[csaa-forum] CCCS Public Lecture: 14th October @ 5.30pm. Prof Graeme Turner - Humanities and the University in Australia

Rebecca Ralph r.ralph at uq.edu.au
Thu Sep 16 11:46:16 CST 2010


 

 

 

CENTRE FOR CRITICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES, university of queensland
presents A lECTURE:

 



Thursday 14th October 5.30-6.30pm


Social Sciences and Humanities Library Conference Room
Level 1 Duhig Building
<http://www.library.uq.edu.au/ssah/duhig/ds1.html>   (Bldg 2) St Lucia
Campus,[See Map
<http://cccs.uq.edu.au/maps/index.html?menu=1&x=J.13&y=6.2&z=2&xc%5B%5D=
J.13&yc%5B%5D=6.2&id=69&facilityType=&backURL=> ]


 

 

The Humanities and the University in Australia


 


        Professor Graeme Turner 

 

 Over the last two decades we have seen successive governments downgrade
the value and importance of higher education in Australia. The Rudd
government may have temporarily arrested the steady decline in the
funding environment, but there remains much to be done to keep our
higher education system operating at an international standard. A most
worrying long term trend has been the steady instrumentalisation of
higher education - a focus on vocational and professional outcomes as
the primary purpose of its teaching programs, and a privileging of
industry partnerships in research funding.  The controversy over the
restructuring of the Gillard government ministry is among the more
recent indicators of this trend, as the initial removal of portfolio
titles which explicitly mentioned education and research was seen as
signalling an alarming narrowing of the presumed function of higher
education. In this kind of context, the humanities disciplines have been
especially disadvantaged. Many research funding programs and many of the
national research strategies exclude the participation of the
humanities, and the case for a humanities education is looking
increasingly vulnerable as the broader function of education seems no
longer to be recognised, let alone advanced, by government.  In this
lecture, drawing on many years of working between the university sector,
government and other peak organizations dealing with the humanities,
Professor Turner will discuss what he describes as a crisis for the
humanities disciplines as they struggle to maintain their distinctive
presence in Australian universities today.

 

 

About the Presenter:

 

Professor Graeme Turner
<http://www.cccs.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=16135&pid=61040>  FAHA is ARC
Federation Fellow and Director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural
Studies <http://www.cccs.uq.edu.au/>  at the University of Queensland.
His research has produced 21 books, and his work has been translated
into 9 languages, but this lecture will draw upon his experience in
dealing with government and the university sector as a representative of
the humanities over many years. In recent years, Professor Turner was
the chair of the trial ERA for Humanities and Creative Arts (2009), the
chair of the National Collaborative Research Information Strategy
Working Group for Humanities and Creative Arts (2008), a member of the
ARC ERA Indicators Committee for Humanities and Creative Arts (2008),
and the ARC College of Experts for the Humanities and Creative Arts
(2002-2004). As President and, before that, Vice-President, of the
Australian Academy of the Humanities (2002-2007), he has represented the
humanities on the National Academies Forum, the Australian Research
Information Infrastructure Committee, the National Curriculum and
Achievement Standards Committee, and many other fora, such as the
National Summit on National Research Priorities. He is one of only two
humanities academics to have been appointed as a personal member of the
Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council since the
Council was established during the Hawke government. 

 

This lecture will be chaired by Professor Gay Hawkins, Deputy Director,
CCCS, UQ.    Members of the public are invited to attend this free
lecture, after which light refreshments will be served.

Getting here: We encourage people to use public transport to reach the
University where possible - for more details on this please follow the
link: http://www.translink.com.au/uq <http://www.translink.com.au/uq>
alternatively, parking vouchers for the UQ multi-level parking building
[see map
<http://www.uq.edu.au/maps/index.html?menu=1&x=F.17&y=4.4&z=1&xc%5b%5d=F
.17&yc%5b%5d=4.4&id=16&facilityType=&backURL=> ] at the St Lucia Campus
are available to assist members of the community who attend this free
public lecture. The vouchers, which waive the parking fees for the
multi-story parking building, are only available for collection from
Centre staff at the event.   

                            Further information: Rebecca Ralph- ph. 3346
7407 or email on admin.cccs at uq.edu.au <mailto:admin.cccs at uq.edu.au> 

 

 

 

 

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