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Simon Cropper on the fate of universities.

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John Cain and John Hewitt, Off Course: From Public Place to Marketplace at Melbourne University Scribe, Melbourne, 2004

As an international academic who believes strongly in a public education system and has worked at Melbourne University for the past eight years, I have been a vocal critic of the direction taken by the University's management over recent years and have no problem pointing out the idiocy of the University's management team in no uncertain terms. Off Course: From Public Place to Marketplace at Melbourne University by John Cain and John Hewitt is calm and informative and does an excellent job of presenting the changes that have taken place at Melbourne University over the past few years, focusing particularly on Alan Gilbert's turbulent tenure as Vice Chancellor (though Gilbert himself preferred to be known as CEO).

The first section, 'From Academic Institution to Corporation', outlines the nature and time frame of the change of culture at Melbourne University. The second looks in detail at 'The Commercial Experiment' that has been Melbourne University over the past seven years or so. Both sections are fleshed out with interviews from both sides of the divide and it is this aspect of the book,...

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