The Scan’s year

29/12/2015 by
Refugees2

Summer edition 2016 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Scan in 2015 This year’s top ten reads were heavily skewed towards the “VET crisis” and attempts by authorities (rather belatedly in our view) to stamp out the obvious rorting, particularly in VET FEE-HELP funding, which has been truly scandalous. In fact, the number one post this year on The Scan is also the number one post of all time and by quite a bit. If you enter “rorting” in the search … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ABC, ACCC, ACPET, ASQA, Budget, Education policy, Higher education policy, Higher education providers, Science, Social media, Society, TAFE, The Scan, universities, University budgets, VET, Vocation Pty Ltd, Vocational education & training, Zeitgeist Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Scan in 2015

26/12/2015 by

 26 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… On account of other pressing matters in 2015 published editions of The Scan, with a completely refreshed front page heralded to subscribers by an e-newsletter, were down quite a bit – just 21 in 2015 compared to 40 in in 2014. Nevertheless, some 350 items were posted, which is about 8 a week in The Scan’s year, a little down on the 10 items posted a week last year. Traffic to the Scan website remained strong, down about 20% on last year’s figures. The Scan’s now extensive archive of nearly 3000 posts creates “organic” traffic: over one third of all Scan traffic now flows from search engines and referrals. Regular readers will have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACCC, ACPET, ASQA, Budget, Canberra University, Commonwealth policies, Education policy, Higher education policy, Qualifications, Quality audits, TAFE, The Scan, universities, University budgets, University of Canberra, University reform, VET, Vocation Pty Ltd, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Job axe to fall at UWA

14/12/2015 by
UWA

ABC NEWS |     11 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The University of Western Australia (UWA) will lay off 300 staff as part of sweeping cuts aimed at reducing costs. The university will slash 100 academic positions and 200 professional positions early next year.  Fifty new academic positions will be created to enhance the university's "capability and impact in areas of comparative advantage". …………………………………………………………………………………….......……  UWA Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Johnson said in a statement that 2015 had been a challenging year for the Australian higher education sector: UWA, like many universities, has a budget challenge. As highlighted during the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Higher education policy, universities, Univesity of Western Australia Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Scan #175 11 December 2015

11/12/2015 by

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ News __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VET FEE-HELP skewering system   11 December 2015      |       Explosive growth in the VET FEE-HELP scheme has masked massive direct public disinvestment in vocational education and training. While a report by NCVER shows a notional growth of 1.7% in 2014 over 2013 (plus $141.0 million, from $8512.4 million to $8653.4 million), it’s all in VET-FEE Help payments: actual direct expenditure by governments, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACCC, ACPET, ASQA, Budget, Commonwealth policies, Grattan Institute, Higher education policy, Labor higher education policy, LH Martin Institute, Life & stuff, NCVER, Notices, Qualifications, Research, Science, Society, TAFE, Tertiary media, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Innovating an “Ideas Boom”

07/12/2015 by
Lightbulb

7 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled his much-anticipated Innovation Statement, saying he wanted to drive an "ideas boom".  The statement allocates almost $1.1 billion over the next four years to promote business-based research, development and innovation. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Key measures A key focus of the plan revolves around strengthening ties between the business community, universities and scientific institutions. A $200 million innovation fund will co-invest in businesses that develop technology from the CSIRO and Australian universities. CSIRO will also get an extra $20 million to help … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Government, Higher education policy, Research, Science, The Scan, universities Tagged With: , , , , , ,

9 surprising Australian innovations that changed the world

05/12/2015 by

5 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… This post on Science Alert by Fiona McDonald, celebrating Australian innovation, was sponsored by Universities Australia as part of its Keep it Clever campaign.  The campaign website includes an online petition. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… By now, most Australians know that our university researchers were behind the invention of the bionic ear, but more often than not, the world tends to focus more on our venomous snakes and spiders and overly muscular kangaroos than anything coming out of our labs. But the reality is that Australia puts out 3.9% of the world's research, with only 0.3% of the world's population, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Government, Higher education policy, Science, Universities Australia Tagged With: , , , , ,

Universities Australia News

03/12/2015 by
UA News

A spirit of optimism has buoyed the sector in recent months. We anticipate a further boost to confidence with the Turnbull Government's release of its Innovation and Science Agenda. For this HIGHER ED.ITION, we’ve invited opinion pieces from some key figures across the sector. Stay tuned for others early next year. In one of his first opeds in the portfolio, Education Minister Simon Birmingham lays out some key challenges: how to fund higher education sustainably, how to stimulate even more excellence and innovation, how to expand the impact of publicly-funded research, and how to reach a consensus on the higher education needs of students, industry and institutions. In his contribution, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Higher education policy, Science, Technology, The Scan, Universities Australia Tagged With: , , , ,

How teaching funds research in Australian universities

28/11/2015 by
Unis

28 November 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… A report by the Grattan Institute report finds that universities earn up to $3.2 billion more from students than they spend on teaching, and have powerful incentives to spend the extra money on research. International students, who usually generate more revenue per student than domestic students, contribute a substantial proportion of this surplus. The report’s author, Andrew Norton, says the finding is concerning because, while university research matters to Australia, the evidence that it improves teaching is less clear. He observes that direct spending on teaching, by contrast, is far more likely to ensure that universities … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grattan Institute, Higher education policy, International, Research, Teaching & learning, The Scan, universities, University budgets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Redesigning Australia’s tertiary sector

29/10/2015 by

 29 October 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… If there is the collective will, a window of opportunity has opened for a serious discussion about the future architecture of Australian tertiary education and the funding mechanisms that would encourage genuine diversity to flourish, write Richard James and Leo Goedegebuure. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… After two lost years the sector desperately needs funding reforms. But how can the debate be placed on a new footing? We believe the answer lies in returning to first principles: what kinds of institutions, and what mix of institutions, would best serve Australia? Our thinking is simple: let’s develop a farsighted … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Higher education policy, LH Martin Institute, universities Tagged With: , , , , ,

Birmingham releases “synthesis report” on HE reform

29/10/2015 by
Birmingham

The Australian     |     28 October 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Commonwealth government has released a synthesis report of the past seven reviews of higher education over the past 30 years rather than conducting a further  separate review in the wake of its failed higher education reform package. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Education minister Simon Birmingham told the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Summit said that the government is under intense time pressures to come up with a new and revitalised higher education reform package after its the package devised by former education minister Christopher Pyne was rejected by the Senate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Education policy, Higher education policy, The Scan, universities Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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