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...]
Imagining an Australia built on the brilliance of our people: address to National Press Club
01/08/2014 by
Where to now for Australia’s universities?
03/07/2014 by
UNSW News | 27 June 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Through budget cuts and deregulation, the Coalition government may well be about to make life more difficult for Australia’s universities, which Jenny Stewart of UNSW describes as "no mean achievement". But she says we should also acknowledge that the system it inherited is the product of decades of bipartisan financial fiddling, poor management (by both universities and the educational bureaucracy) and political opportunism. On the plus side, there has been a commendable concern to improve access for disadvantaged groups. But too little attention has been paid to the quality of what is on offer; it is difficult to … [Read more...]
Civilisation as we don’t know it: teaching-only universities
03/07/2014 by
The Conversation | 3 July 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Scan has long been a proponent of "teaching only universities" (see One size does not fit all unis). In this piece in The Conversation, Gavin Moodie observes that there is no reason in principle, practice nor historical precedent to champion or oppose teaching only universities. But were the research requirement of universities removed from the higher education threshold standards he doesn't expect any current Australian university to relinquish its research role. Rightly or wrongly, he writes, research has become so embedded in universities' ethos and activities since the 1960s that it is central to all … [Read more...]
Higher education: a “public good” or “pernicious welfare” ?
19/06/2014 by
20 June 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… In this op-ed piece originally published in The Australian, Ben Etherington (Univeristy of Western Sydney) takes issue with John Roskam's proposition that "taxpayer-subsidised higher education is one of the more pernicious forms of welfare". Among other things, Roskam queried the relevance of studying the “emergence of poetry in various Caribbean Creoles”, Etherington's current project. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… “In an era of busy government and constant change, it’s insufficiently recognised how often masterly inactivity can be the best contribution that government can make to a particular sector. A period … [Read more...]
UA guarded on proposed reforms
08/05/2014 by
6 May 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Commission of Audit's recommendations in relation to higher education have received a guarded response from Universities Australia (UA), given a lack of detail and/or reasoning behind them. UA says that, without a full picture of the proposed reforms, it is not possible to understand all the implications of the reform trajectory. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... Universities Australia (UA) agrees with the Government that higher education and research drives economic and social prosperity. Public funding of higher education and research is an investment in Australia’s … [Read more...]
Higher education policy seminars 2014
06/05/2014 by
6 May 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Has Australia the imagination and will to create and maintain international pre-eminence in higher education? Key issues must be tackled across the next few years if an excellent higher education system is to be designed and built. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... Since 2007 the University of Melbourne has hosted an influential series of high-profile public seminars on higher education policy. With higher education becoming ever more important to Australia’s prosperity it is essential to engage deeply in open discussions of how to plan and steer the tertiary system. The … [Read more...]
The campus is dead: long live the campus?
12/03/2014 by
The Conversation | 7 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Virtual communities can provide an alternative to the on-campus experience but, as yet, there is little evidence to suggest that virtual engagement with peers and with content matter experts can provide the same benefits as being immersed in the intellectual culture on campus, writes Jason Lodge of Griffith University. And do read this related essay by Kate Bowles on the creation of the space - or part of it, anyway - that the University of Wollongong occupies - For Leon Fuller. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Much hype and discussion has surrounded the evolution of online … [Read more...]
Dual sector unis ‘happy to ditch TAFE label’
05/03/2014 by
The Australian | 5 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… It appears Victoria’s four dual-sector universities have quietly dumped their TAFE status and the burden of state government reporting that went with it. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… New legislation will see state government-owned TAFE assets and infrastructure transferred to the dual-sector universities. It also frees them to negotiate wage deals with TAFE teachers without the state government having to approve the agreements. Andrew Smith, Federation University’s deputy vice-chancellor (academic), said there are no funding implications, noting changes to state funding arrangements meant … [Read more...]
Stirring and shaking Australia’s tertiary sector – and the economy
02/03/2014 by
26 February 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… In her address to the National Press Club, one of the set pieces of the annual Universities Australia Conference, UA chair Sandra Harding noted what a bizarre year 2013 was with five ministers and multiple policy gyrations. She emphasised, as chairs of UA tend to, that putting public money into higher education is more investment than expenditure, and she ran out the numbers to prove it. But she posed an interesting question: Are we trapped by the very language we use – and the behaviour that language invites? I wonder whether, at some deep, even subconscious, level we have been acting on the basis we are 'done' somehow, … [Read more...]
UWS launches inter-disciplinary program “shaping future leaders”
02/03/2014 by
UWS News Centre | 26 February 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The University of Western Sydney has launched The Academy which has an emphasis on student volunteering, ethical leadership and creating a new generation of ‘citizen scholars’. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Academy brings together the best and brightest students from across Greater Western Sydney who clearly demonstrate a commitment to using their opportunities in life to give back to society and to create a better world. While undertaking their advanced academic studies, students in The Academy also participate in programs focused on civic engagement and citizenship – professional … [Read more...]
