----- Forwarded message from John Hermann <hermann@picknowl.com.au> -----
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 12:43:37 +0930
From: John Hermann <hermann@picknowl.com.au>
Subject: Universities in bed with corporate business
Economic Reform Australia
ERA EMAIL NETWORK
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001
From: Dion Giles <dgiles@central.murdoch.edu.au>
Subject: Universities in bed with corporate business
Source: MAI-not network <owner-mai-not@flora.org>
Universities in bed with corporate business
Comments by Dion Giles (Fremantle, WA):
A dispute proceeding at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales,
concerns the dismissal of a world-renowned scientist who has drawn public
attention to the deliberate alteration of university grades. There are many
issues here -- protection of academic standards (honest labelling),
academic freedom, class struggle over industrial provisions -- but
overarching all is the prostitution of universities which brings them
increasingly into line with the instrumental aims of Mr Greed International
and into conflict with the interests of the community. This particular
dispute relates to export of "education" (for which read "degree
certificates") to wealthy Asians, and to the questionable (some would say
deceptive) practice of altering student assessments upwards. But it occurs
in a wider context of the general erosion of standards of competence and
critical thought as prerequisites for degrees, which has been proceeding
for at least a couple of decades, as part of the conversion of universities
into tools of corporate business. Certification for all, not just for
fee-paying overseas students, is frequently implemented through the
mechanism of "normative assessment", which is designed to conceal on a
large scale the kind of unsatisfactory practice to which the dismissed
scientist drew attention in a couple of specific instances.
ISIS, The Institute of Science in Society based in London, has written an
account of the Wollongong scandal. Unfortunately I can't find a URL for the
write-up so am going to have to make this a long posting by quoting it
below. It does give a URL for a sign-on petition, and I would suggest this
is a matter of concern far beyond the shores of Australia and the borders
of academia. Where it asks for "Institution" my suggestion is to include an
institution relevant to universities or to scientific research if you are
connected with one, and otherwise leave it blank or insert the name of a
social institution with which you are associated.
Dion Giles
Fremantle, Western Australia
------------------------------------
ISIS Report - May 16 2001
Senior Scientist Dismissed for Defending Academic Standards
This is yet another blatant example of a university administration in bed
with corporate business, and all too ready to sacrifice academic standards
and academic freedom for commercial reasons. How you can help. Dr. Mae-Wan
Ho reports.
Tenured Associate Professor Ted Steele, internationally renown for his
pioneering work in immunogenetics, has been a staff member of the
University of Wollongong for 16 years when he was dismissed without notice
on February 26 2001. The Vice Chancellor Gerard Sutton accused him of
"knowingly spread false allegations" about the University. This amounted to
no more than publicly opposing the upgrading of student marks. The grades
of two students were upgraded within Steele's department, against his
recommendations and those of an external referee. Steele rejected demands
from Sutton to withdraw his remarks.
Ted Steele says his position has always been very simple, " I knowingly
spread the truth about a shonky B.Sc/B.Biotech Hons assessment process
which allowed fail/borderline pass students to be upgraded to mid range
pass (Hons 2 II) or PhD entry (Hons 2 I ) against expert evaluation and
opinion".
This is yet another blatant example of a university administration in bed
with corporate business and all too ready to sacrifice academic standards
and academic freedom for commercial reasons.
The story hit the press when Steele was interviewed by a journalist asking
him to comment on a nation wide survey of academics carried out by the
Australia Institute [1]. The results made it plain that Steele was not
alone in his concerns. The survey found widespread dissatisfaction with the
erosion of academic freedom, with many respondents complaining of
management pressure to produce "commercially favourable research and
student results".
Of the 165 teachers and researchers who responded, 92 percent expressed
concern about the general state of academic freedom. Of those, 81 percent
blamed the increasing commercialisation of their university.
Almost one in five reported that they had been prevented from publishing
contentious research results, and 41 percent said they had experienced
discomfort with publishing such results.
Almost half had experienced reluctance to criticise institutions that
provided large research grants or other form of support. Approximately 5
percent said they had experienced pressures to admit and pass full
fee-paying students and more than a quarter expressed low levels of
satisfaction with the freedom to determine student standards.
