Sydney University three decades later

18 March 2010A time travelling uni student would experience some shocks, writes Rodney Tiffen in the National Times

THE Sydney University I am retiring from this week is very different from the one I joined in 1979.

A time traveller arriving from 1979 would first notice the digital revolution transformation. Then only a small minority of students submitted typed work, and there was an army of secretaries for academic and administrative typing. Although we complain about the oppressive volume of emails, computerisation has brought huge gains in productivity and efficiency.

The second thing to astonish our time traveller is how much Sydney University has grown. In 1979 it had 17,345 students; in 2009, this had increased to 47,253. The size of the student body makes even sillier the Howard government's obsession with abolishing student unions, the only aspect of universities that seemed to animate that government during its 11 years in power...

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