‘For some years now I’ve had a gnawing concern that Australia’s universities are in trouble - ethically, financially and pedagogically. Richard Hil has convinced me that it’s even worse than I feared.’ - Ben Eltham, New Matilda and Deakin University

More students than ever before go to university, and what they experience there is vastly different from even a decade ago. The hi-tech libraries, designer lecture theatres, funky cafes and elaborate sporting facilities hide a reality very different to all the marketing hype.

Class sizes have blown out, facilities are often inadequate, technology has increasingly replaced face-to-face teaching, and staff are weighed down by impossible workloads. Students work long hours in often low paid, casual jobs, feel lonely and isolated, and their education leaves them in debt for years.

Richard Hil lifts the lid on today’s university experience, drawing on numerous studies as well as interviews with 150 students around the country. Far from producing rounded citizens and flexible, job-ready graduates, Hil argues universities are turning out individuals often unable to obtain relevant work and lacking in some of the most basic professional requirements, and without the analytical and critical skills that once were the hallmark of a university education.