13 August 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Scan has added new pages about Australia's universities. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Australia’s universities Australian university profiles Australian university groups Universities Australia Group of Eight Australian Technology Network of Universities Innovative Research Universities Regional Universities Network Ungrouped universities … [Read more...]
Types of Australian Universities
13/08/2014 by
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… This is description of Australia's various university groups is by RMIT adjunct professor Gavin Moodie. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... The first and best established group of Australian universities is of course Universities Australia, formerly the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. The organisation that ultimately became Universities Australia was formed at a conference held in Sydney in May 1920 of Australia’s then six universities. However, the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee wasn’t formally established until just before WWII to lobby the Commonwealth … [Read more...]
Group of Eight Newsletter August 2014
12/08/2014 by
……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Table of Contents • Imagining an Australia built on the brilliance of our people • Go8 names new Executive Director effective January 2015 • Learning let loose: reforming our universities • New Go8 Indicators • New Go8 Publications • Go8 sponsors Australia Day at the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting • Go8 conducts pre-departure briefing for Brazilian SWB Students • Go8 submission • New Organisation Structure at the Department of Industry • Executive Files: UWA • Research with Impact • Calendar of Events ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… … [Read more...]
Australian universities should slim down – BCA
07/08/2014 by
Fairfax Media | 4 August 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The president of the Business Council of Australia, Catherine Livingstone, says that Australian universities are enrolling too many domestic students who should opt for vocational education and training. Go8 chair Ian Young thinks the elite universities probably will slim down if fees are deregulated. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… The president of the Business Council of Australia, Catherine Livingstone, says that Australian universities are enrolling too many domestic students who should opt for vocational education and training. She told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce that a large … [Read more...]
Budget cuts of over $1.5b per year give universities “no choice” – NTEU
07/08/2014 by
NTEU | 6 August 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The impact of the Federal Budget’s 20% per student funding cut leaves universities with a massive funding black hole amounting to more than $1.5 billion a year from 2019 onwards, argues the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) in its latest budget analysis briefing paper. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… The impact is heavier upon regional and outer metropolitan universities that are traditionally more reliant on Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding as a source of income. The NTEU calculates that universities will have to increase their fees by about 30% on average … [Read more...]
Go8 leader urges senators to enable fee deregulation but ease up on interest rates
01/08/2014 by
The Conversation | 30 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ANU vice-chancellor and chair of the Group of Eight Ian Young has urged the Senate to pass fee deregulation, proposed in May’s budget, but stopped short of supporting the government’s plans to impose an interest rate on HECS. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young has urged the Senate to pass fee deregulation, proposed in May’s budget, but stopped short of supporting the government’s plans to impose an interest rate on HECS. In a speech at the Press Club in Canberra today, Young, who is also Chair of the Group of Eight, said Australia had no outstanding … [Read more...]
Imagining an Australia built on the brilliance of our people: address to National Press Club
01/08/2014 by
Group of Eight | 30 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… When our Senate considers the government’s higher education reforms it needs to find some sensible compromises. It needs to see thatderegulation is critical to this nation’s future. It needs to consider what magnitude of funding cuts is sustainable for universities in a constrained public budget. It needs to find a compromise option which maintains the brilliance of the HECS system, allows it to be sustainable for the nation and affordable for students. It also must not forget that world class research is essential if we are to be a wealthy nation in 50 years. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… Higher … [Read more...]
The Scan | Edition # 158
30/07/2014 by
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Skills reform a "shemozzle of a dog's breakfast"... 24 July 2014 | Skills reform in Australia is an “absolute shemozzle” and is jeopardising a world-class vocational education and training system, says Jeff Gunningham, recently retired chief executive of TAFE South Australia. But the apparent troubles besetting TAFE are the invention of a “misinformed media”, according to the Victorian minister. Gunningham told the Victorian TAFE Association conference that bureaucratic bungling and an obsession with the bottom line is degrading … [Read more...]
Vicki Thomson to head Go8 secretariat
29/07/2014 by
Group of Eight | 29 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Group of Eight (Go8) has appointed Ms Vicki Thomson as its Executive Director to succeed Mike Gallagher, who is stepping down after seven years in the job. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......… Ms Thomson comes to the role after more than a decade leading the Australian Technology Network (ATN) of Universities. Ms Thomson is also a member of the Australia China Council Board and the New Colombo Plan Reference Group. The Go8 Chair and ANU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Young AO, says that the appointment of Ms Thomson will further strengthen collaboration on all fronts between Australia’s … [Read more...]
Tearing through Australia’s social fabric
29/07/2014 by
29 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The prospect of university fee deregulation, as proposed in the Budget, has divided the university sector. The Group of Eight is strongly in favour, with ANU vice-chancellor and Go8 chair Ian Young saying that, in an environment of declining public funding, without fee deregulation, the university sector is unsustainable. The Australian Technology Network universities "reluctantly" agrees and the peak body, Universities Australia is not opposed. But number of individual vice -chancellors have been strongly critical of the proposal, most recently University of Canberra vice-chancellor Stephen Parker, describing proposed reforms, with … [Read more...]
