Higher Education and the Law

This book is the first in Australia dedicated to the legal environment of our universities. The law both drives and governs the evolution of Australia’s strong and vibrant system of higher education. Here, experts explore a wide range of areas of topical and salient interest, providing a comprehensive resource for those both within and outside the sector, including managers, governors, academics, legal practitioners and all who have an interest in the impact of the law on its operations.

While their primary function today remains the provision of higher education and research, Australia’s universities are now large commercial global corporations. Their operations involve the management of a diverse range of relationships, both internal and external, and the law plays a central role in these. Higher Education and the Law first considers the legal framework of the higher education sector and the relationships universities have externally, particularly with government – their governance, their funding and accountability, and their maintenance of high standards and quality. It then traverses many of the areas where the law has a significant impact on the relationships universities have with their students and their staff.

In a clear and readable style, the book covers matters from anti-discrimination and equal opportunity, transparency and due process in decision-making, employment and student matters, to property rights such as copyright and ownership of intellectual property. It focuses on those issues of the most practical relevance to today’s higher education environment.