The university which never was : Chifley University as a window on state-federal educational relations, 1986-1988

Purpose" The purpose of this paper is to trace debates between state and federal governments, and community stakeholders, leading to the establishment and abolition of the first attempt at a university for Western Sydney, established as Chifley University Interim Council. Design/methodology/approach" The historical analysis draws from published papers, oral history accounts, and original documents in archives of the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. Findings" Higher education reform in the 1980s in Australia was fought out as an extension of broader issues such as "States rights", the rising political power of peri-urban regions, long-standing tensions between state and Commonwealth bureaucracies, and the vested interests of existing tertiary education and community groups. Originality/value" This is the only existing study of attempts to found Chifley University, and one of the few available studies which take a social and contextual approach to understanding the critical reforms of the 1980s leading up to the Dawkins Reforms of 1988-1990.