31/07/2026
While higher education rapidly adapts to digital learning to accommodate students’ work and family commitments, Don Markwell’s “The College Ideal” argues the case for residential academic college life as the idyllic educational experience.
To remain relevant in an increasingly polarised world, where many traditional graduate pathways are being disrupted by rapid technological advancement, Don Markwell draws on his recent experience as head of St Mark’s College to highlight the role residential colleges can play in foregrounding values and character in their students, over and above knowledge and skills.
A former global head of the Rhodes Scholarship, Markwell also highlights the responsibility of Colleges to create safe spaces for academic exploration and debate, free from racism, sexism and xenophobia, and using their philanthropic potential to ensure that they are not restricted to serve only the privileged.
I was so pleased to catch up with Don at the launch last night, and encourage anyone interested in these important questions to have a look at The College Ideal – available now from Wakefield Press: https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/the-college-ideal/.
Hat tip to local Rhodes Scholar Oliver Douglas for his outstanding speech launching the book.
