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News:
Issue five of the JPU is in now available for dowload, following “The Last Post” forum held at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in November 2007.
The Last Post
Follow the link above for more details of these papers and the journal issue.
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Higher education in the media
Some links to articles regarding issues, raised in the media, relevant to APU members (updated 26/05/08)
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The APU
The Association for the Public University (APU) was formed in 1999 as a response to the corporatisation and privatisation occurring within Australian universities. Since then, entrepreneurialism has become firmly entrenched. The APU believes that market values are inconsistent with the idea of the university as an independent, intellectual, critical and moral entity acting in the interests of society. Every week sees new government initiatives that further erode these core values.
Exemplary is the fact that students are now customers who are responsible for the cost of their education according to the user-pays principle, a factor that has been instrumental in the distortion and 'dumbing down' of the substance of education. The government has also authorised the establishment of private 'for profit' institutions which may be branches of overseas universities. These private entities are entitled to a share of the ever-decreasing public funds in the name of competition, the leitmotif of entrepreneurialism.
The APU has been active in denouncing the erosion of 'the public' in the public university through the media, colloquia and other fora. We invite others to join with us in taking a stand against the evisceration of one of our most precious public goods - the university - the linchpin of democratic governance and freedom.
The APU is incorporated in Victoria (Australia).
For a detailed statement of the aims see here
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