Abstract
Australian Government participation targets recommended in the Review of Australian Higher Education (Bradley In Review of Australian higher education: Final report, Commonwealth of Australia 2008) presented a complex public communication challenge to higher education participation. This research discusses the content of communication messages about Australian universities propagated in the period following the implementation of new national student participation goals. It argues that despite the stated policy objectives and increasing public rhetoric about broadening access to university such messages continued to position universities as elite and exclusive, while vocational training colleges continued to be promoted as having less rigorous academic standards suited to those who aspire to develop trade employment skills. Australian universities are part of a wider communication system that includes other tertiary education organisations including the vocational education sector, State and Federal Governments and the news and information media. The communication of messages about the value of higher education and differences between institutions in this system contributes to the formation of public beliefs and attitudes. The paper argues that the persistence of communication practices and messages that promote the superiority of university and the low success rates of students from disadvantaged backgrounds contributes to the persistence of entrenched views about post-secondary education. The limited discursive framing of university education in Australia in those messages is likely to prevent universities from increasing the participation rates of students from non-traditional higher education backgrounds and thus undermine national educational and associated economic goals, while contributing to an increasing social divide where educational achievement is the fault line.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, A.V. (2012). The role of skills development in overcoming social disadvantage. Background paper prepared for the education for all global monitoring report.
Aitkin, D. (2009). Bradley report lacks vital ammunition. Australian financial review, Education Section. February 9, p. 28.
Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Paris: UNESCO.
Andreassen, T. W., & Lindestead, B. (1998). The effect of institutional image in the formation of customer loyalty. Journal of Service Research, 1(1), 82–92.
Apple, M. W. (2014). Official knowledge: Democratic education in a conservative age (3rd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.
Ball, S. J. (2012). Global education inc: New policy networks and the neo-liberal imaginary. Abingdon: Routledge.
Bertrand, I., & Hughes, P. (2005). Media research methods audiences, institutions, texts. New York: Palgrave.
Bleiklie, I. (2005). Organizing higher education in a knowledge society. Higher Education, 49(1–2), 31–59.
Bradley, D. (2008). Review of Australian higher education: Final report, Commonwealth of Australia.
Callender, C., & Jackson, J. (2008). Does the fear of debt constrain choice of university and subject of study? Studies in Higher Education, 33(4), 405–429.
Chesters, J., & Watson, L. (2013). Understanding the persistence of inequality in higher education: Evidence from Australia. Journal of Education Policy,. doi:10.1080/02680939.2012.694481.
Chitty, W., Barker, N., & Shimp, T. (2008). Integrated marketing communications (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.
City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development. (2008). Skills development: Attitudes and perceptions. London: The City and Guilds of London Institute.
Cleary, P. (2010). Not taught, not trained and no plan. The Australian, Review Section, February 4, p. 2.
Cullen, D. (2009). The jobs are still out there. The weekend Australian, Review Section, July 25, p. 5.
Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Reform (DEEWR). (2010). Communiqué for the Ministerial Council for tertiary education and employment meeting June 2010. Commonwealth of Australia.
Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology (DFEEST). (2007). Primary brand research. Government of South Australia.
Dichter, E. (1985). What’s in an image? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2(1), 75–81.
Domke, D., Shah, D. V., & Wackman, D. B. (1998). Media priming effects: Accessibility, association and activation. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 70(1), 51–74.
Druckman, J. N. (2011). What’s it all about? Framing in political science. In G. Keren (Ed.), Perspectives on framing (pp. 279–302). New York: Psychology Press.
Eggins, H. (2003). Globalization and reform in higher education. New York: McGraw-Hill International.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis the critical study of language. Essex UK: Pearson Education Ltd.
Fields, J., & Schuman, H. (1976). Public beliefs about the beliefs of the public. Public Opinion Quarterly, 40(4), 427–448.
Gale, T. (2011). Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: Not yet centre field. The Australian Educational Researcher, 38(1), 5–23.
