A tale of three countries, 1850-1993: higher education in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States
Professor R J W Selleck and Dr A I Taylor
Second semester * Gippsland (distance mode only) * May be taken by students enrolled on the Clayton campus
This subject will study the development of Australian higher education from 1850 to 1993. It will consider the history of institutions such as universities, mechanics institutes, teachers' colleges, schools of mines, technical colleges and institutes of technology throughout the period. The curriculum offered by these institutions, the staff and students who attended them, their changing relationships to government and industry, the manner in which they were financed and administered, and their effect on secondary schools and on the intellectual life of the nation will be central considerations. The subject will use a comparative approach, studying the British and (later) American sources upon which Australians drew for their higher education institutions, and analysing the manner in which these models were eventually adapted, rejected or simply ignored.