The first pillar : shattered

24/09/2013 by
christopher-pyne

Fairfax Media   | 24 September 2013 The Coalition promised stability as one of its " seven pillars" of higher education policy.  According to media reports of comments by education minister Christopher Pyne, this was a non-core commitment , if a commitment at all.  Pyne's comments are a direct contradiction of his unequivocal statement that while the Coalition welcomes "debate over the quality and standards in our universities, we have no plans to increase fees or cap places".  The proposal to abolish the student services fee will upset Coalition partners, the National Party, which stated in its election manifesto that it allow universities to charge an amount to cover a limited range of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coalition policies, Government, Higher education policy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Melbourne staff to strike over EBA, JCU staff reject pay deal

24/09/2013 by

NTEU News     |     24 September 2013 National Tertiary Education Union members at the University of Melbourne will begin a 24-hour strike from noon Wednesday 25 September, to noon Thursday 26 September. The  union says the strike is in response to senior management’s "aggressive approach in enterprise bargaining negotiations seeking to strip away many current working conditions". According to the NTEU, the University is insisting that professional staff redundancy payments be cut for the majority of professional staff into the future and has given no serious ground on the key workloads and jobs security elements of our claims. The NTEU’s bargaining claim includes improving job … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Industrial relations, James Cook University, National Tertiary Education Union, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , ,