Democracy Sausage: Universities in crisis

Columnist Jenna Price and economist Sinclair Davidson join Democracy Sausage to dissect the crisis engulfing Australia’s university sector and ask whether it can be fixed before it’s too late.

Why are students being taught by academics on 13-week contracts who can’t get home loans? How did universities end up with 55% of staff in administration while gutting teaching? And should prospective students skip university entirely until the sector sorts itself out?

Dr Jenna Price is a columnist, political commentator and former academic. 

Sinclair Davidson is a Professor of Institutional Economics in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University.

Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.

Mark Kenny is the Director of the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. 

This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.