The Age | 28 March 2013 The Victorian government has sacked seven of the 14 chairs of Victoria’s standalone TAFEs, on order to give "TAFE boards a stronger commercial focus." The TAFEs include a combination of metropolitan and regional institutes. The chairs of Box Hill, Holmesglen, South West, Chisholm, SuniTAFE, GippsTAFE and NMIT TAFEs have been sacked. Two others are to retire within the next twelve months. Under previous arrangements, TAFE chairs were selected by the board members, half of whom were appointed on the recommendation of the skills minister. Controversial legislation passed late last year gives the minister veto rights over the remaining board members, … [Read more...]
The Scan Main Edition 28 March 2013
28/03/2013 by
# 111 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Students give unis a tick A survey of 110,000 university students at campuses across the country has found found 80% rate their overall experience as "good" or "excellent", with all key demographic groups reporting consistent satisfaction. However, more than half of those surveyed believe paid work affected their study. And a majority of Australian students say support services are irrelevant to their needs.....[READ MORE].... Emerson endorses expanded uni access New education portfolio minister Craig Emerson has endorsed Labor’s massive expansion of university … [Read more...]
Millions wasted in education?
28/03/2013 by
That's not what the evidence says, according to Andrew Vann 28 March 2013 Over recent years we have seen a wave of angst about Australia’s school education. The complex issue of teacher quality is, of course, part of the equation, but state governments are also concerned that too many people are being allowed to study education leading to an oversupply of graduates. The dots are perhaps too easily joined here – governments now see raising university entry scores as a way to deal with oversupply, the problem of lifting the status of the profession and lifting quality all at the same time. After all, it’s easy to assume that lifting entry scores would be a solution when … [Read more...]
A fifth of teaching degrees might fail quality test
28/03/2013 by
The Australian | 26 March 2013 The chairman of the Australian Institute for Teaching School Leadership, Tony Mackay, says new national standards for accrediting teaching courses will result in a shake-out of the programs offered by almost 50 higher education institutions. Mackay says that while the accreditation process is in its early days, initial results suggest "as many as 20% will have serious work to do and, of those that will not get up at all, I'd be very surprised if it were less than 10%". It's a demanding process. There's an application process then requiring people to do more work, you don't immediately get through accreditation if you don't meet the … [Read more...]
Sunbursts of Australian higher education
28/03/2013 by
LH Martin Institute | 27 March 2013 The depth and dimensionality of universities When I told my five year old son that I was going to study at a university, he asked “What’s a university?” My simple answer to him at that time was “it is a school for adults”. But for someone who has worked in the sector for years it made me reflect about the concept of university, what it meant for me when I started my higher education journey some twenty years ago, what it meant now, and what it will mean to my son when he begins his journey down the track. In today’s context, and particularly in Australia, what really is a ‘university’? And what is the University of Melbourne? What is it, … [Read more...]
Emerson endorses expanded uni access
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The Australian | 27 March 2013 New education portfolio minister Craig Emerson has endorsed Labor's massive expansion of university education, arguing that a highly skilled workforce will be Australia's competitive edge in the 21st century. Calling it "a great reform of the Gillard era", he says the government's policy of funding a place for every Australian student that a university will accept successfully delivers on Gough Whitlam's attempt to open higher education to disadvantaged young people. Enrolments did not change then but they are now with growth in numbers of students from disadvantaged background and from rural and regional areas. They belong in university and we … [Read more...]
Students rate unis highly
28/03/2013 by
The Australian | 28 March 2013 A survey of 110,000 university students at campuses across the country has found found 80% rate their overall experience as "good" or "excellent", with all key demographic groups reporting consistent satisfaction. However, more than half of those surveyed believe paid work affected their study. And a majority of Australian students say support services are irrelevant to their needs. There is very little difference in how male and female students experienced university study.. Being the first in a family to attend university also has "very little" impact on study, and language spoken at home has "no reported impact". While Australian residents … [Read more...]
