The Australian | 19 December 2013 Selling off student debt would be "pointless" at best and costly at worst, modelling for peak body Universities Australia has found. The report by consultants ACIL Allen says privatising the HECS debt is a "marginal proposition" that could cost the government $6.5 billion while putting educational policy evelopment on ice. Selling HECS debt is, from a public policy perspective, neutral at best and a bad idea at worst. Any apparent improvement in the government's budget position … would be entirely illusionary. The government's national commission of audit is considering the sale of HECS revenue streams to private investors in … [Read more...]
TAFE grants rescinded
19/12/2013 by
The Australian | 19 December 2013TAFEs have slammed the government's decision to shut them out of a competitive capital grants fund, reneging on $76 million awarded by the previous government.The grants, to TAFEs in the Sunshine Coast, Central Queensland and NSW North Coast, would have supported three of the 12 projects approved by the Education Investment Fund’s advisory board.The former Labor government originally intended to fund nine of them. But it pulled the plug on the other six to fund small business tax cuts promised during the election campaign – a move branded as “outstanding hypocrisy” by then opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne.At the time the Coalition … [Read more...]
Bah humbug????
19/12/2013 by
19 December 2013 It was cool and wettish in Melbourne but November 2013 was a hot month for planet Earth. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that last month set a heat record. It says it was the warmest November on record, across Earth, since record-keeping began in 1880. It says average global temperature, for water and land surfaces combined, was 56.6 degrees (13.7 Celsius). That's 0.78 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average. It was the 37th consecutive November with above-average temperatures. The last below-average November was in 1976. It was also the 345th straight month with above-average temperatures. That's almost 29 … [Read more...]
Federation University’s season approaches
19/12/2013 by
19 December 2013 Federation University – a merger between the University of Ballarat and Monash University’s Gippsland campus – comes into being on 1 January 2013. This “seasonal greeting” recounts the journey to this point. Let’s wish them well. See Ballarat becomes Fed Uni … [Read more...]
Vocational education’s variable links to vocations
19/12/2013 by
NCVER News | 19 December 2013 Mid-level qualifications currently provide weak links to the labour market, except when they are related to licensing requirements or regulations. This progress report in a three-year program of research - Vocations: the link between post-compulsory education and the labour market - looks specifically at mid-level qualifications, such as diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees, and how they assist entry to and progression in the labour market. Key messages At a time when the vocational education and training (VET) sector is designing entitlement models and introducing contestability to improve the outcomes of learning, this … [Read more...]
VET employment outcomes steady
19/12/2013 by
NCVER News | 5 December 2013 Employment outcomes for graduates have remained steady over the past year with 78.2% employed after training. Released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), Student Outcomes 2013 provides an annual national scorecard on Australia’s training system. Each year students are asked what they have done six months after training, why they undertook the training, how satisfied they were and what benefits they got from training. The results show that 83.4% of graduates undertook their training for employment-related reasons, of which 81.1% were employed after training. “Satisfaction with training remains high, … [Read more...]
Mid year cuts to higher education
19/12/2013 by
NTEU News | 17 December 2013 The changes to policy and funding announced in relation to higher education included in the Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Outlook (MYEFO) 2013-14 statements on 17 December result in net reduction of just over $200m in funding over the next four years. A summary of the changes to higher education related funding which have been announced since the 2013-14 Federal Budget are shown in Table 1 below.The largest cut relates to the cessation of the regional priorities round of the Education Investment Fund (EIF). While this will save the government $187.5m over the next three years and relates to monies that have yet to be allocated, it will reduce the … [Read more...]
Submissions to review of demand driven system
19/12/2013 by
19 December 2013Submissions to the review of the demand driven system initiated by education minister Christopher Pyne closed on 16 December 2013. University sector submissions support its retention and an extension to sub-bachelor places to create pathways for less academically prepared students. Submissions also propose readjusting fees, including a mechanism to allow full fees (IRU).The introduction of the demand driven system and the removal of almost all caps on undergraduate places appears, on balance, to have been a positive reform for both students and the nation. All indicators suggest that maintaining the demand driven funding system will bring profound benefits for national … [Read more...]
Inside a cooperative university
19/12/2013 by
David Matthews of The Times Higher Education Supplement reports on the University of Mondragon (Spain), which is fighting to preserve its teaching mission, industry-focused research and mutual governance model. It is hard to think of a time when academics in the UK have been more dissatisfied with where the academy is going. Their list of gripes is long: from the rise of the student “consumer” to overpaid vice-chancellors, a distant management class, increasing marketisation, a seemingly ever-growing brood of administrators and, perhaps least tangibly, a sense that academia is turning into a competitive rather than comradely affair. Last year, senior scholars founded the Council for … [Read more...]
