This is how government monopolies behave. To many outsiders, and to many insiders, universities remain large public works projects with guaranteed lifetime employment. Thus far, all attempts to change the current system by giving funding directly to students have been resisted by a coalition of academic and student unions in collaboration with an odd mixture of Labor and National politicians. But, the pressure is inexorable, and change is inevitable. This brings me to why universities will be forced to change.
Higher education is increasingly an international enterprise.
With the advent of the Internet, satellite television, mass recruitment of overseas students, and the establishment of campuses in distant locations, every university in the world can reach students any place in the world. Our universities are now in a global competition, and with formidable competitors. I spent the early years of my career at the University of Texas , in the medical school. Recently, the newspaper contained an advertisement for a business manager for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The advertisement went on to describe the department.