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Medical research funding announced

The government has announced more than $559 million in funding to Australian health and medical research through the National Health and Medical Research Council.

This is over $100m less than the previous government allocated in each of the past two years. The Gillard government spent $652m in last year’s October round and a record $674m in 2011, funding some 1140 grants each year.  However, NHMRC funding allocations are staggered through the year, with another substantial round expected in December.This round’s  funding will support 963 grants across three NHMRC research support schemes and five fellowship schemes….[ READ MORE ]….

Re- creation 1: The  La Trobe Model?

La Trobe University vice-chancellor John Dewar has flagged a possible radical streamlining of the university’s structure in which the current five faculties would be collapsed into two super faculties.

One would house all the professional degrees, with the other combining the humanities, arts and sciences in a liberal arts faculty.  While no decision has been made, Dewar says that such a structure could “play to [LaTrobe's]  strengths”. He said the professional faculty would appeal to the university’s demographic, with LaTrobe attracting many first-in-family students who were particularly focused on professional outcomes.  At the same time, he said, the university has a strong tradition in the humanities and sciences....[ READ MORE ]….

Re-creation2: ANU needs to differentiate

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.  He said suggested  that ANU is no longer different, in the way it was intended.  It’s funded  essentially funded exactly the same way as other universities and its relationship with the federal government is not that different from the University of Melbourne or any other university....[ READ MORE ]….

A report released by the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) on Australia’s food industry has found the industry needs more highly skilled workers if it is to capitalise on growth opportunities.

The Food and beverage workforce study finds our agrifood industry—including both agriculture production and food processing—is in transition, and needs to attract skilled workers to grow new export markets in the Asian region. T he industry employs approximately 553,000 people—and generates around 4% of Australia’s GDP and 11.5% of the value of exports.

Unsettling time for skilled migrants’ families in regional Australia

Skilled migrants and their families face the prospect of not being socially integrated into the local labour market and the community more generally, according to new research by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

Nevertheless, the findings of the research identified some good practices that enhanced individual migrants’ employability skills in both the VET and university organisations.  These practices involved support in relation to job seeking and local work experience and to understanding specific professional networks and labour markets. In particular, within the TAFE sector, a strategy of encouraging skilled migrants to participate in the organised volunteer programs developed for humanitarian migrants facilitated the skilled migrants’ transition into a new field of professional employment in human services and human development....[ READ MORE]….

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News notes

Peter Coyne replaces Maria Simpson as head of Bendigo TAFE…… Torrens University, part of the international Laureate group, the country’s newest university, is taking enrolments for its first courses in 2014.….. Glenormiston’s 42-year link with agricultural education is set to end next year after Victorian regional South West TAFE announced it would finish its association with the historic site… A scare reportedly involving a chemical more explosive than TNT forced UTS to evacuate its main campus.….The Victorian government has rejected a call for it to compulsorily acquire, for a nominal sum, Swinburne’s shut down Lilydale campus, saying it’s legally impossible to do so

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Pyne takes scissors to redtape

24 October 2013 | Minister for education Christopher Pyne has directed the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) to “simplify the paperwork and deregulate”. He declared that reducing red tape is a key priority for the government, while acknowledging it is important to keep quality at the centre of Australian higher education. In line the recommendations of the Review of Higher Education Regulation Report, key aspects of the government’s actions to decrease regulation throughout 2013–14 will include: amending the TEQSA Act to reduce burdensome processes; establishing a TEQSA advisory council to consult widely with the higher education sector and provide advice to the minister; reducing duplication by amending legislation that impacts on the work of TEQSA and other regulatory agencies; and ensuring the change starts immediately by making a direction to this effect under the TEQSA Act…..[ READ MORE ]….

Hockey’s inquiry into everything

23 October 2013 | Details of the National Commission of Audit foreshadowed by the Abbott government have been announced by treasurer Joe Hockey and finance minister Senator Matthias Cormann. The commission’s terms of reference provide for a sweeping review of government functions, activities and spending. Privatisations and Commonwealth asset sales are clearly set for examination, even though Cormann refused to speculate what these may be until the commission’s report is handed to the government. Phase 1 of the audit, to report at the end of January 2014 will cover the roles and responsibilities, the efficiency and effectiveness of government expenditure and medium term fiscal sustainability. Phase 2, to be completed by the end of March in time to feed into the 2014/2015 budget, will focus on public sector performance and accountability……[ READ MORE]….

Withers explains “securitisation” of HECS

21 October 2013 | The Coalition government’s commission of audit is the right vehicle to examine an idea like securitising student debt, former Universities Australia chief and now Australian National University economist Glenn Withers says. He said it’s important to distinguish between securitisation and the more extreme option of privatisation.

It’s essentially the government issuing bonds on future revenue flows. (It would enable) private institutions or even retailers and some individuals, such as self-managed super funds, to buy a long-dated low-risk bond asset. “he government would continue to control the student access to HECS schemes and collect the money through the Australian Tax Office, which is quite crucial to doing that economically and with full enforcement……[ READ MORE]….

The bare bones of La Trobe’s “root and branch renewal”

21 October 2013 | La Trobe University has put a positive spin on the task it faces to rein in its ballooning deficit, with vice-chancellor John Dewar declaring that La Trobe is set to undergo a ‘root and branch’ renewal to become a ‘university for the future’. La Trobe is behind its growth target by about 1200 full-time students, amounting to a revenue shortfall of up to $25m by 2015 and an overall deficit of $65 m. Under its strategic plan, covering the period 2013-2017, La Trobe aims to be one of the top three universities in Victoria, one of the top dozen nationally and one of the top 300 internationally. It also plans to grow from 26,000 to 33,000 students ……[ READ MORE ]….

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Comment & analysis

Why TAFEs matter

The insightful Leesa Wheelahan will soon be decamping the LH Martin Institute to take up the William G Davis Chair of Community College Leadership 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.  It’s not an uncommon view: recently retired Holmesglen Institute director Bruce Mackenzie says TAFEs might  disappear entirely from some states in less than a decade due to “state government meddling and federal government indifference “.  He does suggest that “re-invention” involving TAFEs in effective collaborations and partnerships will be the key to survival.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Government ‘reforms’ to TAFE are destroying a key institution that contributes to Australia’s well-being, social cohesion and economic prosperity.  The purpose of the changes is to create markets in vocational education and training and to transform TAFE into a commercial provider of services that competes on the same basis as private-for-profit providers. I have no doubt that TAFE will survive, but it will be a different kind of institution that serves a different purpose. We will all be poorer as a result.

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Life & stuff

Vegemite turns 90

Headlines declare “spread the word”

For the better part of a century, Vegemite has divided families and friends around the world. To date we’ve enjoyed over one billion jars and nearly 90 billion servings. But whether you’re an Edger (spread to the perimeter of your toast), Streaker (apply sparingly) or Nudist (sans butter or margarine), the iconic Aussie spread turns 90 on Friday 25 October, charging past the average Australian life expectancy. While it may not be the most epicurean ingredient, Vegemite scores a tick of approval from most of Australia’s top chefs (check out the recipe for Vegemite caramel chocolate cups at the end of this article). Although not Australian owned, it is an Australian icon with every jar of Vegemite  produced in Port Melbourne and 90% of the ingredients sourced from Australia and sales of over 22 million jars a year.

Over 234 serves of Vegemite are in the process being enjoyed somewhere in the world while you’re reading this sentence.

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DESIGNING MODERN LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR THE MODERN WORKPLACE
11-13 November 2013 | Australian Technology Park, Sydney

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