NTEU “correct” on uni class sizes doubling: ABC

30/08/2013 by
ABC Class

ABC Fact Check     |     30 August 2013 An advertisement by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says there are almost twice as many university students per teacher now than a generation ago. "In just one generation university class sizes have almost doubled due to chronic underfunding,"  the union ad claims. The ad, released on August 12 as a part of the union's $1 million Uni Cuts, Dumb Cuts campaign, calls on viewers to "vote smart" and "vote Greens in the Senate". The claim: The amount of university students in a one-teacher classroom has almost doubled since 1990. The verdict: The claim is correct. There are almost twice as many students per teacher now than there … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, Higher education policy, Industrial relations, National Tertiary Education Union Tagged With: , , , , ,

Coalition announces new Colombo Plan

30/08/2013 by

Liberal Party     |     30 August 2013 The Coalition has announced details of its New Colombo Plan to foster closer ties between Australia and the region and develop stronger people-to-people links. The original Colombo Plan saw some 40,000 students from Asia come to Australia from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. The New Colombo Plan will be different the original, in adding an outward-bound component to the original one-way street.   Once operative it will provide financial support for up to 300 young Australians studying in the region every year. Scholarships will be awarded to applicants under 22 years of age who are enrolled in an Australian university undertaking an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coalition policies, International, International students Tagged With: ,

The Scan | #135 | 30 August 2013

30/08/2013 by
Gavin Moodie

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Go8 dumps minimum ATAR proposal The elite Group of Eight (Go8) universities have stepped back from a controversial proposal to dump the uncapped, demand driven system, a proposition it has been pushing for the best part of a year. The Group has argued that savings of $750m over 4 years that would flow from the introduction of a minimum ATAR of 60 for university entry could offset higher education cuts of nearly $4b announced since last October, including $2.8b earlier this year.   But Fred Hilmer, Go8 chair and vice-chancellor of UNSW, now … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACPET, ALP, ALP policies, ASQA, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Conferences, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, International, International students, Notices, Qualifications, Scan Main Edition, Society, TAFE, University of Melbourne, University of NSW, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Libs to introduce apprentice loans scheme

30/08/2013 by

Liberal Party    |   25 August 2013 The Coalition has promised to establish Trade Support Loans from 1 July  next year to provide apprentices with interest free loans of up to $20,000 over four years.  The loans will be capped at a total of $20,000 and will be repaid at the same thresholds as loans for university students.  The policy is slated to cost $85 million to the federal budget four years. They will be available to apprentices training for a Certificate III or IV qualification that leads to an occupation on the National Skills Needs List, which includes nearly 70 trades. Those who complete their training will receive a 20% discount on the loan. The Coalition says … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coalition policies, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , ,

ACPET lashes “gold plated regulation”

30/08/2013 by
Print

The Australian    |    30 August 2013 Claire Field, chief executive of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET) has launched a scathing attack on the National Skills Standards Council (NSSC), the agency responsible for setting training standards, saying armchair experts are wrecking the sector. Speaking at ACPET’s national conference, she said  that non-practitioners with a “predominantly classroom-based” view of training were setting unreasonable and unworkable standards. “The system has been designed to be driven by ‘experts’ – not those with real experience – and labelling them as experts encourages them to back their own judgement, rather than engage in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACPET, ASQA, Conferences, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , ,

Go8 dumps minimum ATAR plan

30/08/2013 by

Australian Financial Review    |    26 August 2013 The elite Group of Eight (Go8) universities have stepped back from a controversial proposal to dump the uncapped, demand driven system, a proposition it has been pushing for the best part of a year. The Group has argued that savings of $750m over 4 years that would flow from the introduction of a minimum ATAR of 60 for university entry could offset higher education cuts of nearly $4b announced since last October, including $2.8b earlier this year. But Fred Hilmer, Go8 chair and vice-chancellor of UNSW, now says that using an ATAR minimum to “regulate quality” is “too blunt an instrument” because of the impact it would have on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, University of Melbourne, UNSW Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Australian idea of a university….and fees

30/08/2013 by

This is a transcript of the 2013 Newman Lecture delivered on Wednesday 21 August 2013 at Monash University’s Mannix College.  It's an interesting account of the development of the Australian university system, drawing from mainly English traditions but also Scottish, European and American.  But  this is not just an historical survey.   In the week in which UNSW v-c  Fred Hilmer stepped back a little from his strident calls for caps on enrolments, Davis makes the case that  "markets " lead to innovation and diversity. It's a relatively long and interesting piece in itself  but scroll to the end for the point (highlighted).  With the election of an Abbott government almost certain, the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Uncategorized, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , , , ,
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