The demise of the university in a nation of universities: effects of current changes in higher education in Australia

Australian higher education is currently undergoing great changes, a major aspect of which will be the disappearance of the binary system and the absorption of the advanced college sector into the university system. After a brief background discussion of the role of the university in contemporary society, this article examines the concept of the university now under very severe challenge in the Australian context and looks at some of the major responses to it through recent characterisations of the Australian university. It is argued that what I have typified as the Australian Comprehensive University (COMPUNI), will have responsibilities much more diverse and difficult than those which have hitherto been experienced by Australian universities - a reality not well appreciated at the present time.