Is our university system broken?

Students are dropping out, academics are burning out, so is enough being done to save higher education? It's a multibillion-dollar sector, employing and educating millions, with expectations it can deliver the solutions and the workers Australia needs. But Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner says universities are in serious trouble.

This conversation was recorded at Readings Books on 15 July 2025.

Speakers

Graeme Turner Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of QueenslandAuthor of 30 books including Broken: Universities, politics and the public good (From Monash University Publishing's In the National Interest series)

Dr Ben Eltham (host) Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash UniversityNTEU delegate, journalist and commentator

From the Big Ideas archive:

Higher education for everyone in Australia — is it doable? - Big Ideas, ABC Radio National, 18 June 2024