Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and higher education spokesperson, supports and welcomes a senate inquiry into university governance.
Senator Faruqi sits on the Senate Education and Employment Committee, which is conducting the inquiry. Terms of Reference and further details of the inquiry can be found here.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and Senator for NSW:
“This senate inquiry is a win for all of us who have been highlighting the breadth and depth of the impacts of the ‘corporate university.’ As a former academic, I have seen this decline where students and staff suffer while the executive class splurge on consultants and largesse.
“The need for an extensive overhaul of university governance has been crystal clear for a long time as neoliberal policies of both Labor and Coalition governments have crept in. Universities have become places of systemic wage theft while VCs and executives walk away with hefty paychecks.
“The corporate model has corroded universities to the extent that nothing short of a governance overhaul will do to fix the problems that have been entrenched over years.
“Cleaning up university boards to ensure they are run by staff and students, not stacked with corporate elites, will lead to a more democratic university which serves the public interest.
“The Greens will make sure that this inquiry results in actually fixing governance problems and making universities democratic, accountable and transparent.”