The origins of educational systems can be, to a large extent, attributed to the military system. Every year classes of around 30 students are ‘processed’ like military platoons. When students succeed they acquire a standardised credential, the degree, attesting their intellectual qualities, similar to military medals, but when students fail they are held back and ‘reprocessed’ on that same year to then move on and out to the labour market wars.
Efficiency and standardisation, as pillars of the modern educational system, helped form ‘armies of students’ and ‘factories of ideas’ that propelled the wealth of nations. However, when diversity lacks the system cracks and, both nationally and globally, educational institutions are revisiting their methods to remain relevant to students, industry and society.
In Australia, with few exceptions, the academic experience…
