In The University is Closed for Open Day, Stephen Knight explores aspects of ultra-modern Australia, from tattoos, shabby chic and our obsession with personal devices, to the 'poetry' of number plates. Other critiques explore national myths and consider the recurring conflict over 'White Australia or Fair Australia?'

The essays debate the meanings and misinterpretations of environmentalism, reveal the surprising riches of Australian crime fiction, and end with the title essay, which examines the wide and serious changes made to Australia's-and the world's-university system in recent times. Here, Knight resumes his ironic observation of the allegedly Great South Land, as previously offered in The Selling of The Australian Mind and Freedom Was Compulsory.