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Argues that league tables largely reproduce existing privilege and that prevailing corporate and neoliberal messaging misrepresents the lived realities of academic work. Highlights the institutionalization of “metrics” and global rankings that shape policy, media releases, and perceptions of excellence, ultimately reflecting the characteristics of the privileged global North.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/what-are-good-universities/594650/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/what-are-good-universities/594650.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ben ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-25","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the paper’s central question about universities?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It asks how one can arrive at a concept of the “good university,” and evaluates the adequacy of common ways of defining it.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the paper criticize league tables for universities?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It argues that league tables essentially reproduce existing privilege and embed misrepresentation into policymaking.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How do metrics and international rankings shape the idea of a good university?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper states that rankings using outcome metrics institutionalize a definition of the good university, driving continual competition and media narratives while rewarding institutions that resemble privileged models from the global North.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594650,1792230263,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},2336478951081,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","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  \nWhat are good universities?  \nRaewyn Connell University of Sydney  \nThis paper considers how we can arrive at a concept of the good university. It begins with ideas expressed by Australian Vice-Chancellorsand in the ‘league tables’ for universities, which essentially reproduce existing privilege. It then considers definitions of the good university via wish lists, classic texts, horror lists, structural analysis, and shining examples from history. None of these approaches is enough by itself; but in combination they can be fruitful. The best place to start in defining a good university is by considering the work universities do. This leads to issues about the conditions of the workforce as a whole, the global economy of knowledge, and the innovations bubbling up around the edges of this economy.  \nKeywords: university, teaching, managerialism, workforce, higher education, democracy  \nDr Pangloss and the league tables  \nA few years ago theAustralianVice-Chancellors’Committee (AVCC) re-badged itself as ‘Universities Australia’(UA), and since then the assembled vice-chancellors have presented themselves as ‘The voice of Australia’s universities’.That’s what their website says, and this is undoubtedly a rich mine of corporate wisdom. ‘Australia’s universities’, the website tells us,‘offer a unique educational experience that fosters self-belief, rewards independent thought and fuels inquiring minds’. Universities Australia (2016) has a‘vision for a smarter Australia’, which will be achieved if more students, grants and fees come into universities. But of course growth ‘will not be at the expense of quality. Universities have, and will continue to maintain, robust  \ninternal quality assurance mechanisms and processes.’  \nThis robust declaration is of course written by the UA’s advertising people, but it undoubtedly reflects the vicechancellors’ corporate view.They have excellent reasons to be pleased with progress.Their annual salaries averaged $835 000 each (including the bonuses) in 2014. If the UA’s lobbying for unrestricted fee increases eventually bears fruit, they will get even more. For each current  \nvice-chancellor, we could get a dozen tutors, research associates, and administrative officers.  \nA few years ago one of their number, Glyn Davis of Melbourne, delivered the ABC’s Boyer Lectures, subsequently published as a book called The Republic of Learning. This is the most widely circulated Australian text ever written about higher education, so it’s worth taking note. It’s an excellent guide to the ruling mentality, and you can still find it in good second-hand bookshops.  \nIn genial style, The Republic of Learning takes the listener/reader through the fascinating world of universities. Davis speaks of old and new achievements in teaching, research, and academic life, with many powerful insights:‘Much needs to be done that is new – but much needs to be preserved’ [p. 29] . In universities, ‘Authority is held collectively by the academic body, represented through an academic board or senate’ [p. 97].The system has dilemmas, but faces the future with confidence:‘Each public university, determined to make its way in the world, will invent the future that makes sense for it and its communities’ [p. 123] . And so on.  \nDavis starts and finishes by invoking the great 16th-century scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam. It’s a brave  \nvol. 58, no. 2, 2016 What are good universities? Raewyn Connell 67  \nA 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  \nchoice. That sardonic and embattled writer was a noted enemy of complacency, clichés and intellectual sloppiness.  \nDavis succeeds, through his six lectures, in conveying a truly Panglossian picture: all is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds.Trust us! It’s a verbal version of the imagery now found on all Australian university websites: sunny skies and flowering jacarandas, happy students on manicured lawns, c","cbCaiefhWwU7voUz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiefhWwU7voUz","pdf",151513,"English","# Raewyn Connell University of Sydney\n## What are good universities?\n## Dr Pangloss and the league tables\n## Metrics, rankings, and neoliberal policy","[{\"question\":\"What is the paper’s central question about universities?\",\"answer\":\"It asks how one can arrive at a concept of the “good university,” and evaluates the adequacy of common ways of defining it.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper criticize league tables for universities?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that league tables essentially reproduce existing privilege and embed misrepresentation into policymaking.\"},{\"question\":\"How do metrics and international rankings shape the idea of a good university?\",\"answer\":\"The paper states that rankings using outcome metrics institutionalize a definition of the good university, driving continual competition and media narratives while rewarding institutions that resemble privileged models from the global North.\"}]","What are good universities? | PDF",1792079564,18]