“Universities are the last bastion of knowledge and understanding, across every field where there is authentic knowledge to be had,” says Uni Melbourne VC Duncan Maskell
His second annual state of the uni address on Wednesday night was inevitably shaped by the impact of COVID-19, on campus and community, and how Uni Melbourne’s research and teaching is shaping the defence against it.
But in a carefully apolitical address, Professor Maskell also confronted continuing challenges for higher education that pre-dated the pandemic.
In the month of the government’s new applied-undergraduate education plan Professor Maskell spoke up to defend the broad-curricula “Melbourne model,” (CMM June 26). He did so again in this address.
“Not unreasonably, we can expect the next few years to be a time when people, particularly young people, will want to go deeper, explore social and natural reality more fully. We should remember that, as well as economic challenges, there is a crisis of trust going on in the world: loss of trust in institutions, nations, political parties, perhaps loss of trust in facts themselves or an understanding of what truth is.
“We can lament this. But we should also remember that universities like ours need to be a big part of the solution to this problem. Universities are the last bastion of knowledge and understanding, across every field where there is authentic knowledge to be had.”
And he rejected education as a utility.
“The language of ‘markets’ which is commonly used in Australian higher education and media circles is deeply misconceived. When we start to describe students in terms of a market, then the marketisation of universities has reached its apotheosis. We must turn away from this view. Our students are dedicated, intelligent people: keen to learn, keen to make something of their lives.”
Overall the vice chancellor spoke for education, specifically at Uni Melbourne as a bright light in a pestilent passage, “Our community must be a beacon. The University of Melbourne has a major contribution to make; it has been making it all along, and will continue to make it in the months and years ahead.”