higher education sector, particularly its academics and institutions, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]