Just in at the “Who would have thought it!” desk. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will leave parliament in February, to become vice chancellor of the University of Canberra. After the $44bn NDIS budget, his first culture shock will be realising the university’s $400m or so income is not a rounding error.
But at least there will be familiar faces to explain things. The university’s chancellor is Lisa Paul, co-chair of the NDIS Review.
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Uni Sydney VC Mark Scott and Provost AnnaMarie Jagose appeared Wednesday at NSW Legislative Council budget estimates, being closely questioned by Liberal MLC Susan Close, who was demonstratively disappointed in the university’s assistance for Jewish staff and students during Gaza protests. Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence proposed plenty of points of order on Ms Close’s questions and Professor Scott stuck to his script, that the University did the best it could. He even displayed his faith in his brothers and sisters of the Gown, mentioning that he was the only one of 11 New South Wales VCs to be at the hearing, “but they are heare in spirit I am sure.”
It was good practise for what Professors Scott and Jagose will face if called to the Senate Committee inquiry into a Liberal Party Bill for a Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism on University Campuses.
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The Senate Committee inquiring into the international student caps legislation will take more evidence this afternoon, which is when it was supposed to report.
Universities and lobby groups (some likely to be in favour, some not) will appear, but the big attraction will be well-briefed Opposition and Independent Senators asking public servants difficult questions. There are multiple member teams from Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Home Affairs and Treasury.
Assuming the Opposition wants to demonstrate that the legislation is mess and then pass it the government will have one joint sitting week in October and two in November to get an amended bill up (the House also sits November 4-7). Looks tight? Not, observers suggest, to the ever-optimistic Jason Clare.
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Interim Uni Wollongong VC John Dewar is a partner at consultants Korda Mentha, which is doing some work for the university. This has not escaped the Illawarra Mercury and so the university states, “the Interim Vice-Chancellor was not employed by the university during the tender process and was not a member of the tender evaluation committee. He was not consulted in any of the deliberations undertaken by the tender evaluation committee, all of which took place before his employment began.” The project KM is working on, “is driven by and reports to UoW Council.”
Back in March, Professor Dewar stood aside as the new chair of the Higher Education Standards Panel, before his first meeting, to avoid any misperception of conflict of interest with his KM partnership.
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Ratings agency S&P sticks with its AA+ long term credit rating for Uni Melbourne – this may not be on-song with the chorus of international student quota created doom. But it is way better for the university’s credibility with lenders than a downgrade.
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Uni Southampton will be the first international university to open a campus in India under the local rules, offering UK degrees from July at Gurgaon, near Delhi. Yes, Deakin U and Uni Wollongong are already open, but in a free-trade zone, outside the ambit of the at times impenetrable University Grants Commission. The national government announced in 2020 that foreign universities were allowed, but the Commission’s rules did not change until last November.
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The Australian Research Council has finally got around to recruiting a new CEO, to replace Judi Zielke, who left in December due to “a health issue”, (no, it wasn’t a euphemism).The pitch to candidates leads with the new CEO being, “the first to operate under the significant changes that occurred to the ARC Act in 2024.” Which may mean that when it comes to KPIs, nobody has a clue what to list.
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The Queensland Government announces a science advisory council to advise on achieving “five strategic priority pillars”:
- Attract and retain talent
- Grow infrastructure and capabilities
- Maintain science leadership
- Initiatives and investment to facilitate science translation
- Empower community awareness/engagement.
If there is anything that needs doing to make this happen, officials will need to keep moving – caretaker period for the State election starts at the end of the month.
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Jobs and Skills Australia reports international data showing labour productivity in Australia, Canada New Zealand and the UK was negative last year. Useful evidence for those who argue more education and training is needed to grow the economy and also for those who contend existing levels don’t work.
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International education giant Navitas reports that first mentions of caps on international arrivals numbers back in May had an impact on potential students and influencers, who were quick to pick up policies in Canada and proposals here that presented both as less welcoming. “Australia has dropped and Canada has plunged in terms of preferred study destinations for international students,” a June survey found.
Imagine the next results, after months of lobbyists’ laments that caps will turn Australian universities into wastelands.
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Charles Darwin U’s medical school will admit its first students next year. Not many mind, just 20, but it’s a start. Well done VC Scott Bowman who made a compelling political case for the school and kept making it.
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Macquarie U admits to underpaying people, again. This time it reports 3,191 former and continuing professional staff were underpaid $1.9m between 2017 and 2023. Reasons given are similar to those used across the country in what are now common cases – problems in applying the right rates for overtime and penalty rates. MU promises to pay people back and sort out its systems.
Which is what it did last time it reported stuffing up people’s pay, then 1100 current and former casual academics who were owed $687,000 for work between January 2016 and November 222.
While MU is silent on the causes of mistakes, a common explanation in cases around the country is that the generality of terms and conditions in enterprise agreements are way too complicated. It is true, but then again having signed agreements university managements should make sure staff understand them.
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Jobs and Skills Australia reports international data showing labour productivity in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK was negative last year. Useful evidence for those who argue more education and training is needed to grow the economy and also for those who contend existing levels don’t work.
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The Council of Australasian University Directors of IT announces its 2024 top ten issues that exercise members:
- Secure digital environment, “zero trust is no longer an option, but the default within the sector”
- Holistic student experience “digital tools are a key enabler across the entire student journey”
- Digital strategy “swiftly adopt new systems, platforms and ways of working to maintain competitive advantage”
- Operational efficiency “prioritise the implementation of technology, systems and processes to support the expectations of staff, researchers and students”
- AI for teaching, learning, research “has shifted from being a technology of concern to a productivity tool ready to be unleashed
- Research support “evolved from a traditional support function to a strategic partner”
- Identity and access management “a delicate balance between accurately identifying, verifying and controlling users while delivering a secure access system that is hassle-free and convenient for all”
- Data governance “to achieve strategic objectives and operational efficiencies”
- Enterprise architecture “designing, implementing and managing the IT environment so it will support the diverse needs of faculty staff, administrative staff, researchers and students”
- Insights driving actions “digging deeper into data to uncover previously unknown indicators”
