New Vic minister for skills and higher education

13/03/2014 by
Nick Wakeling

13 March 2014 Nick Wakeling, the member for Ferntree Gully, has been appointed to the Victorian cabinet as minister for skills and higher education, replacing Peter Hall, who retired from Parliament on 13 March.  Since 2010, Wakeling has served as Parliamentary Secretary for Health. Prior to entering Parliament in 2005 (he won the seat by just 27 votes but scored a 12% swing in 2010, making it relatively safe), Wakeling worked as an adviser on industrial relations and human resources. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Government, Higher education policy, TAFE, The Scan Tagged With: ,

The Scan # 148 13 March 2014

13/03/2014 by
unilodge

___________________________________________________________________________________________ Shake up for rental scheme 13 March 2014   |    The government has flagged a shake-up of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) in the wake of revelations the program has been manipulated to build student housing that is being let to wealthy foreign students. Two developers behind an 823-bed NRAS development in Sydney  tapped more than $80 million in subsidies to construct a building to be filled largely by international students. Universities have also snapped up thousands of NRAS incentives to build large blocks of studio accommodation that is often taken up by fee-paying international … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Government, Higher education policy, Industrial relations, Life & stuff, Monash, MOOCs, National Tertiary Education Union, NMIT, RMIT, Scan Main Edition, Swinburne, TAFE, TEQSA, Tertiary media, The Scan, universities, University of Wollongong, university staffing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Lilydale’s future up for grabs

13/03/2014 by

The Australian    |    12 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Swinburne University may consider selling its mothballed Lilydale campus for non-educational purposes. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Swinburne has officially stated its preference is to sell the site under the current educational zoning. But the information memorandum from real estate agents Knight Frank makes much of the potential for the site to be rezoned, which could increase the value of the site and is stoking local community fears that the prospect of restoring higher education provision at the campus could be lost. Swinburne's head of government affairs Andrew Dempster says that, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Swinburne University, TAFE Tagged With: , , ,

Hall quits

13/03/2014 by

The Age    |    13 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Victorian skills and higher education minister Peter Hall is resigning from State Parliament almost nine months early, ahead of a  cabinet reshuffle which has seen Nick Wakeling been appointed as his replacement. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… He had previously announced he would not be standing at the state election to be held in November.   But he   says "now is the right time for me to step aside and provide an opportunity for the next generation of Nationals to showcase their talents and take this great government into the next election." Hall famously  confessed to TAFE leaders in 2012 that he … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Government, TAFE Tagged With: , , ,

Shake up for rental scheme

13/03/2014 by
student accom

The Australian      |     11 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The government has flagged a shake-up of the National Rental Affordability Scheme in the wake of revelations the program has been manipulated to build student housing that is being let to wealthy foreign students. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The minister for social security Kevin Andrews has moved to close a loophole that has seen international students become key beneficiaries of the flagship $4.5 billion Rudd-era social housing scheme, which had been aimed at providing affordable housing for low-income Australians. The changes are likely to involve placing extra … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Government, International students Tagged With: