The Australian National Audit Office announces a “potential” performance audit of ANU, to “assess the effectiveness of financial management framework, and processes to support the Council, Committees, Vice-Chancellor and other senior executives to make informed decisions.” Handy for the executive if the present restructure plan turns pear-shaped.
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The University of Melbourne is appealing a Fair Work Commission ruling that it reinstate Professor Stephan Matthai. He was recently dismissed for serious misconduct over communications with a PhD student in 2017. Deputy President Colman found he breached the university’s Appropriate Workplace Behaviour policy but stated; “I reject the University’s contention that there is a real risk that Dr Matthai will engage in similar behaviour again. This is contrary to the fact of his unblemished record since 2017. I find that the employment relationship between Dr Matthai and the University was not irreparably damaged by his misconduct. The damage that was done has been made good by his 7 years of subsequent service.”
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Labor member for Calwell, Basem Abdo commended Fee Free TAFE this week, with a notice of motion in the Reps that that there are 170,000 course completers and 650,000 enrolments. Whether that is a good thing rather depends on how many of the enrolments have been/will be completed. Attrition rates remain a public mystery, with the estimable National Centre for Vocational Education Research not having FFT numbers from the states.
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There’s a recommendation in Universities Australia’s Economic Round Table submission which would give national productivity a push, “Prioritise reform of the Australian Qualifications Framework to facilitate harmonisation in postsecondary education and support lifelong learning.” Now why has nobody thought of that already? Probably because outside HE and training taxonomy experts, nobody has a clue what the AQF is or what to do about it. The Noonan Review (2019) had ideas and officials have looked at it since, but reform plans remain filed under “too-hard”
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The case against slugging humanities students with $20,000 a year HELP fees under the Job Ready Graduates model was originally (a) it undermined the basis of a liberal education and (b) it wasn’t working because HASS stayed in demand and so the punitive cost was pointless. The first argument is still one basis of a petition to the PM organised by the Australian Historical Association but the line is changing on the second.
“While overall enrolments suggest continued student interest in the humanities and social sciences, the data is skewed by Group of Eight Universities. Enrolments for many humanities and social science units at other universities—those often favoured by Indigenous, regional and female students—are falling,” the AHA asserts.
Enrolments are certainly down all over, on Department of Education enrolment figures for “society and culture” starts in pre-pandemic 2019 and then in 2023.
Overall starts declined 15% to 58,000. They were down 17% at non-Go8 universities. The drop was better, but not by much at the Eight; a 9% decline to 12,600.
As the AHA acknowledges, “even Group of Eight universities with stable numbers have interpreted the Government’s messaging as a cue to reduce their investment in humanities and social sciences programs.”
So, if ATEC came up with a funding model that reduced HASS course costs, would enrolments lift or has student demand changed? There is one way to find out – question is will Treasury be interested enough to meet the cost of finding out?
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Monash U is surveying its alumni. “The survey only takes a few minutes and just by taking part, you win the latest iPhone or Airpods.” Except you probably won’t. There is a link to conditions that state there is but one of the former and two of the latter. Perhaps the copy was meant to read, “you could win.”
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The ANU restructure grinds-on. Change plans for IT Services and the Information Security office, were announced Wednesday. The long-awaited plan for Academic Services is out “disestablishing” 27 roles, which means those for Arts-Social Sciences and Science-Medicine colleges (considered contingent on Services) will soon follow, consultation closes next Thursday. The venom towards management from the National Tertiary Education Union and allies over the process is as bitter as ever – according to management 87 people have already been made redundant and 135 staff taken voluntary redundancy. Question is, how long will the university community take to recover from the bitter bout? It is way past 15 rounds already.
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Former Coalition Education Shadow Sarah Henderson proposed amending the Government’s $16bn HELP debt cancellation giveaway to include a 3% cap on loan indexation. This would be additional to the debt “sugar hit,” “which does nothing for future students or to provide the certainty young Australians deserve.” The Coalition knocked it back as policy, deciding to waive the Bill through, but Senator Henderson proposed her amendment anyway in a Tuesday night Senate speech.
This meant less attention for measures with student-friendly intent (as opposed to a gift to graduates) in the Bill. The HELP payment threshold is hiked to $67,000 and payments (15c on the dollar) only apply on income above the threshold, instead of all-earnings. A 17c rate ($8700) kicks-in at $125,000 (see below).
The Bill sailed through the Senate Thursday morning.
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HE Policy guru Andrew Norton gave the Government’s HELP legislation changes a frosty reception – saying that the legislation contradicted Prime Minister Albanese’s Post on X this week that “a degree should not come with a lifetime of debt” and to “Tell a mate.”
Incisive analysis from Professor Norton indicates that the alterations to repayments, coupled with ongoing indexation, ends up a bit like a bad bank loan, with the potential to cost many graduates more in the long run.
The legislation will “cut annual debt repayments for 99% of debtors, which will lengthen compulsory repayment times for many and push others into the PM’s lifetime of debt,”
Professor Norton’s reports. Read the full analysis here.
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TEQSA reminds providers to remind people with their honorary degrees not to ponce around calling themselves professor, “the certification of the qualification must unambiguously identify the qualification as an honorary qualification. Standby for a bunch of professors of practice.
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The Fair Work Commission announces an inquiry into women being underpaid “on work-value” including gender-based grounds under awards. It will look at 20 or so degree-required classifications, including the HE General Staff Awards for levels five through ten and teaching and research level A academics, plus that research-only level. It is not directly relevant to women covered by institutional enterprise agreements but what’s the betting the NTEU will find a way to use it.
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Engineers Australia’ submission to what was originally called the Productivity Roundtable repeats its oft-made point that we are short of engineers now and will be lots lighter-on soonish. In the immediate term it wants engineering students to receive the Commonwealth prac payment, now available to trainee teachers and nurses.
Overall, it calls on the feds to set a 60,000 target for engineering grads by 2035. But where will they come from? EA suggests where they will not, without change – pointing out women are just 15% of the STEM workforce and one in five of them plan to leave.
It's even worse specifically for engineering. Just under 20% of engineers are women, and half of them leave the profession within a decade – there is a bunch of evidence they do because the profession is run by blokes for blokes.
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NTEU General Secretary Damien Cahill says (via X), “AI companies are targeting universities but uni staff who understand its pedagogical implications are rarely consulted.” It is time, says the general secretary of the NTEU, “to embed AI regulation” in enterprise agreements. Management bargaining teams, you are warned.