Collaboration and the case for certainty

17/03/2016 by
UA Logo

University Australia's election agenda 17 March 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… In this extract from his  speech to the recent Universities Australia Conference (which was mainly about research, innovation and collaboration),  Universities Australia's chair Barney Glover sets out in broad terms the university sector’s policy agenda for this election year. He prefaced his comments with the observation that the sector has been subject almost 2 years of policy insecurity and uncertainty which has taken a toll on the ability of universities to plan and allocate resources (it’s actually more like 4 years, taking into account the churn that was going on in the latter days of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coalition policies, Education policy, Government, Higher education policy, Research, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, University budgets Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Deakin doesn’t see a future at Warrnambool

14/03/2016 by
Warrnambool

But Federation Uni does ABC News  |    11 March 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Deakin University is considering withdrawing from its Warrnambool campus, about 250km south-west of Melbourne, amid a steep decline in student numbers, from 1,342 students in 2011 to a forecast 872 students this year. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Deakin vice-chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander says the university hopes to maintain the campus, but that "all options" are on the table. Den Hollander has made it pretty clear that the preferred option is another provider - such as Federation University -  taking over the campus but if that can’t be negotiated then closing the campus … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Deakin, universities Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The year to date

11/03/2016 by
Carpet baggers

11 March 2016 There’s a lot to catch up with but, as they say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (which is, according to the estimable Wiktionary, an epigram by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the January 1849 issue of his journal Les Guêpes (“The Wasps”), meaning “the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.”)  VET FEE-HELP   As previously reported, changes to the VET FEE-HELP (VFH)  scheme legislated late last year provides some better protection of students from the carpetbaggers who have looted the scheme and dudded the students.  The government proposes to spend this year look at ways to rort-proof it from the likes of Phoenix.  But as so many people have asked: how … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ACCC, ALP, ASQA, Budget, Canberra Institute of Technology, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Conferences, Education policy, Grattan Institute, Higher education policy, Productivity Commission, Public funding, Qualifications, Rankings, Research, TAFE, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Monash to pull out of Berwick

08/03/2016 by
Monash Berwick

Cites "lack of demand" ABC News  |    8 March 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Monash University says it will close its Berwick campus in Melbourne's outer south-east unless it can partner with another university on the site. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The university said it will stop teaching at Berwick by the end of 2018 after a deal with Victoria University (VU) to use the campus fell through. Monash University's pro vice-chancellor Professor Leon Piterman said negotiations with VU to use the site had gone on for some time. "With students with lower ATARs achieving entry into VU, they would potentially meet the needs of the region better than what … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Monash 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: , , , , , ,

In defence of good research wherever it is found

21/07/2015 by
Hilda2

21 July 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… In response to commentary deprecating The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings from Waves 1 to 12 by Roger Wilkins of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at The University of Melbourne, Conor King, the Executive Director of the Innovative Research Universities Group, provides his perspective on the valuable insight which the Survey presents.  …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The commentary on The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings from Waves 1 to 12 by Roger Wilkins of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Innovative Research Universities, Schools, Society, universities Tagged With: , , , ,

Who should go to university?

11/06/2015 by

 Everyone, or just enough people to fill skilled jobs? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………  We have more people going to university in Australia than ever before. In 1971 only 2% of the population over 15 years old held a Bachelor’s degree, in 2013 it was 25%. Last year a whopping 1,149,300 people were enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree or above.  However, graduate employment rates are falling. This leads many to ask whether too many people are going to university. Should everyone go to university or just the correct number to be able to fill highly skilled jobs in Australia?  asks Leo Goedegebuure (University of Melbourne), writing in The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Higher education policy, LH Martin Institute, The Scan, Universities of specialisation, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , ,

The Scan # 169 15 May 2015

15/05/2015 by
Pollaers

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ GDP spending on higher education set to fall to half OECD average 15 May 2015    |    Spending on higher education as a proportion of GDP will fall from 0.56% in 2015 down to 0.48% in 2018, well below the OECD average of 1%, an analysis of the 2015 Budget figures has determined. According to Vin Massaro, an honorary professorial fellow with the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, higher education spending is slated to drop from $9.3bn in 2015, to $8.9bn in 2016, $9.1bn in 2017 and back to $9.3bn in 2018, representing a drop in GDP every year. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ABC, ACPET, Budget, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Education policy, Government, Grattan Institute, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Innovative Research Universities, LH Martin, National Tertiary Education Union, Notices, Professional Development, Qualifications, Regional Universities Network, Research, Science, Society, TAFE, TAFE Directors Australia, Technology, The Scan, universities, University budgets, University reform, Univesity of Western Australia, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Scan #167 16 April 2015

16/04/2015 by
Game of Loans

Student debt growing rapidly as compliance declines 16 April 2015   |    With student debt ballooning, reform of the FEE-HELP system (HECS) is now a pressing budget issue with the nation’s second biggest financial asset, after the Future Fund, being eroded as one in five debtors renege on their loans. That figure is expected to rise to 25% by 2017. The government will have more than $70 billion in unpaid university student loans on its books in another two years, double the figure owed in 2013-14. According to researchers Richard Highfield and Neil Warren, the loans system is being compromised by successive governments’ commitment to increasing participation in tertiary education while not … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ASQA, Australian Academy of Science, Australian Catholic University, Budget, Government, Grattan Institute, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Innovative Research Universities, International, International students, James Cook University, LH Martin Institute, Research, Science, Society, Swinburne University, TAFE, TAFE Directors Australia, TEQSA, The Scan, universities, Universities Australia, University of Canberra, University of NSW, University reform, UNSW, VET, Victoria University, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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