Seeking the Passionate Career: First‐in‐Family Enabling Students and the Idea of the Australian University

Abstract

This paper examines the idea of the university from the first-in-family enabling students' perspective. It provides an overview of the current crisis of meaning in scholarly commentary that points to a spectrum of meanings about the university. This spectrum ranges from the ancient imaginary of the monastic university as 'ivory tower' to the instrumental idea of the entrepreneurial university. The analysis then reports on the idea of the university in over 40 interviews and surveys of first-in-family enabling students who attended two large regional Australian universities in 2014. Their metaphorical understandings of the university constitute a powerful imaginary about what a university is and can do for individuals and the wider society. For many, the resolution of the individualistic passion for knowledge of 'ivory tower' studies and the commitment to the social and economic usefulness of the fully engaged entrepreneurial university can be found in the pursuit of the passionate career.Prompted by the accelerating massification and corporatisation of university systems over the last 50 years, there has been a struggle going on regarding the idea, or cultural imaginary, of the university. At one end of the spectrum of meaning, there is the ancient imaginary of the monastic

Encouraging engagement in enabling programs: The students’ perspective

“…Data analysis followed the protocols of thematic analysis (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992;Patton, 2002). Broad themes were identified in the initial analysis undertaken by individual scrutiny by each member of the project team, as reported similarly by May et al (2016). The responses from each data source -the questionnaire, the online survey and the focus groups -were read and re-read several times.…”

Getting through the day and still having a smile on my face! How do students define success in the university learning environment?

“…Drawing on survey and interview responses from students in the latter stages of their degrees, we focus on how these learners articulate success. In particular, how success takes on an array of meanings ranging from contributing to a better world (May, Delahunty, Stone, & O'Shea, 2016) through to tangible (e.g., grades, career) and internal indicators (e.g., personal growth, confidence), at times with connotations that diverge from, and even disrupt, more traditional neoliberal individualistic discourses.…”

The experience of qualitative research with young fathers: considerations of gender, class and reflexive practice

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