Academic research is not enough

摘要

The situation described by John Argue in the May issue is familiar to me from my time as an academic and from conversations with colleagues after I retired. Single-minded concentration on a particular kind of academic research (and the associated publications in prestigious overseas journals) must lead to a monoculture - a uniformity of activities and staff. I'm not surprised Argue found "disinterest by Australian universities in fostering high standards of technical performance among the nations practitioners".