Dilemmas of Diversity

To tease out some of the tensions and interconnections under the surface of 'diversity' in Australian higher education, we will examine a number of dilemmas that seem to us to reveal some of the problems and issues at stake. The formulation 'dilemmas' allows us to stand back a little, and to see some of the tensions that structure difference and diversity (and the processes of differentiation and diversification) in Australian higher education. Difference and diversity are not just states; they are achieved, in part, through processes of differentiation and diversification (and inhibited by their counterparts integration and standardization). The nature of these processes influences their outcomes. They will have different practical consequences depending on how governments, universities, and the clients of universities respond to them in practice. Changing the processes will produce different patterns of outcomes, with different consequences for particular institutions and for Australian higher education as a whole. In our view, in the interests of higher education as a whole, some such changes are needed.

The 'problem' of diversity among universities can be explored in terms of five dilemmas: