A Career in Activism - A Reflective Narrative of University Governance and Unionism - Agnes Bosanquet & Cathy Rytmeister

Oct 15, 2026

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A career in activism examines what it means to be an academic activist and to conduct activist work in the contemporary Australian university. Against trends of globalisation, massification and marketisation, it explores fee deregulation uncertainty, public funding cuts, and changes to income-contingent loans. The discussion connects activist attention to university governance, regulatory and auditing frameworks, gender inequality, and the academic workforce amid casualisation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Context: globalisation, massification, marketisation

Massification and marketisation mechanisms

Regulation, reporting and casualisation

What academic activism looks like

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W A career in activism A reflective narrative of university governance and unionism Agnes Bosanquet & Cathy Rytmeister Macquarie University This paper examines what it means to be an activist and to do activist work in the Australian contemporary university. In a context of globalisation, massiﬁcation and marketisation, what does academic or scholar activism look like? In a time of political uncertainty about fee deregulation, further cuts to public funding and changes to the income-contingent loans scheme, what does it mean to be an activist or to do activist work? And what happens when activist attention turns to the higher education sector and the operations of the university? This paper examines these broad questions at an intimate level, presenting a reﬂective narrative of an individual career in academic activism marked by a long-standing scholarly interest in the nature and work of universities, academic and professional roles, teaching experience in multiple disciplines and involvement in union representation. In this paper, the reﬂections of an individual academic activist, Rosie, are embedded in a contextual discussion of university governance, regulatory and auditing frameworks, the academic workforce, gender inequality, and learning and teaching in higher education in Australia. Keywords: academic activism, university governance, NTEU This paper examines what it means to be an activist and to do activist work in the contemporary university. It takes as its context the big picture trends of neoliberalism in Australian and international higher education over the last three decades: globalisation, massification and marketisation. The extent to which these factors are causes or consequences of each other is arguable, but makes little difference to their observable impact on what is now the ‘business’of higher education. Massification refers to the global phenomenon of increasing participation in higher education. Australian higher education is now a mass participation system (30-50 per cent of the school-leaver age cohort enrolled in higher education) and may move into high participation status (>50 per cent enrolled) in the near future (Marginson, 2015) . On its own, massification should lead to greater demand for academic staff and opportunities for continuing employment. But at the same time, governments have systematically withdrawn per-student public funding from universities, substituting secure base vol. 59, no. 2, 2017 funding with contestable funding reliant on market-like competitive mechanisms. This marketisation reorients higher education towards competitive markets on local, national, regional and global scales. It is largely the result of public policy underpinned by an assumption that market or quasi-market mechanisms are effective tools for the efficient regulation of higher education (Meek, 2000) . Simultaneously, the increased global mobility of information, finance and people, and the formalisation of regional trading blocs, removal of trade barriers and establishment of a range of free trade agreements have impacted higher education.These aspects of globalisation have enabled the establishment of global, national and local markets in higher education and provided an opportunity to supplement domestic funding with fullfee-paying international students (Marginson, 2004) . Together the forces of globalisation, massification and marketisation have resulted in a higher education system marked by increased regulation and reporting (Vidovich, 2002) and widespread casualisation of the A career in activism Agnes Bosanquet & Cathy Rytmeister 79 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W academic workforce (May et al., 2011) . Casual staff appointments, also known as adjuncts, contingent, nontenure track and sessionals, now dominate the higher education sector. Increased labour market flexibility is a key feature of

FAQs

What is the central question of the paper about activism in universities?

The paper examines what it means to be an activist and to do activist work in the contemporary Australian university, particularly under major policy and economic shifts.

How do globalisation, massification, and marketisation shape academic work in the paper?

They are presented as key trends affecting the observable “business” of higher education, including increased regulation and widespread casualisation of the academic workforce.

What kinds of changes and uncertainties in higher education policy are discussed?

The paper addresses political uncertainty about fee deregulation, further cuts to public funding, and changes to the income-contingent loans scheme.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben