Australia for the long term

06/09/2013 by
Peter Doherty

6 September 2013 The people are about to speak and,  unlike in 2010,  there ought not be any doubt as to what they have said.  In this essay for The Conversation, , Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty takes a scientific big picture view of the election to call for informed and effective debate to become the norm in all facets of Australian politics.   What do we want from the next Australian government? I expect we are all agreed on a few major requirements: prosperity, accessible and high-quality medical services, responsive democratic governance, a good education for our children and jobs when they graduate from an apprenticeship or college/university, the preservation of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

NSW TAFE expectations

06/09/2013 by

6 September 2013 The NSW Minister for Education,  Adrian Piccoli MP, has released the TAFE NSW Statement of Owner Expectations which endorses the role of TAFE NSW as the public provider and sets its future directions during a period of reform. Piccoli's Statement was informed by what is described as the largest ever public consultation conducted by the NSW TAFE Commission Board on what the people of NSW value about TAFE, Let’s talk  about TAFE. The findings from the consultation show that TAFE is universally valued and the TAFE brand is overwhelmingly seen as providing quality training across the State. There is also recognition that TAFE needs to change to meet the demands of the … [Read more...]

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

The Scan | #136 | 6 September 2013

06/09/2013 by
Yosemite Sam

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TAFE funding diverted to small business tax break While the TAFE sector was still applauding Kevin Rudd’s stirring, albeit vague, declaration to force the states to maintain their own TAFE funding, the ALP’s own costings revealed a financial sleight of hand that would see at least $111m notionally set aside in the  Education Investment Fund (EIF) to fund TAFE projects diverted to help fund an expansion in the small business asset write off program.   As a result, just three of 12 TAFEs will get capital grants approved by the EIF advisory … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Labor proposes greater use of compacts

06/09/2013 by

The Australian    |     4 September  2013 A re-elected Labor government will make greater use of direct agreements with universities, or compacts, with Innovation Minister Kim Carr flagging they would be used to allocate greater numbers of capped sub-degree and postgraduate places. Amid sector concerns that greater use of compacts could prove code for greater control, Carr said the aim would be to give universities more autonomy and that there would be no retreat from the demand-driven system of uncapped undergraduate places under which commonwealth-supported places have increased by 190,000 students or 35%. "We are in the middle of one of the great cultural reforms in our nation's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Higher education policy, International, universities Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Coalition to target “ridiculous research”

06/09/2013 by

The Australian    |    6 September 2013 A Coalition proposal to take $103 million from "ridiculous" projects in the humanities and redirect the money to medical research, has raised the ire of the research community. Catriona Jackson, chief executive of the science and technology peak group STA asked whether Australians want politicians picking and choosing which grant proposals deserve funding. Scientists and research funding agencies understand that governments set priorities for research and that this is entirely valid given we do not have the resources to fund everything.  Priority setting is very different from political picking and choosing. Only a quarter of research grant bids … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Australian Research Council, Coalition policies, NHMRC, Research Tagged With: , , ,

Ballarat becomes Fed Uni

06/09/2013 by
FED UNI LOGO INSET

Ballarat Courier    |     6 September 2013 The University of Ballarat’s rebranding as Federation University Australia is a step closer after the State Parliament on 5 September passed a bill paving the way for the name change. A new logo for the university, maintaining the Eureka Flag used in the University of Ballarat logo, has also been released. The new identity is part of the merger between University of Ballarat and Monash University’s Gippsland campus to take effect in January. Minister for Higher Education and Skills Peter Hall said the name change was a significant milestone for Victoria’s tertiary education sector. “This legislation will support the University of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized, University of Ballarat Tagged With: , ,

Guess who defines ‘waste’ in ARC-funded research

06/09/2013 by
Not all pursuits can have their worthiness calculated in dollars and cents. epSos.de

The Conversation    |   5 September 2013 By Rod Lamberts (ANU) I doubt anyone truly believes governments are infinitely resourced. Even the most rabid, single-issue monomaniac can appreciate that to take public money from bucket X, it must come from bucket Y. So it’s perfectly understandable the Coalition, like any party, must prioritise government spending of taxpayer money. The question is, how to prioritise. What are the criteria for good spending versus bad spending? More specifically, what constitutes wasted spending? When it comes to research funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) at least, it seems the Coalition has it all worked out. In a Daily … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Australian Research Council, Budget, Coalition policies, NHMRC, Research, RMIT, universities Tagged With: , , ,

Apprenticeship starts steady, traineeships crash

06/09/2013 by

The Australian    |     5 September 2013 Structured on-the-job training has crashed in the wake of cuts to federal incentive programs, with new figures showing take-up of apprenticeships and traineeships have plunged by one-third. The data, released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), shows that apprentice and trainee commencements in the first three months of the year were 33% down on the same period last year. The decline coincides with cuts of close to $1.1 billion over the past year to commonwealth schemes which encourage take-up of apprenticeships and traineeships. The figures show that non-trade traineeships have been the main casualties of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Commonwealth policies, TAFE, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , ,

TAFE funding diverted to small business tax break

06/09/2013 by

6 September 2013 While the TAFE sector was still applauding Kevin Rudd’s stirring, albeit vague, declaration to force the states to maintain their own TAFE funding, the ALP’s own costings revealed a financial sleight of hand that would see at least $111m notionally set aside in the  Education Investment Fund (EIF) to fund TAFE projects diverted to help fund an expansion in the small business asset write off program. As a result, just three of 12 TAFEs will get capital grants approved by the EIF advisory board late last year. Over $80m was allocated in June and July in grants to the TAFE NSW North Coast Institute, the Sunshine Coast Institute and Charles Darwin University’s trade … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, Government, TAFE, TAFE Directors Australia, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , ,

Spending on VET pays: TDA study

06/09/2013 by
TDA unleashing

TDA News    |   2 September 2013 A new economic model for Australia’s technical and vocational education sector mapping how additional investment in skills and technical education boosts employment and supports productivity was launched at the TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) National Conference on 2 September. Cost-benefit analysis and returns from additional investment in Vocational Education and Training, was prepared by Canberra-based Independent Economics, under an Australian Government commissioned contract with TDA. The Econometric Model charts how funding for technical and vocational education provides multiple economic benefits supporting higher living standards and a strong … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALP policies, Budget, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, TAFE, TAFE Directors Australia, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , ,