Utopia University was established in 2036. It is situated in beautiful parklands within the suburbs of a regional city. It is deliberately designed to allow students to enjoy space outside to socialise, read and appreciate nature. As a consequence, the buildings showcase the environment rather than the reverse.
Entry to university courses is based on merit. Fortunately, the days when universities chased “bums on (increasingly virtual) seats” are now over. There is now recognition by governments and the public in general that not everybody needs a university degree to have a successful future and life, and options such as technical colleges and apprenticeships are encouraged and valued. Indeed, even Corporate Australia had a “road to Damascus” experience in the early 2030s and have come to the realisation that substantial investment in the training of entry-level staff is good for both business and social cohesion.
While there continues to be a stress on supporting disadvantaged groups at university level, there is due recognition by society and governments that primary and secondary schools are where the emphasis should be placed to get students of all different backgrounds ready and qualified for entry to university. Having said that, Utopia University invests heavily in learning advisors and library staff, in acknowledgement of the reality that the transition from school to the self-motivated discipline of tertiary studies can be difficult.
Gone are the days when bean-counters would insist that it was more ‘efficient’ to have as limited a number of subjects per discipline as possible. Here at Utopia, we aim to develop well-rounded students who are open to learning about fields of knowledge which are new to them. Accordingly, Utopia’s students are able to study a large number of disciplines, including history, philosophy, English literature, biology, mathematics, law, medicine and nursing. The visual arts, creative writing, drama and music are incorporated into the university, but they are semi-autonomous units, acknowledging the fact that their ideal model of one-on-one or small group teaching differs from those of other disciplines.
We have high expectations of our students and the staff who teach them. We aim to produce graduates with the following values and attributes: a love of learning, tolerance for other views, an ability to justify personal opinions with evidence and a strong capacity for creativity, written expression and original research.
We expect internal students to turn up to in-person tutorials and lectures. This is because Utopia’s teaching staff believe that university is an opportunity to learn from other students and be exposed to other views that may challenge their own. Utopia is now a lively campus full of students, a happy state of affairs that was influenced by the return in 2040 of the national scholarship system, enabling students to devote three to four years just to study and to learn.
We acknowledge, however, that different students have different needs. Mature-age students, for example, may need to be accommodated through repeat lectures and tutorials between 4PM and 6PM. The focus of the university is on-campus learning, but external classes are also made available with optional intensive on-campus study weeks.
Aside from our strong commitment to undergraduate and postgraduate training, our university exists to serve the needs of the community. It opens its doors to the public for low cost non-assessable courses such as the history of film, creative writing and philosophy. Free lectures and panel discussion by staff and visiting academic and public figures also encourage debate on contemporary issues.
Utopia believes that the library is the beating heart of the university. It is well-stocked with books, browsing by students is encouraged, while online resources are also emphasised. Books and databases are not immediately culled if subjects are cut or changed, as the university recognises that no learning is wasted and may be useful again. Recently, Utopia University Library was the beneficiary of a severe cull of books by the Dystopian University Learning Library (DULL). On a social visit last year to DULL, our chief librarian noticed several skips full of books bound for the local incinerator and acted to secure them for Utopia’s collection: there is now an abundance of nineteenth and twentieth century literature and non-fiction at our university library which makes it the envy of bibliophiles across the globe.
Research by staff is incentivised through internal grants and an internal publishing program (both online and print-on-demand). We are happy for our researchers to follow their passions, but due to Utopia’s focus on its local community, special grants are set aside for regional studies. Projects addressing the needs of regional and remote Indigenous communities, oral histories of marginalised groups, research on Australia’s connections with the South Pacific, the means by which local heritage can be incorporated within the modern day regional city, sustainable agriculture, the development of local government programs fostering local culture and belonging, and community-centred creative works—these are just some of the successful research grants being pursued by our staff.
Utopia’s staff still grumble that metropolitan centres get the lion’s share of research funding, but actually regional universities now have more a chance of securing grant money. This is because since 2042 the majority of state and Commonwealth funding for tertiary staff has been invested in generous fellowship schemes run by major institutions such as state-based libraries, archives, science institutions and government departments. The Commonwealth has taken the lead in ensuring that institutions have the facilities and staff needed to support researchers accessing the resources of these organisations. Utopia’s excellent track record in obtaining external research grants is no doubt due to the quality of its applications. However, it should be noted that regional studies are now viewed by governments as a means of bridging the divide between the cities and the regions.
Utopia University is not interested in following or anticipating trends or the “next big thing”. Shallow catchprases like “AI-driven futures” are given short shrift by our Vice-Chancellor. We believe that technology is but one of many tools at humanity’s disposal: the future must be about humanity, not technological initiatives that reduce human agency, creativity and knowledge.
Now, as we commence the 2047 teaching year, we aim to make Utopia University a place where students find themselves part of an exciting cultural environment that values and celebrates written and practical assessment that is dependent on human skill and creativity—one that is not “augmented” by AI and other forms of machine dependence.
If you told a typical student of Utopia University that some internal tertiary students in 2026 used AI to “assist” them with generating ideas, initial research and rewriting their sentences, they would be shocked. Similarly, if they were informed that, in the mid-2020s, many students didn’t even bother turning up to lectures and tutorials, they would not believe you.
Take a look around campus and see if this university is right for you. We look forward to receiving your application.
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