ABC TV | 20 April 2015 Four Corners on degrees for dollars ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Australia has been gripped by a national debate over how to fund our university education. But perhaps there's a more important question: what is it worth? A Four Corners investigation has claimed to unearth alarming new evidence of a decline in academic standards at institutions around the country. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Lecturers and tutors are grappling with a tide of academic misconduct and pressure from faculty managers to pass weak students. Many say commercial imperatives are overtaking academic rigour. But why is this happening? As … [Read more...]
Who should go to university?
16/04/2015 by
16 April 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Conor King of the Innovative Research Universities group fears that in the absence of university fee deregulation, the demand driven-system will be dumped. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Who should go to university, only the select or all who want to? It is the question that ran through the 2015 Universities Australia Conference in March. It is lurking behind the contentious funding and fees debate that has wracked higher education for the past year. It is the issue that determines how well higher education supports Australia’s future. Gary Banks, former Productivity Commissioner, best illustrated the … [Read more...]
ACER higher education update
02/03/2014 by
28 February 2014 The first edition of ACER's Higher Education Update for 2014 examines the impact of financial support on student decisions to defer, as well as what ATARs and attrition rates tell us about the relationship between growth and quality in higher education. We also explore whether Australia's medical school admissions tools can or should predict the course performance of students.For more information on ACER’s higher education research please visit www.acer.edu.au/highereducation. Features The impact of financial support on university deferral While there has been a substantial decline in the proportion of university … [Read more...]
Regional students prefer direct approach
15/12/2013 by
The Australian | 6 December 2013 There’s been a big increase in direct applications to universities, with the total number of direct applications to universities having increased from 61 805 in 2010 to 82,890 in 2013 (plus 34.1%). The increase in 2013 was 12.6%.______________________________________________________________Peter Lee, chairman of the Regional Universities Network RUN, has defended a 6% drop in applications this year to regional unioversities, saying a "massive increase" in direct applications by both school-leaver and mature-age students more than compensated for the fall in official applications data. The official data only counts applications via state tertiary … [Read more...]
Policy directions in higher education
15/12/2013 by
ACPET | 15 December 2013 In this commentary for the ACPET Journal for Private Education, Brendan Sheehan looks to the higher education policy horizon under the newly elected Coalition government. On the face of it, he writes, education generally is an area in which little immediate change would be anticipated, with the major parties going to the election on broadly bipartisan platforms. But no sooner had the ink dried on Christopher Pyne's commission as minister for education than he was canvassing a range of interesting propositions around concerning equity, quality and the demand driven system and the sale of HECs debt. The simple fact of the National Commission of Audit and … [Read more...]
The Scan in October 2013 : Most read items
02/11/2013 by
1 November 2013 Why TAFE matters 25 October 2013 | The insightful Leesa Wheelahan will soon be decamping the LH Martin Institute to take up the at the University of Toronto. Here she reflects on the challenges facing the TAFE sector as a result of “VET reform”, which she suggests can only result in a greatly diminished role for TAFE, at great community and social cost....[ READ MORE ].... Hockey rules out privatisation of HECS 18 October 2013 | Treasurer Joe Hockey has hosed down speculation that the government plans to “privatise” student debt, following claims that the right to recoup loans worth about $23 billion may be “sold off” to the private sector. But education … [Read more...]
ANU needs to recreate itself : Schmidt
25/10/2013 by
The Canberra Times | 20 October 2013 Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt says the Australian National University must cut student numbers and change its admissions process in order to recreate itself as a prestigious university in the style of Harvard and Oxford. He has also called for increased funding by the federal government to ensure a change from ''pumping degrees out by the masses''. Schmidt said the ANU had a successful past, creating ''three of Australia's six Nobel prizes'', but there were concerns for its future. I am concerned that we are no longer different. We're essentially funded exactly the same way. Our relationship with the federal government is not that … [Read more...]