Gale, T., & Tranter, D. (2011). Social justice in Australian higher education policy: An historical and conceptual account of student participation. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 29–46.
Gilmore, H. (2009). Back to the future: Return of a reformer. Sydney Morning Herald, National Section, March 30, p. 13.
Grube, D. (2011). Speech cycle? Election defining rhetoric in westminster democracies. Australian Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 35–52.
Gunther, A. (1998). The Persuasive press inference: Effects of mass media on perceived public opinion. Communication Research, 25(5), 486–504.
Guthrie, B. (2010). Going higher makes you stand out. The Australian, Higher Education Special Report, September 1, p. 4.
Habermas, J. (1984). Reason and the rationalization of society, Vol 1 of the theory of communicative action. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hallahan, K. (1999). Seven models of framing: Implications for public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 11(3), 205–242.
Harris, J. (2011). Improving participation in higher education for young people from low socio-economic backgrounds: Changing beliefs about higher education. Dissertation.
Healy, G., & Trounson, A. (2009). Switch that attrition to fruition. The Australian, Features Section, March 4, 2009.
Hosken, N., Land, C., Goldingay, S., Barnes, P., & Murphy, K. (2013). “I would’ve been so overwhelmed …”: The importance of TAFE in supporting success for low SES students in HE. In FYHE 2013: Proceedings of the first year in higher education 2013 conference (pp. 1–1). FYHE.
Jongbloed, B. (2003). Marketisation in higher education, Clark’s triangle and the essential ingredients of markets. Higher Education Quarterly, 57(2), 110–135.
Kayrooz, C., & Parker, S. (2010). The education revolutionary road: paved with good intentions. In C. Aulich & M. Evans (Eds.), The Rudd government (pp. 161–180). Canberra: ANU E Press.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Lane, B. (2009). Private providers on notice. The Australian, Features Section, January 28, p. 30.
Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lebihan, R. (2009a). The woman who’s causing a commotion. Australian Financial Review, Education Section, February 2, p. 28.
Lebihan, R. (2009b). Equity plan not black and white. Australian Financial Review, Education Section, March 16, p. 28.
Lingard, B., & Rawolle, S. (2004). Mediatizing educational policy: The journalistic field, science policy, and cross-field effects. Journal of Education Policy, 19(3), 361–380.
Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and marketisation: The implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 1–17.
Marginson, S. (2004). National and global competition in higher education. The Australian Educational Researcher, 31(2), 1–28.
Marginson, S. (2006). Dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher Education, 52(1), 1–39.
Marginson, S. (2011). Equity, status and freedom: A note on higher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(1), 23–36.
Marginson, S. (Ed.). (2013a). Tertiary education policy in Australia. Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Marginson, S. (2013b). The impossibility of capitalist markets in higher education. Journal of Education Policy,. doi:10.1080/02680939.2012.747109.
Maslen, G. (2009). Facing a higher issue: All things aren’t equal. The Age, Education Section, March 9, p. 12.
Mather, J. (2009). Paying the price of education. Australian Financial Review, Smart Money Section, December 5, p. 40.
McCombs, M.E., & Guo, L. (2014) Agenda-setting influence of the media in the public sphere. In R. S. Fortner & P. M. Fackler (Eds.), The Handbook of media and mass communication theory. doi: 10.1002/9781118591178.ch14
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–185.
Meirick, P. (2006). Media schemas, perceived effects, and person perceptions. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(3), 632–649.
Merton, R. (1968). Social theory and social structure. New York: Free Press.
Milburn, C. (2009). Trades face ‘class’ divide. The Age, Education Section, March 2, p. 12.
Molesworth, M., Nixon, E., & Scullion, R. (2011). The marketisation of higher education and the student as consumer. Abingdon: Routledge.
Murdoch, S. (2010). Graduates rush investment bank jobs. The Australian, Finance Section, March 22, p. 23.
