Professor Glyn Davis AC delivers 2024 Bradley Oration
Professor Glyn Davis AO delivering the 2024 Bradley Oration at the University of Sydney.
In his Bradley Oration entitled ‘Mind the gap: Rhetoric and reality in higher education’, Professor Davis explored the purpose of a university education, doing so through the “perhaps unexpected lens” of how a university teaches about politics and why it matters to the Australian Public Service. He concluded that “our universities do a difficult job remarkably well”.
The teaching of politics matters to the “fiercely impartial” Australian Public Service (APS), said Professor Davis, because “it works in a context shaped by ideas and, as a necessity, through people.”
As Australia grows, so too does its public service, with many of its new recruits having studied politics at university.
“So,” says Professor Davis, “it matters in no small measure what they bring from campus to the public service.”
The formation that takes place at university has “consequences for our national future.” And “in my experience” he said, “university leaders care deeply about this civic obligation.”
A tertiary education should be a valuable way to develop the deep analytical and problem‑solving skills on which current and future public administration depends.
Now in its third year, the Bradley Oration honours the late Professor Denise Bradley AC, a graduate of the University of Sydney and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Australia, for her significant contribution to higher education.
Described by Professor Davis in his oration as “a passionate advocate for the transformative power of education”, Professor Bradley led the 2008 (Bradley) Review of Australian Higher Education, which sparked vital reform for the sector.
Professor Davis shared Professor Bradley’s declaration that “we want [graduates] to be more than personal survivors ... [we want them to be able] to reshape this changing world.”
Beyond “mastery of the subject”, the ability to think critically about the world and to understand ethical responsibilities as professionals and citizens, are “from the selfish perspective of the public service” the attributes we need in graduates, Professor Davis said.
His oration touched on culture wars and his time as a “fresh new academic at Griffith University.” He conceded that some see universities as places of “indoctrination” and related his encounters when he looked into the teaching of politics at this university.
Throughout, he shared important lessons and observations such as defining “the skill of critical thinking” as “an ability to defer forming a view until we apply evidence, consider counter-arguments, and seek further information to test our assumptions and inherent biases.” This is an “an essential attribute for public servants offering policy advice.”
As for critics and their “dramatic pronouncements” about what’s being taught in universities, Professor Davis quoted a student studying the Introduction to Australian Politics course at the University of Sydney: “University has taught me to think about who’s saying what and why, as opposed to just taking in everything in as it comes.”
Professor Davis said it’s “inspiring” to hear new recruits to the department he leads “express their aspirations for Australia.”
“Like generations before them,” he said, “these young people intend to dedicate their careers to serving the public.”
It gives him faith in Australia’s liberal democracy. And allows him to conclude that “our universities do a difficult job remarkably well — endowing future citizens, future politicians, future public servants with the skills, knowledge and qualities to give them, and us, confidence in the future.”
The Bradley Oration is given in the University of Sydney’s historic and atmospheric Great Hall on the traditional land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. This year’s audience included the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors and other higher education leaders from across Australia.
Among the special guests was Dr James Bradley, Professor Bradley’s son, who spoke on behalf of the Bradley family. The University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott AO, provided the vote of thanks.
The inaugural Oration was given in 2022 by the Federal Minister for Education, Hon. Jason Clare MP, who unveiled the membership and terms of reference for the Australian Universities Accord. And last year’s address was given by the University of Adelaide’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj AC, who warned that widening economic inequality could diminish the quality of our democracy.
