Australian National University chancellor Julie Bishop recently announced that she would step down. She had become so unpopular that she could no longer remain the university’s ceremonial head.
While this development is welcome, the emphasis from the mainstream media, the student union and the staff union is that Bishop has been the main problem at the university. Yet the issues at ANU run much deeper.
Universities have been turned into profit-making institutions, rather than sites of genuine education. This has resulted in course cuts and mass sackings. As well, there has been “mismanagement” leading to financial shortfalls—ANU spent tens of millions of dollars on consultants over the last three years and made risky financial gambles.
That was why the No Cuts at ANU campaign, led by students and staff at the Australian National University, forced vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell to step down at the end of 2025. We helped stop the continued job slashing, the proposed merger of colleges and the discontinuation of courses. And in 2022, there was a similar anti-cuts campaign against vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt, who slashed hundreds of jobs and cut the physics department by 25 percent.
Bishop served as chancellor during these campaigns, but she didn’t play a leading role in the university’s drive to prioritise profits above all else. Indeed, the fact that there were drastic cuts under previous managers shows that the issue isn’t simply about personnel. The main issue is the university being run like a business.
This is not unique to the ANU. Higher education no longer receives the public funds it once did and is more and more treated like any other commodity. University management teams often include politicians, former CEOs and administrators from large businesses. Their worldviews are aligned not to furthering education, but to competing financially and focusing on the bottom line.
From the beginning of last year, the No Cuts at ANU campaign exposed the realities of the latest round of cuts. We had protests, speakouts and forums where we hosted the media, National Tertiary Education Union activists and supportive politicians to discuss how drastic the cuts were. We spoke with students and staff, publicising their experiences of the cuts to the broader community.
It culminated in a 400-strong protest and media storm. The staff and students came out time and time again. That’s what ultimately led to the administration buckling. This was an activist campaign, not a lobbying or consultation campaign. While it didn’t resolve the structural problems, it did show that students and staff can win if we fight back.
The end of Bishop’s tenure is welcome. But we have to keep fighting and campaigning. The new acting chancellor, Larry Marshell, formerly the chief executive of the CSIRO, oversaw the sacking of hundreds of climate scientists and staff. People like him are chosen to run universities precisely because of such records. That will continue to be the case until we transform the entire sector into one that prioritises education over profits.