Mutz, D. (1998). Impersonal influence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mutz, D., & Soss, J. (1997). Reading public opinion—The influence of news coverage on perceptions of public sentiment. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61(3), 431–451.
Nguyen, N., & LeBlanc, G. (2001). Image and reputation of higher education institutions in students’ retention decisions. International Journal of Educational Management, 15(6), 303–311.
Noelle-Neumann, E. (1974). The spiral of silence: A theory of public opinion. Journal of Communication, 24(2), 43–51.
Norton, A. (2014). Mapping Australian higher education 2014–2015. Grattan Institute. Accessed Dec 28, 2014 from http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/816-mapping-higher-education-2014.pdf
Novak, L. (2009a). The Advertiser, News Section, January 20, p. 11.
Novak, L. (2009b). TAFE a logical path for Katrina. The Advertiser, News Section, February 6, p. 54.
Oates, S. (2008). Introduction to media and politics. London: SAGE.
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313–345.
Parenti, M. (1993). Inventing reality. The politics of news media (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Parker, S., Stratton, G., Gale, T., Rodd, P., & Sealey, T. (2013). Higher Education and Student Aspirations. A survey of the adaptive preferences of Year 9 students in Corio, Victoria. Deakin University, Australia: Centre for Research in Educational Futures and Innovation (CREFI).
Putnam, T., & Gill, J. (2011). The Bradley challenge: A sea change for Australian universities? Issues in Educational Research, 21(2), 176–191.
Roberts, B. (2009). Opportunity knocks. The Age, VCE and Careers Supplement, April 20, p. 6.
Schuetze, H. G., & Slowey, M. (2002). Participation and exclusion: A comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education. Higher Education, 44(3–4), 309–327.
Shafir, E. (Ed.) (2014). The behavioural foundations of public policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Skills Australia (2010). Australian Workforce Futures. Report. Canberra: Commonwealth Government of Australia. http://www.awpa.gov.au/our-work/Workforce%20development/national-workforce-development-strategy/documents/WWF_strategy.pdf. Accessed 18 June 2014.
Soutar, G., & Turner, J. (2002). Students’ preferences for university: A conjoint analysis. International Journal of Educational Management, 16(1), 40–45.
Stirling, J. (2010). Work brings career goals into focus. The Weekend Australian, Features Section. April 24, p. 8.
Stuart, N. (2010). Rudd’s Way: Labor in power, 2007–2010. Melbourne: Scribe Publications.
Symes, C. (1996). Selling futures: A new image for Australian universities? Studies in Higher Education, 21(2), 133–147.
Symes, C. (2000). “Real world” education: the vocationalization of university. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
Teixeira, P. N., & Dill, D. D. (2011). Public vices, private virtues?: Assessing the effects of marketization in higher education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
The Future Is In Your Hands. (2009). The Advertiser, National Careers and Employment Expo Advertising Feature, April 30, p. V10.
Tight, M. (2012). Researching higher education. Buckingham: McGraw-Hill International.
Trounson, A. (2009). Degrees pay off, but unis struggle. The Australian, Local Section, January 19, p. 3.
Usher, A. (2009). Ten years back and ten years forward: Developments and trends in higher education in the Europe region. In UNESCO forum on higher education in the Europe region: access, values, quality and competitiveness.
Vocational Education: Too Many Objectives. (2009). The Advertiser, Features Section, March 10, p. 28.
Wierenga, A., Landstedt, E., & Wyn, J. (2013). Revisiting disadvantage in higher education. Melbourne: Youth Research Centre, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Willis, P. E. (1977). Learning to labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wiltshire, K. (2009). Gillard’s TAFE learning curve. The Australian, Features Section, March 14, p. 22.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Snowden, C., Lewis, S. Mixed messages: public communication about higher education and non-traditional students in Australia. High Educ 70, 585–599 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9858-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9858-2