How Australian universities will fare in a post pandemic world depends on an influential but rarely talked about relationship.

This is the relationship between the state, its institutions, and the public: what’s often referred to as “the social contract”.

The social contract universities had when COVID-19 erupted, was one that patched together a variety of largely unstated hopes and expectations and this has enormous consequences for where we find ourselves today.

What is the new social contract for Australian universities in the 21st century and how did we arrive at this place?

This podcast is hosted by Associate Professor Tamson Pietsch and produced by Impact Studios at the University of Technology Sydney.

Episode One Guests:

Dr. Hannah Forsyth, Senior Lecturer in history at the Australian Catholic University

Dr James Waghorne, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne

For show notes and transcripts visit: https://www.uts.edu.au/partners-and-community/initiatives/impact-studios/projects/new-social-contract-podcast

News grabs in the trailer feature the voices of:

Alison Barnes, National President of the NTEU on Sky News ‘Govt university package all 'smoke and mirrors'.

Lisa Jackson Pulver, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney on the ABC, Education in the Age of Covid-19, Q+A.

Professor Des Manderson interdisciplinary scholar, (ANU) on Radio National Big Ideas ‘The purpose and future of the university (part two)’ - a broadcast version of an event presented by the ANU College of Law and the ANU Centre for Law, Arts & the Humanities, that was curated and facilitated by Natasha Cica of Kapacity.org at the National Library of Australia on 17 March 2020.

Professor Claire Macken Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching College of Business and Law at RMIT University on the KMPG podcast series, Talking Tertiary.

Mark Scott, Head of the New South Wales Education Department, on the ABC, Education in the Age of Covid-19, Q+A.

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, on the ABC, 7.30 Report, 16 April 2020.

In the season finale of The New Social Contract, host Tamson Pietsch is joined by Dr Gwilym Croucher, Senior Lecturer at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, to consider for the final time how the relationship between universities, the state and the public might be reshaped as we live through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode we look beyond Federal Education Minister Tehan’s proposals to ask three questions:

1. What is the vision for higher education that lies behind the Coalition Government’s plans?

1. What bigger questions about universities do they raise?

1. What might be some of the other ways those questions could be answered?

Higher education leaders and policy makers in Australia are facing a lot of hard decisions right now.

The New Social Contract Podcast spoke with UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs and Shadow Minister for Education and Training Tanya Plibersek to find out their different perspectives on the purpose and role of universities in the 21st century.

There are lots of factors contributing to the uncertainty in the tertiary sector at present - will international students return? How much debt can be sustained? What will happen to research funding?

But one thing that would make it easier to act in the present, is a clear plan for what universities should do in the future. What are universities in Australia for? The answer to that question will shape the kind of system we get.

*Note: The interview with Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs took place on Tuesday June 9 2020.

The interview with Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Education and Training took place on Tuesday June 16 2020.