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Abstract

The evolution of the university in New Zealand from its beginnings in a new colony in the mid-1800s was strongly influenced by happenings elsewhere in the British Empire. This chapter describes that history, maps the increasing demand for higher education in the 1960s, outlines the neoliberal reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, and then considers the performance-based funding environment of the twenty-first century. Laying out the historic contexts that have helped shape the current university environment in which early career academics are immersed, the chapter also identifies recent trends and policy changes affecting New Zealand universities and academics. It emphasises how different an environment the twenty-first century New Zealand university is from the ones in which many current academic leaders were themselves trained.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Source: http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/why-universities-matter/story

  2. 2.

    This advisory body eventually became the Tertiary Education Commission.

  3. 3.

    Ako Aotearoa funded the research on which this book is based.

  4. 4.

    More information on WIL can be found on the Universities New Zealand website: http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/aboutus/sc/hr/women-in-leadership

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Sutherland, K.A. (2018). The Changing Academic Profession in New Zealand Universities. In: Early Career Academics in New Zealand: Challenges and Prospects in Comparative Perspective. The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61830-2_2

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