The reconstruction of higher education in Australia through the creation
of the Unified National System of Higher Education at the end of the
1980s by John Dawkins is commonly seen as a watershed. It brought new
ways of funding, directing and organising universities, expanding their
size, reorienting their activities and setting in train a far-reaching
transformation of the academic enterprise. This volume traces its impact
on the balance between the University of Melbourne's academic mission
and external expectations, and how it adjusted to neutralise the impact
of the change and restore the balance. At Melbourne, the Dawkins
revolution changed little in the way it understood itself and conducted
its affairs, but changed everything.