Broadening the Higher Education Conversation

Since it began in 2010 I have been an avid reader of the Conversation, and over that time it has published many excellent articles on a range of topics. I have written occasionally for it; articles on the history of Australian higher education, the problem of self-interest in the economic modelling industry, and the economics of social impact bonds. But its coverage of higher education has been disappointing.

Imagine if you described to one of the smart and worldly Conversation editors a new online publication funded by almost all the large corporations in an industry, for which only their employees can write, and tried convincing this editor that the new publication’s coverage of the industry would be broad-ranging and critical in the best sense. I think you would have great difficulty convincing them. But this imaginary situation is exactly that of the Conversation in relation to higher education.

I’m picking the Conversation as an example because it publishes more…