ACER higher education update

02/03/2014 by
financial.143737

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...]

Filed Under: acer, Medical training, Tertiary media, universities Tagged With: , , , ,

Teacher education needs a “lick of paint” – Craven

20/02/2014 by

20 February 2014 Higher education and school experts to advise on improving teacher education Minister for education Christopher Pyne has appointed Australian Catholic University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Greg Craven, to chair an eight-member Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group. Reporting later this year, the group will undertake extensive public and stakeholder consultation while focusing on three key areas: Pedagogical approaches: the ways teachers teach their students, and the different ways teaching and learning can occur; Subject content: how well teachers understand the content of subjects they are teaching; and, Professional experience: opportunities for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Australian Catholic University Tagged With: , , ,

Reform call as uni takes low ATARs

27/01/2014 by

The Australian    |     18 January 2014School leavers with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank as low as 33 have been made offers to study for a science degree at one Victorian university.But a leading vice-chancellor called for the common practice of universities publishing inflated and "fraudulent" ATAR scores in an effort to make their courses appear more popular to be banned under the Trade Practices Act.Information on university offers released by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre reveals entire campuses where barely any students with an ATAR above 50 were sent an offer.The new Federation University of Australia, which resulted from the merger of Ballarat University and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Federation University, The Scan Tagged With: , , ,

On the unbearable lightness of being Kevin

29/12/2013 by

29 December 2013 There's a view abroad in some quarters - you can guess  which -  that improving the performance of our schools, seemingly falling against international benchmarks, is not about injecting more money but about something called “values”.  In an opinion piece earlier this year, the Grattan Institute’s Ben Jensen seemed to agree with the tag line reading “raising teachers’ classroom skills is far more important than raising money”.  But what’s the key to raising teachers’ classroom skills?  Jensen concluded that it requires ….teachers having mentors, getting proper feedback about their work, being required to do research on education in collaboration with other … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Commonwealth policies, Grattan Institute, Schools, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Another way

21/12/2013 by

UTS News    |    21 December 2013 Some clever marketing by the University of Technology Sydney UTS, promoting  foundation and sub-degree pathways,  aimed at Year 12 students whose ATARs wouldn't normally get them into UTS. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: UTS Tagged With: , ,

Higher ATAR makes university science places harder to get into

17/12/2013 by
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The Age    |    16   December 2013 An analysis of Victorian ATAR results from the past five years shows gaining entry into top undergraduate science degrees is getting harder. ________________________________  ATARs have risen despite an increasing number of places in many courses. The analysis revealed science-related courses have accounted for 15 of the top 20 degrees in which the final cutoff scores have increased most from 2009 to 2013. The biggest increase was for computer science at Monash University, which required 70 in 2009 but demanded almost 85 this year. The ATARs for science at Melbourne and Monash universities hit a five-year high, requiring 91.95 and 82 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tertiary Admission Centres, Tertiary media, universities Tagged With: , ,

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...]

Filed Under: ACPET, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, Grattan Institute, Group of 8, Higher Education Standards Panel, National Tertiary Education Union Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Budget, Coalition policies, Commonwealth policies, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Holmesglen TAFE, International, International students, La Trobe University, LH Martin Institute, Qualifications, Rankings, TAFE, TEQSA, Uncategorized, University of Melbourne, VET, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why a minimum ATAR would improve efficiency and equity

17/10/2013 by

18 October 2013 In this excerpt from a presentation just before the election,  Mike Gallagher (executive director , Group of Eight universities), makes the case for a “re-calibration” of the demand driven system, by the imposition of a minimum ATAR for university entry.   He argues that the G08’s proposal for a minimum ATAR of 60 (now apparently in public abeyance) was never an argument for  reintroducing caps but would actually improve both equity and efficiency in the higher education system by directing  academically underprepared students into pathways programs which would ultimately increase the chances of such students successfully completing bachelor degree programs.  Such … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Uncategorized, universities Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pyne hoses down caps debate

26/09/2013 by

ABC News    |   25 September 2013 Education minister Christopher Pyne is trying to hose down concerns he is planning to renege on a promise not to restore limits on university places, but says he has ordered a review because he says evidence suggests "quality is suffering to achieve quantity". Labor abolished the cap on university places in 2007 to boost access to higher education, especially for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. But Pyne says the change has led to an "exponential" growth in student numbers and consequent concerns about quality in the sector. You must be living in a bubble ... if you think that there is not an issue in universities about whether there are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coalition policies, Government, Higher education policy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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