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. 

Who is it that makes up the constituencies of a 21st century university? And what should different sections of the public be demanding from those institutions? 

These questions go to the core of higher education’s purpose. Do universities create communities - or do communities create universities? And why might we be seeing the answers to these questions change? 

Thanks to The New Social Contract episode six guests: 

Matthew Cox - Director of Logan Together, a whole-of-community initiative based at Griffith University and within the Logan community 

And Professor Jim Nyland - Chair of Engagement Australia and Associate Vice-Chancellor Brisbane at the Australian Catholic University. 

What kinds of work will we be doing in 2040? What industries will still be going strong and which will have fallen away? 

The training and education we need now will depend on the kinds of work - the industries and services - around which, as a nation we want to build our economy and society. 

Australia is facing possibly the worst economic downturn in its history. So how should that sobering prospect reshape the relationship between universities, government and society - including industry? 

Thanks to The New Social Contract episode five guests 

Alison Pennington, a Senior Economist at the Centre for Future Work at The Australia Institute 

& 

Megan Lilly, is head of Workforce Development at the Australian Industry Group (or AIG) - Australia's peak industry association. 

The news grabs and additional audio in this episode of The New Social Contract podcast came from the following sites: 

‘From Back in Black to recession’, reported on AM, ABC, June 4, 2020. 

’The recession we couldn’t avoid’ on RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly, Abc, June 4, 2020. 

‘Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Australia has officially entered recession’ from ABC News, June 2 2020. 

‘Treasurer warns the worst is yet to come as Australia's economy enters recession’ from ABC News, June 3 2020. 

The Paris Riots of 1968 ‘French students again clash with riot police, Paris, France’, published by British Pathe on Youtube. 

‘The May 1968 protests that paralysed France’, published on Witness, by the BBC. 

‘May 1968 Paris Riots’ on The History Hour, published by the BBC. 

After a savage summer of devastating fires, universities, society and even some Australian states have recognised that the country needs a social and economic framework dedicated to the conditions of habitability - so how might the imperatives of climate change remake the social contract for universities in the 21st century? 

COVID-19 has not only shown that public goods are the key to well being and health, but it has revealed that the consent of populations and their willingness to participate in collective action is just as crucial to effecting transformation as is expertise. 

What does that mean for universities and their purpose in the 21st century? 

What new set of obligations and expectations will students face? 

And what should we be asking of our institutions as we confront the implications of climate? 

These are the questions the sector should be asking as we face lengthening months and possibly years in which the world of higher education in Australia, and the lives of all those who rely on it, is likely to grow more precarious rather than less. 

Special thanks to The New Social Contract guests: 

Professor Mark Howden, Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University 

& 

Associate Professor Lauren Rickards, co-leader of the Climate Change and Resilience research program of the Centre for Urban Research 

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

News and audio grabs used in the podcast feature the voices of: 

Abc journalists Hamish Mc Donald on ABC News in the news item: Flames rip through towns, fears death toll will rise as bushfires rage on’ ABC News 

Abc journalist Karina Carvalho on ABC News in news item: Flames rip through towns, fears death toll will rise as bushfires rage on’ ABC News 

Journalist Eddy Michah Jnr from DW News in the news item: ‘East Africa braces for severe tropical storms’ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXx7MzJaxs 

Former US President Barack Obama, giving a speech at the. 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. News source from Euronews. 

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWKy9zN90A) 

ABC Journalist Sarah Dingle on RN Breakfast in the news item: ‘Scientists believe Earth is now in the Anthropocene era’ from the 8 January 2016. 

(URL: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/scientists-believe-earth-is-now-in-the/7075730) 

You also heard the voice of the Mayor Carol Sparks from of Glen Innes, on ABC The World Today in the news item:’Climate change debate refuelled amid bushfire crisis’. 

URL: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/climate-change-debate-refuelled-amid-bushfire-crisis/11692184 

Journalist Eric Sorensen reporting for the Global News, in a news item titled: ‘Growing evidence Australia's wildfires connected to climate change’ 

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU-ye4J2-eA 

Sir David Attenborough on ITV News in the newsitem:Sir David Attenborough calls for 'urgent' climate change action’ in 2018. 

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZEYz1oGQ0). 

Greta Thunberg, as reported by the Guardian, from her speech at the 2019 UN climate action summit in New York. 

URL:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2019/sep/23/greta-thunberg-to-world-leaders-how-dare-you-you-have-stolen-my-dreams-and-my-childhood-video 

The actuality of thousands of students chanting at the climate protest across Australia from November 2018, as reported by the Guardian, Australia 

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlBXltX2I0 

And finally, at the start of the podcast you heard the rumblings of the Ilulissat Glacier. It was subject to the largest carving event ever recorded. It took place on May 28, 2008 while Adam Le Winter and Jeff Orlowski were filming the glacier in Western Greenland for the award winning documentary film Chasing Ice. 

URL: https://chasingice.com/ 

What does the COVID-19 crisis mean for universities now and over the next 6-12 months? 

There’s a lot that is uncertain. From job losses to student recruitment, future university business models and the role higher education will play in making a post-COVID society - the consequences of the pandemic are still emerging. 

The social settings of the post-COVID world will be different to those we have known. 

But the terms of those settings are not yet in place - that’s why there’s so much at stake. 

To help get a sense of where the cracks are emerging in Australian higher education and how different parts of the sector are responding, The New Social Contract podcast talks to: 

Dr Alison Barnes, President of the National Tertiary Education Union 

& 

Luke Sheehy, Executive Director of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), an umbrella body for technical universities including UTS, RMIT, University of South Australia and Curtin University. 

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

News grabs used in the montage at the start of the episode feature the voices of: 

Journalist Ellen Fanning, presenting The Drum on the ABC, aired on May 13 2020. 

Kylie Walker, CEO of Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, on the ABC 7.30 Report, titled ‘Fears for the viability of Australia's top universities without international students’. 

Victorian Minister for Higher Education Gayle Tierney on ABC Melbourne on May 20, 2020. 

An exchange between Labor Senator Murray Watt and Deputy Secretary for the Department of Education Robert Heferen at the Senate Select Committee for Covid 19 on May 19, 2020. 

An additional sound bite was kindly submitted to The New Social Contract podcast by Susan Goodwin, a Professor of Policy Studies from the University of Sydney, to discuss a UniKeeper policy document. 

Covid-19 has torn at the fabric of our higher education institutions but were the threads of that fabric already wearing thin? 

In episode two of The New Social Contract we discuss the context of the crisis - what are the challenges and how did we get here? 

Is the pandemic likely to force a reckoning with online education and why does the closure of the country's borders have such a profound impact on Australian universities? 

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

With thanks to episode two guests: 

Tim Dodd - Higher Education Editor, The Australian 

Dr Gwilym Croucher, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education Policy and Management at Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE), 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 

A news grab in this episode features the voice of: 

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

The New Social Contract seeks to contribute to a national conversation on how the relationship between universities, the state and the public might be reshaped as we live through the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us as we discuss the kind of higher education sector our society needs. 

Episode One is dropping Monday 4th of May 2020. 

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

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: 

Linda Mottram,Journalist on PM , ABC ‘Fears Australian universities could collapse in wake of COVID-19’ 

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

George Megalogenis, Author and Journalist 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. Tamson was invited to participate in this talk as an expert in the history of universities, an area she’s been working on since 2004. 

Brian Schmidt, Vice Chancellor, ANU on PM, ABC ‘Fears Australian universities could collapse in wake of COVID-19’