Is 2024 the year the Australian public will recognise the value of universities?

Recent examples have included university presidents in the United States from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Alongside the president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they faced criticism from the US Congress for failing to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate their institution's codes of conduct. The presidents of U Penn and Harvard later resigned.

On the face of it, this controversy targeted the claimed double standards of wealthy institutions regarding freedom of speech and ethics. But it also poured fuel on pre-existing political assaults against a higher education system perceived to be "woke", as well as the diversity, equity and inclusion policies employed by many universities.

Australia's universities have not been immune to political attacks. It is front of mind now because of what is happening overseas but also because in December 2023, Australia passed legislative amendments to make it harder for politicians in this country to exert undue interference on the higher education system.

Controversy over ideological influence in classrooms and pressure by wealthy donors hit the news in Australia in 2018, when the Australian National University withdraw from negotiations with the Ramsay Centre to establish a Western civilisation degree.

The crux of the disagreement was over intellectual freedom. Instead of teaching students "how" to think, the degree, which was intended to be exclusive, small scale and highly lucrative for its students, would teach "what" to think.

Defending the degree in conservative journal Quadrant, former prime minister, and Ramsay Centre board member, Tony Abbott famously said it would be "not merely about Western civilisation, but in favour of it."

Government intervention in university research and national funding schemes in Australia came to light around the same time, when a spate of research grants were blocked by some federal education ministers. Despite having been independently assessed by international experts, the grants were rejected by ministers in the previous Coalition government who held that they failed to deliver sufficient national benefit.

Political attacks on universities damage the higher education sector and our national capacities. They have created a conundrum for Australians that has led to negative public perceptions of universities, especially their civic or social value.

Despite these attacks, data analysed by Andrew Norton shows that in 2023, 69 per cent of Australians still expressed confidence in universities. People trust universities to provide their kids with the skills and training required for their working lives or to gain the knowledge to transform the world. They generally believe that equity measures should be in place to allow everyone to participate in higher education.

We rely on university research and innovation for our health and wellbeing, national, food and environment security, and many other things. During the first 12 months of COVID-19, for example, university researchers provided expert commentary in at least 67,000 media stories in Australia. Globally, university research was celebrated for generating groundbreaking knowledge about the virus and developing vaccines within 12 months.

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On top of this, universities contribute to national wealth, with university research accounting for 36 per cent of Australia's overall research and development output. In November, Education Minister Jason Clare said that "every dollar" of government funding administered by our national research funding agency, the Australian Research Council, "generates more than three dollars of economic output. That's a return on investment you don't see in many places."

Whether universities should be regarded with suspicion (as in the culture wars) or confidence (as the data shows) is not a zero-sum scenario. Debates about their value to society are important in a democracy because it shows that universities are part of our everyday cultures and national imagination.

It is relevant to have this conversation now, regardless of any implications the US backlash against universities may or may not have on Australian institutions. This is because the Australian government is about to release the Australian Universities Accord. It has billed the Accord as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to "reimagine" Australian higher education and plan for the future over a "30-year horizon". As we wait for this report - which will include 47 recommendations that affect all aspects of the higher education system - it is important to recognise that between these impressions of populist politicking and popular trust is a universe of possibilities.