ATEC is up and at em (legislation to follow). It is “tasked with creating a better and fairer tertiary education system that delivers for students on national, economic and social objectives.” But what, pray, a reader asks, will Mary O’Kane and colleagues do after they sort all that out by Christmas?
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There is a new research paper, on the state of the nation’s school systems from the National Party friendly Page Research Centre. FC guesses it is named for Earl Page, a founding father of the NP’s predecessor, the Country Party. The paper, by Deidre Clary, Kevin Donnelly and Fiona Mueller, argues, “school leavers, on average, are less literate, less numerate, and far less knowledgeable about their nation’s Western democratic heritage than previous generations.” The authors know their history and make a case for change, which will not happen while there are State Education Ministers who do not want to upset teacher unions. But buried at the absolute end of the report there is a suggestion that might have political appeal, at least while teacher education academics are blamed for everything anybody is unhappy about, from ATARS to PISA. Take initial teacher education away from universities and establish “a small group of independent, national institutions responsible for, teacher training, professional support and "objective reliable, contemporary research.”
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We have reached, a reader suggests, peak ranking with the Red Cross announcing a league table of campus blood donations. Griffith U leads with 833, followed by Monash U (817), Uni Queensland (764), Uni Wollongong (738) and Melbourne U (716). Question is will Group of Eight blood be any use – what with it being blue.
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Charles Sturt Uni announces it needs $35m in savings and “unfortunately there will be job losses.” Vice-Chancellor Renée Leon blames “needlessly restrictive and unsupportive government policies.” She means caps on international student numbers and states the $33m profit decline on international enrolments between pre-pandemic 2019 and 2024, “has crippled our ability to invest in our courses, research and campuses.” Professor Leon adds “this is not just a matter of fairness—it is a matter of national interest. Investment in regional universities is an investment in the future of Australia’s regions.” And city office-block prices. CSU is also a CBD university with close to all its 8,000 international students in 2019 being at the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne campuses.
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The education Minco met Friday and Minister Clare released its communique last Saturday morning. Other than ATEC getting going, “ministers were also provided a progress update on the work of the Expert Council on University Governance, initiatives to ensure a more joined-up tertiary sector and the National Admissions Framework.” Alas, there was no detail. Perhaps they should put a new name for the document on the agenda, maybe, “all the news that is fit to redact.”
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The Jobs and Skills Council for fin, tech and biz warns Australia will be short 250,000 of the 3.5m workers in its disciplines that the nation will need in 2030.
Take-aways from Future Skills Organisation’s workforce plan include:
- Employers will focus less on qualifications, than “demonstrable skills … prioritising capabilities like critical thinking, digital literacy, and adaptability.”
- There will be more hybrid roles, “where broad skill sets are valued over narrow specialisation”
- Qualifications will more commonly include “stackable, digital-rich credentials”
- A system is needed to fill middle-high skills gaps.
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Regulator TEQSA has a new guide for using AI in research. Or how not to use it – the manual is way bigger on do-nots than do-s. No one will ever excuse the regulator of unseemly enthusiasm at how the new tech can help HDRs create knowledge without working to they drop and then labouring vertically.
The good news is TEQSA cites work by a bunch of local universities which are already on to explaining AI in research. The interesting news is that Uni Tasmania has a mandatory Graduate Certificate in research. The puzzling news is that the regulator refers readers to the Australian Code of the Responsible Conduct of Research, which came out in 2018 – it may as well have been 1802 for its relevance to GenAI.
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“Are you a top US-based scientist wanting to relocate to Australia?” the Australian Academy of Science asks. The next story is headlined, “Academy strengthens biodiversity with China.” Here’s hoping it has no US Government funding it really needs.
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Engineers Australia wants to extend the new Commonwealth Prac Payment to student engineers, “who are also required to complete practical placements to ensure authentic engagement with the profession they are entering.” The new $319 payment is only for students in teaching and nursing, midwifery and social work. “Engineering students face the same placement poverty as others,” is the pitch.
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ANU has released some results from its 2024 staff survey. It follows attempts by Steve Hanua to FOI this and other ANU performance measures which the university has found reasons to knock back. What staff do know now is that around a quarter of respondents thought senior management demonstrated a belief that “people are important to the university” and “positive changes” were underway. Just under half didn’t. And this was before the present cuts and savings plan seriously started.
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Jobs and Skills Australia reports March Quarter labour force stats showing demand is softening and unemployment will reach 4.3% in Q4. The good news for voced is that two-thirds of job growth in the quarter was for roles requiring Skill Level 2-4, “typically associated with a VET pathway.”
“The shift towards higher skill levels is a long-term trend as the workforce becomes more educated, employment moves towards service-based industries and employers seek to implement technologies into their business processes to improve productivity,” JSA states.
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ASQA announces it is on to “non-genuine providers” in the international market behaving bodgily on recognised prior learning. “Marketing can typically centre around claims of visa application success and ensured migration pathways, rather than education itself.” Good-lord! How long has this been going on?
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The present Uni Canberra enterprise agreement runs until January next year but the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union is already working on its brief, circulating a survey for staff to express their priorities on what the comrades think they should want.
While the union looks forward, management is dealing with the present operating deficit. Undoubtedly Vice Chancellor Bill Shorten knows that unlike the NDIS and the States he cannot get other universities to pick-up some of the 2026 agreement’s costs.
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The University of Sydney has an independent report that recommends not investing in producers of kit on the Defence and Strategic Goods List.
“Investment in arms takes place under conditions where it cannot be certain that the revenue is derived from arms that are used in compliance with international law. That is, it is not practicable for the University of Sydney to determine whether or not it is deriving financial benefit from circumstances involving a violation of human rights,” is the explanation.
For now, the university estimates it has $1.2m invested defence and security assets via private investment funds. “However, given the geopolitical environment and a likely increase in defence expenditures to meet emerging challenges, it is quite likely that the percentage of investments in defence and security related assets will increase.”
Chancellor David Thodey says thanks for coming and that “there are a complex set of interdependent policies that sit outside the scope of its review that we now need to consider.” He is silent on when necessary consideration will be complete.
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Swinburne U staff and students now have a free subscription to The Age, just as those at Uni Sydney do for the Sydney Morning Herald. It is exactly the way not to dispel the all but universal assumption that all media is free, common among those whose native language is not Middle English. Readership stats by sections of the paper would be interesting but FC suspects that is information the marketers will not be giving away.
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Monash U spruiks how easy it will be to get to the Clayton and adjacent tech precinct campus when the Suburban Rail Loop East opens, in a decade. Makes a case for MU coughing up to pay for some of its station on the $35bn line.
