Whose future? - Richard Hil - Why we need to think more expansively about the future of Australian higher education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man

A critical discussion of the future of Australian higher education challenges narrow, economy-led forecasting focused on job readiness and employer demands. Richard Hil argues that universities’ integration into the neoliberal economy limits how “the future” is imagined, marginalizes academics, students, and First Nations voices, and overlooks human agency and “wicked problems.” The paper calls for reimagining higher education based on values, dissent, and the capacity to shape desired futures rather than simply feeding labor markets.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Whose future?

Future gazing and the job-readiness focus

The “herd of elephants”: defining the future and missing human agency

Institutional governance and silencing voices

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 Whose future? Or why we need to think more expansively about the future of Australian higher education Richard Hil ‘The future depends on what we do in the present’ – Mahatma Gandhi Around the corner Future gazing has become something of a hobby among higher education boffins. It’s more head-scratching than staring into the tea leaves and crystal balls, but the thinking caps are definitely on – well; sort of. While there’s certainly no shortage of venues to indulge this stuff – conferences, seminars and roundtables – most tend to dwell on dreary questions like: What sorts of skills and training will graduates need for the jobs of the future? Are universities equipped to deliver job-ready graduates? Where will the necessary funds come from? What role will academics play, and what sort of workplace conditions will they face? Typically, such lines of inquiry concern themselves with the trends and patterns of today, and what’s likely to follow. In the more economic-centric gatherings, the future of higher education is linked to issues of economic growth,global competitiveness,productivity, employment opportunities, ‘skills shortages’, training needs, and so forth. Mercifully, these dismal concerns are sometimes enlivened by bouts of reflective analysis, including how universities might respond to rapid technological change, particularly the challenges presented by robotics, artificial intelligence and automation. Sadly, however, concerns about the desirability of cyborgs strutting the Anthropocene tend to be subsumed by the need to secure the ‘jobs of the future’.The only thing left to figure out is how universities can meet employers’incessant demands for employable graduates, and particularly how to expand opportunities in health, welfare, teaching, ‘creative industries’, finance, marketing, IT, tourism, construction and other fields. Labour market conditions may change and technological developments intrude, but the role of the university sector, or so it seems, is to do its mandated duty as a feeder for the neoliberal economy. To this end, education ministers, senior university managers, business leaders, and a bevy of highly paid consultants tirelessly devote themselves to the task of job supply. Academics and students – and the ‘general public’ for that matter – are rarely consulted about such matters, which is all a bit strange when you think about it, given that as‘knowledge workers’,academics would seem rather well placed to ponder the direction of their own institutions. Sadly, this silencing also extends to those who hold different perceptions of the future based on their own traditions, experiences and understandings of the world.The voices of First Nations people, for example, are often marginalised or dismissed as narratives of the past, which suggests that ideas about the future are as subject to colonising practices as the past and present.Indeed,the very idea of ‘the future’, devoid of the voices of dissent and difference,means that other narratives tend to prevail. And they do. A herd of elephants Perhaps most striking about most future gazing fora is their capacity to ignore not one, but an entire herd of elephants in the room.The first of these is the seemingly vol. 61, no. 1, 2019 Whose future? Richard Hil 55 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 obvious question: what constitutes ‘the future’? It’s a fuzzy temporal category that receives less attention than the blueberry muffins served up at morning tea. On the rare occasions it is seriously considered, the world of tomorrow is immersed in the usual concerns of the economy and job readiness.Why so? Well, largely because universities have been fully integrated into the neoliberal economy, so what ails the economy, ails universities, and what the economy demands, the university sector usually delivers. Not surprisingly, therefore, what passes for the fu

FAQs

What voices does the author say are marginalized in future-oriented higher education debates?

The text states that academics and students, and the “general public,” are rarely consulted, and it highlights how First Nations voices are often dismissed as narratives of the past.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man