Commonwealth Policies: Impacts on Research in Australian Universities: Commonwealth Higher Education Policies: Their Impacts on Autonomy and Research in Australian Universities

In recent years the Australian Government's relationship to universities has become one of greater involvement as political circles recognise the escalation in the significance of higher education as a key determinant in Australia's economic, social, cultural and intellectual development. The increasing role of government in universities is largely a consequence of this recognition, but it is also due in part to changes in the way governments approach the public sector and publicly funded institutions. What the government wants from its universities; why it wants it; what it is doing to ensure that it gets what it wants and the results of its actions is well documented. What is missing is how universities themselves perceive the impact of the Government's increasing involvement. Although universities have much to say about how current and proposed Government policies affect their working environment they are not given much of a venue to opine. As such there is a lack of literature on how universities perceive the impact of this increasing involvement. This dissertation aims to fill this gap.