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 miss on 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.

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Stuart Macintyre is Emeritus Laureate Professor of the University of Melbourne and a Professorial Fellow of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. He was president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia from 2007 to 2009 and is a life member of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Gwilym Croucher is a higher education researcher, analyst and policy adviser at the University of Melbourne. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education as well as Principal Policy Adviser in Chancellery at the University. Andre Brett is a historian of nineteenth century colonialism. His current research interests emphasise the role of railways and public works in shaping the colonial world. He is currently attached to multiple research projects at the University of Melbourne.