Academics' hostility towards philanthropically backed humanities courses hasn't abated but new data shows Australia's controversial Western civilisation courses are proving popular with students.
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Staff opposition at the University of Wollongong remains as bitter now as it was when the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation gave UOW more than $50 million to run its courses and associated scholarships over five years.
University of Queensland (UQ) also signed a similar agreement with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. Both UOW and UQ though told THE Times Higher Education the courses were popular with students.
The extended majors in Western Civilisation at the University of Queensland have some of the most demanding undergraduate entry scores in the country. Students require Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) of 95.85 or 98.5, depending on whether the major forms part of an honours or double degree.
UOW said its Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation attracted average satisfaction ratings of 5.74, compared with 4.91 across the university as a whole, while almost 80 per cent of the programme's students achieved final grades of distinction or better - results far exceeding the university average.
The programmes started in 2020, taught in groups of about 10 per class - in stark contrast to many Australian undergraduate programmes, where hundreds of students pack lecture halls - and with 30 students per intake attracting scholarships of $30,000 each for up to five years.
Western civilisation courses have encountered intense hostility at both institutions along with the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, where negotiations with the Ramsay Centre collapsed.
Staff said that the programmes would undermine institutional autonomy and promote uncritically triumphalist perspectives of Western civilisation to privileged white students - claims the universities deny.
A Wollongong staff member, who asked not to be named, said it was no surprise that students were "having such a great time" in Ramsay courses. "They're getting a kind of very spoiled private school experience in a sea of underfunded, strapped faculties".
Ramsay Centre chief executive Simon Haines acknowledged that the programmes' popularity owed much to the small-group format.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
