Australia is going through a new wave of cuts to jobs and courses throughout the public universities in and this is fueling student opposition, including among post-graduate students. Through petitions and protests, students are seeking ways to fight the sacking of much-appreciated educators and the shutting down of critical courses, and to break through the stifling of opposition by the student and staff unions.
At the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth, a petition against the retrenchment of academics in the School of Social Sciences and the virtual scrapping of anthropology and sociology now has over 8,500 signatures as well as hundreds of comments denouncing the pro-corporate shift taking place.
One student wrote: “University education is not meant to…
