​McDonald’s staff who complete in-house training courses receive up to eight microcredentials that count as for-credit subjects in business and tech degrees at ten universities. Qualifications where graduates can really say “you want fries with that?”
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And so it begins. “More Australians will get a crack at uni in 2026 with the Australian Tertiary Education Commission allocating an extra 9,500 domestic places to universities,” Jason Clare announced in a statement yesterday.
Um, that will be the ATEC that does not actually exist, what with its founding legislation not having passed the Parliament. The previous pretence was to refer to the “Interim ATEC,” but no longer.
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From the University of Sydney, Associate Professor M Shumi Akhtar suggests a proposed $430,000 cap on Vice-Chancellor pay, “is far more than generous – it is excessive".
“This figure is at least double the salary of a full university professor, the highest academic rank, which is genuinely earned through years of scholarship and contribution — not a title casually bestowed with some hollow honorary doctorate.”
Gosh, whoever could he have in mind?
He adds more in his submission to the Senate committee inquiry into Jacqui Lambie’s bill to cap VC pay at what the Treasurer (as in of the Commonwealth) makes.
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The Government’s international education regulation and (sundry other admin stuff) Bill is through the House. The Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee is now set to have a look. Submission deadline is mid-month, with a report due on the 24th.
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Opponents of job losses and course cuts at UTS call for the NSW Audit Office to get involved with a performance audit. Nothing doing is the response from the Auditor General, in a submission to the present Legislative Council inquiry into university governance. “While I have significant discretion in applying Audit Office funding to performance audits, universities are largely funded by the Australian Government. As such, I have not prioritised (and do not envisage that I would prioritise) a university performance audit.”
But that should not stop anybody asking. The Auditor helpfully reminds those who have unaccountably forgotten, that all they need do is make a request under Section 27B(3) of the (NSW) Government Sector Finance Act (2018).
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Uni Queensland and Universitas Indonesia announce a collaboration in Jakarta “to deepen academic exchange and advance research and innovation". There is no mention of the language to be used for the deepening and advancing but it surely will be English. As FC reported Monday, Australians resolutely refuse to learn Bahasa Indonesia.
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Universities are taking a hit in the long-term dispute over short term contracts for super-specialised researchers. But medical research institutes get yet another 12-month extension and Big Football gets a pass.
The problem is caused by research grants, mainly in medicine, that employ scientists for more than two years. This qualifies them for permanent employment under newish legislation, even though the project is only funded for a specified time. No-one has found a way to fix this that makes unions and managements happy, so the Feds have given organisations with income up to $100m another 12-month exemption.
Good for MRIs but universities have to create continuing employment for scientists they only need for a specific project – or not let them into the lab.
The other winners are footy teams. “George is an experienced football coach engaged on a two-year fixed term contract coaching a national team. There is the option for an additional two-year extension if the team makes it to the grand final,” is the Fair Work Ombudsman’s explanatory example.
Standby for universities moving med research to a partnership with the team they sponsor.
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Annastacia Palaszczcuk (oh come on, you remember Annastacia) is one of eight successful candidates for elected positions) on Uni Queensland’s Senate. There were 186 on the ballot for positions representing staff, students and graduates.
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The Group of Eight adds its weight to the medical research lobby push for the Medical Research Future Fund to get all the available $1bn this year, rather than the $650m the feds have allocated annually through to 2034-35. “The decision has no clear rationale and undermines the very purpose of the MRFF,” says Go8 Chief Executive Vicki Thomson.
She is right about the absence of an explanation, but FC suspects that isn’t because the Government is just being mean. It might be because it does not want another outcome like 2021, when fluctuating market conditions meant Treasury had to kick in $120m to cover MRFF commitments. And it might be because it does not want to explain why it expects markets to go so bad that the Fund’s earnings will be down 35% over a decade.
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The Australian Research Council Is a ducks-in-a-row type of organisation, even when the fowls are slow to line up. While grant details are public, the selection report for last week’s Discovery Projects are not. According to the ARC a “small number of applications are still undergoing final due diligence checks.” Ditto for the first round of 2025 Linkage Grants. And 2026 Centres of Excellence are not announced for the same reason. “We appreciate the patience and understanding of applicants and institutions while this important process is finalised,” the ARC not entirely convincingly quacks.
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At Uni Sydney the parties are rehearsing for 2026 enterprise bargaining, a process with all the spontaneity of Noh Theatre. The agreement signed in 2023 took longer to negotiate than the Geneva Convention, without management and unions agreeing to exchange prisoners. Last time, the comrades secured an 18 % pay rise over the agreement, plus a signing bonus. They are expected to ask for more next year.
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TEQSA’s Federal Court case continues against CHEGG, which promotes its services, as “essential step-by-step homework support. Expert help & textbook solutions for tough assignments.” The agency alleges CHEGG “has contravened Australian laws designed to prohibit academic cheating.”
There is not as much to sue as there used to be. Last week the company announced “a reduction of 388 roles,” amounting to approximately 45% of staff. “The new realities of AI and reduced traffic from Google to content publishers have led to a significant decline in Chegg’s traffic and revenue,” it states. Plus, “Chegg has evolved its learning platform into a skilling-focused business-to-business organization, building on its existing businesses in professional language learning, workplace readiness and AI-related skills courses.“
The company closed at $US0.92 cents the other night. It peaked in February 2021 at just over $US113.
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Princes Ingrid Alexandra of Norway tells her national broadcaster why she is studying at Uni Sydney. “There were many good universities I could have chosen. And I think Sydney was the right choice for me. They have an incredibly good university with good teachers and a nice student environment.” Probably not suitable for UoS marketing, “good” and “nice” are way too understated.