With the 25th anniversary of the Dawkins higher education reforms being commemorated, maybe the funding structure - notably the HECS scheme - introduced by those reforms is about to undergo fundamental change. Education minister Christopher Pyne has put "securitisation" of HECS firmly on the agenda of the government's commission of audit. Some commentators think the idea of securitisation is "bananas". Others are somewhat more sanguine: Bruce Chapman - the architect of HECS - says it doesn't really matter who owns the debt, so long as the essential characteristics are maintained (particularly recovery through the tax system). In these two articles, usefully published in tandem on The … [Read more...]
The Scan | #142 | 1 November 2013
01/11/2013 by
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The state of Australian education A report by the Council of Australian Governments Reform Council shows mixed progress on education. Participation in preschool is high and school outcomes in the early years are improving. Nationally, average scores improved in Years 3 and 5 in reading and in Year 5 in numeracy, but there were no improvements in Years 7 and 9. Australia is also performing behind top countries in these key areas. Year 12 attainment has increased, particularly for Indigenous … [Read more...]
New Colombo Plan inspires global business degree
01/11/2013 by
The Australian | 1 November 2013 Macquarie University is launching a new bachelor of global business, thanks in part to the influence of the New Colombo Plan. The new degree combines language study, business units and a compulsory internship. To be offered next year, the degree can be taken with any of Macquarie's ten modern languages: Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, Polish or Croatian. Arts dean John Simons said the early intakes would be small, with a rather high ATAR entry score, to encourage the program "to be perceived as a relatively elite degree in the first instance". Now that the New Colombo Plan is being rolled out, … [Read more...]
ANU considers its future
01/11/2013 by
The Canberra Times | 27 October 2013 ANU vice-chancellor Ian Young has confirmed that the university is contemplating changes after a recent speech by Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt, in which he argued that the university should cut undergraduate numbers to ''about 8000''. ANU has around 20,000 students (12,000 undergraduate and 8,283 postgraduate). Schmidt proposed a reduction in tenured jobs and the introduction of interviews for potential students. He also called for the introduction of classes offering students ''life skills''. People will get a good understanding in a quick short form of economics, policy and business. Young said the proposed changes had been discussed … [Read more...]
Pioneer in fight agains child virus awarded Florey Medal
01/11/2013 by
Fairfax Media | 29 October 2013 Until 40 years ago the cause of one of the most common types of gastro was a mystery. But the consequences of infection were obvious. In developed and developing countries alike, babies and young children died from acute diarrhoea, which was sometimes called cholera infantum. Murdoch Children's Research Institute microbiologist Ruth Bishop explains: It was similar to cholera in that there was a huge outpouring of fluid and electrolytes. And it's that loss that put the child's life at risk. It was Professor Bishop's pioneering work ''following the clues'' as she described it on Monday that led to her discovering the cause of the … [Read more...]
