In 1857 all of the Arts students at the University of Sydney could fit into a single photograph. Now there are more than one million university students in Australia.But the university is plagued with ingrained problems. More than 50 per cent of the cost of universities goes to just running them. They now have an explicit commercial focus and compete bitterly for students and funding. Scholars rarely feel their vice-chancellors represent them and, within their own ranks, academics squabble for scraps.Hannah Forsyth's perceptive, clear-eyed account of Australian universities recounts their history from the 1850s to the present. Investigating the changing nature of higher education, it asks whether this success is likely to continue in the 21st century, as the university's hold over knowledge grows ever more tenuous.