Fees: careful what you wish for

31/05/2012 by
Coins

An internal discussion paper distributed at a recent Universities Australia meeting in Adelaide canvassed a range of contentious issues including setting minimum entry limits on certain degrees and some degree of fee deregulation, issues on which there is not unity of opinion within the sector. The Group of Eight has stepped up its own  pitch for fee deregulation with the release of research examining Commonwealth funding for universities over the period 1996-2010 showing government funding increases aren't sustained over time but eroded by inflation and growth in student numbers.  It says that despite hefty funding boosts by the Gillard government, including one-off capital funding, the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Group of 8, Swinburne University Tagged With: , , ,

An example of local media on Vic TAFE cuts: Geelong protest rally

31/05/2012 by
Geelong-TAFE-protest-crowd_thumb

 K-ROCK Local News   31 May 2012  This report is a bit more, shall we say, emphatic than most local media reports but the sentiment is overwhelmingly uniform in regional communities: negative to the cuts. The rally at Geelong was addressed by the mayor, councillor John Mitchell. More than one thousand people have gathered in Geelong’s Johnstone Park to protest against savage state government budget cuts that could cripple trades training inVictoria.   The BAILLIEU government has ripped $300-million from the TAFE budget in a move that will cost thousands of teaching and admin jobs, force the scrapping of hundreds of courses and see the cost of training soar. Much of the money will be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: AEU, National Tertiary Education Union, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Scan 31 May 2012

31/05/2012 by
The Australian

 Control and click headlines and highlights to link to articles Links may not work unless you or your organisation is a paid subscriber to the originating media outlet.  Check with your communications people about subscriptions. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ $70k to walk a $17 million tightrope Victorian TAFEs will be given $70,000 each to help plot the way forward, in the wake of this month’s funding cuts, which the TAFEs estimate will cost them about $300m a year - around $17 million a year each.  The grants to the state’s 18 institutes are designed to help them develop “transition plans”.  At a meeting on 29 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ASQA, Commonwealth-State relations, National Tertiary Education Union, TEQSA, universities, Vocational education & training, VRQA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inner space

31/05/2012 by
Inner spacce

Reposted 31 May 2012 The practice of meditation is traditionally associated with shaved heads, kaftans, sandals and lentils. But the positive effects of regular meditation is gaining increasing recognition in the workplace, including major corporates such as Caltex, Nestle, IBM and Blake Dawson, according to the Australian Financial Review (15 July 2011). The Harvard Business Review noted there are all sorts of good reasons to meditate. Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book Full Catastrophe Living, offers good instructions on how to meditate and examines persuasive research into how it reduces stress, speeds up healing, decreases pain, and increases presence. Kabat-Zinn is a bit of an expert: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With:

NTEU’s tally of losses

30/05/2012 by
NTEU logo

NTEU News   30 May 2012 Confirmed cuts to TAFE as of May 30 2012 Victoria has 18 TAFE institutes, most with many branches. The following information on the impact of the Victorian government’s cuts to TAFE has been sourced from publicly available date or information the NTEU has been able to confirm independently. GippsTAFE (campuses at Yallourn, Morewell, Leongatha, Warragal) $10 million budget cut Up to a 100 redundancies expected Morewell and Leongatha campuses under threat – hospitality, art, design, sport, recreation, retail and music courses Fee increases expected by 2013 Box Hill Institute $20 million funding cut Redundancies expected Course fees set … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Call for Commonwealth takeover of TAFE/VET

30/05/2012 by

The Australian  30 May 2012 RMIT vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner has called for what would amount to a federal takeover of vocational education, warning it is senseless to continue to split tertiary education between the commonwealth and the states.  The policy divide in vocational education has been put into stark relief by the fight between the federal and Victorian governments over the state's cuts to TAFE and training subsidies.   Her concerns have been backed up by a yet-to-be released federally funded report on the future of dual-sector universities. It recommends the funding of VET and higher education be integrated more closely. The report says the separate funding regimes are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth-State relations, Swinburne University, University of Ballarat Tagged With: , , ,

Vic TAFE losses may be bigger than expected

30/05/2012 by

The Australian   30 May 2012 Budget cuts to Victorian TAFEs appear set to exceed the $290 million predicted by their association, as the axe begins to fall on staff. Predicted losses already total $289.4m, according to ball park estimates now provided by 16 of the 18 institutes  That figure doesn’t include cuts to the budgets of Shepparton-based Goulburn Ovens TAFE or Bairnsdale-based Advance TAFE, as well as hospitality specialist William Angliss Institute’s losses due to changed course funding rates.  The government maintains that TAFEs’ brand and their domination of trade courses – where funding rates have risen – will see them through the cuts.  But the TAFEs say that without … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , ,
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