The involuntary push: University mergers and their effect on post‐graduate management education in South Australia

In Australia, the Dawkins green paper of 1987 supposedly set a clear framework for merging institutions in the new unified national system. However, neither the Commonwealth nor the various state governments took a strong leadership role in deciding which institutions should merge, leaving the actors to determine their own futures. In South Australia, three universities now exist, which was the least preferred option of the state’s educational planners. Two of those universities offer MBA programmes on contiguous campuses, a situation, supposedly, which would not be tolerated by the Dawkins guidelines. The third university, in a suburban location, also offers post‐graduate management education. In South Australia the Dawkins reforms of 1987 have had minimal impact on the delivery of post‐graduate management programmes, while a new university has emerged from the reform process.