Sutton dismissed Steele in the midst of a campaign by the Australian
Universities Vice Chancellors Committee, joined personally by the federal
Education Minister David Kemp, to denigrate and discredit the Australia
Institute survey, in order to protect the Australian tertiary education
sector's $3.4 billion-a-year market among overseas fee-paying students,
particularly from Asia.
In the weeks following, staff members at Wollongong and other universities
began to voice concerns about Steele's case. On March 29, about 60 staff
members attended a union meeting at Wollongong University and
overwhelmingly passed a resolution stating that the dismissal set a
precedent that "if not fought, is a threat for every member of staff".
Michael Head, lecturer of law in the University of Western Australia drew
attention to context of Steele's dismissal: the slashing of government
funding and the general restructuring of universities along business lines,
which sounds all too familiar for those of us in Europe and the United States.
The Howard government has slashed tertiary education funding by some $800
million a year since 1996, forcing universities to increasingly rely upon
private student fees, corporate sponsorship and business research
partnerships. Even basic teaching must now be financed from such sources.
"For their part, university managements have engaged in cut-throat
competition with each other, vying for big business backing and launching
their own commercial enterprises." Michael Head said. Wollongong University
has been at the forefront of this drive. For the past two years, the
government has named it "University of the Year" largely on the strength of
its success in attracting corporate patronage.
Just two weeks before sacking Ted Steele, the university announced a new
$2.5 million grant from resources giant BHP to fund the BHP Institute of
Steel Processing and Products for five years. According to its media
release, the university "collaborates with BHP on projects ranging from
steel processing metallurgy and coatings technology to management of
innovation and technological change". BHP, whose nearby Port Kembla steel
plant is Wollongong's biggest polluter, also funds the university's chair
of Environmental Science.
According to Head, similar contractual commitments are becoming prevalent
at all universities. In a submission to a Senate committee inquiry into
higher education,
Queensland University academic Dr William De Maria reported that large
companies have funded some 100 professorial posts at universities.
These ranged from the Colgate-Palmolive chair of general dental practice at
the University of Queensland to the Microsoft chair of computing at
Macquarie University and the University of Western Sydney's chair of
gambling research (!), funded by Aristocrat, Australia's largest
poker-machine manufacturer.
"Ted Steele's dismissal is a warning that these arrangements and the
accompanying ideological climate are increasingly incompatible with free
speech. His sacking is a test case for the defence of academic freedom and
tertiary education itself." Head calls on students and all those concerned
with public education and democratic rights to join in demanding his
immediate reinstatement.
"Reinstatement at age 52 yrs is the only possible outcome for me" says Ted
Steele, "the second option is winning massive compensation for damages in
the courts- but I need to be reinstated so I have some infrastructure to
continue my research until normal retirement at age 65 yrs."
The University of Wollongong management has just been served with a Federal
Court action and the case comes up in the week of July 23-27 under the
Australian Federal Industrial Relations commission in Sydney. Ted Steele
will present his case on June 22 to the Federal Senate inquiry in Canberra.
Others, such as VC Gerard Sutton and some members of Steele's department
have a right of reply to justify their actions.
What is at stake is not just academic freedom or academic standards. It is
the freedom to research by dedicated, independent scientists who have not
been corrupted by the corporate takeover.
An e-mail/Internet site has been set up by the Australian National Tertiary
Education Union to create a petition to have Ted Steele reinstated.
Please add your name to the petition: Go to website
http://www.nteu.org.au/rights/wollongong.html . Put your name down and send
the web address to others, asking them to do the same.
------------
1. A story on the Australia Institute survey (on declining academic
standards in Australia) is in the current issue of the ANU Reporter at:
http://www.anu.edu.au/pad/reporter/. The Australia Institute
http://www.tai.org.au released the report in March and a media release is
also available at:
http://www.tai.org.au/media/PRacfree3.shtml . The Executive Summary is
available at:
http://www.tai.org.au/publications/DP37exec.shtml . Details on ordering the
report and or discussion papers can be found on the website.
-----------
The Institute of Science in Society www.i-sis.org . Londonia House, 24 Old
Gloucester Street London, WC1N 3A1 UK
Tel: 44 -020-7242 9831
----- End forwarded message -----
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