​Chief Scientist Tony Haymet announces reports on “understanding and protecting against mis and disinformation.” There are four expert papers synthesised into an overview, explaining “key insights.” The first is, “susceptibility to misinformation is shaped by human psychology, trust, and how people process information.” Who’d have thunk it.
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Science lobbies are upset indeed the Government will bail next year on full membership of the European Southern Observatory. The partnership is building the world’s largest optical telescope in Chile, (no, you’re thinking of the Square Kilometre Array project in WA and South Africa). There is no public statement from the feds that FC can find, but assumes in the absence that the $40m saving over ten years will go towards buying associate status of the EU’s Horizon Research Fund; something that the science establishment really wants.
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The Australian Research Council announces that as of June, chief investigators for Discovery Indigenous grants must be Indigenous. “This change will reinforce Indigenous leadership and strengthen Australia’s Indigenous researcher workforce,” the ARC announces. So, how many CI for grants in the category so far have not been Indigenous? FC wondered but alas could find no reply in the domain of data the ARC kindly delivered.
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Peak bodies demand action on maths education. No, not the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and Science and Technology Australia’s, demand for skilling-up out of field teachers taking maths classes – that is so last month, (FC March 19), Now the Deans of Engineering, Science and Environment have teamed up with the Australasian Council of ICT for “urgent national action.” They want:
- Money to grow Yr 11 and 12 enrolments, by addressing “maths anxiety” and “gender gaps” plus, “clearly linking mathematics study to diverse career pathways.”
- Sub-bachelor programmes for access to STEM degrees
- Intermediate maths required for “key university courses,” “while maintaining equity and alternative entry options where needed.”
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DoE releases system staff stats. One that stands out is the decline in casual staff FTE as a proportion of teaching-only. They accounted for nearly 80% in 2015 and 64% in 2024. Overall casuals in all classifications peaked at 17.8% FTE in 2019, down to 13.3% in 2025. Of course, one FTE can account for a bunch of individuals.
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In 2022, Uni Canberra came up with a student-growth plan to earn its way out of a financial hole – it dug a deeper one. The $11.9m operating deficit in 2023 grew to $41m in ’24. The ACT Auditor General sets out how it happened in a report to the Territory Parliament. “The assumptions about increased student numbers were too optimistic and the expected increase in revenue did not materialise. The high-risk budgets required the UC to take drastic and significant action to reduce expenditure to address the financial viability of the institution,” is a core conclusion.
There is a predicted “small” surplus this year but it follows 190 FTE staff redundancies. The student-growth planning problems and their consequences were all in place before Bill Shorten became VC, but now he has to address Uni C’s existential issue – how to enrol more students. That, and the National Tertiary Education Union, which is not pleased. the original plan’s “botched conception, approval and implementation led directly to careers ending as well as damage to people and the university,” the Union X-ed yesterday, adding, “staff continue to pay the price and will strike on May 5.”
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The Department of Education is celebrating 20 years of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. “We will be sharing success stories and behind-the-scenes examples of how NCRIS has helped turn ideas into reality,” DoE announces. Perhaps the DoErs have not read the Strategic Examination of Research and Development, which recommends deep-sixing NCRIS to help fund its proposed national R&D model. Or maybe they have, and are not going to give the NCRIS budget up without a fight. SERD was prepared for Industry Minister Tim Ayres.
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And the Baden-Powell Research Prize goes to an Adelaide U team that finds simulated microgravity alters sperm navigation, fertilisation and embryo development in mammals. Apparently, This will be vital for sustaining life beyond Earth for long-duration space missions and off-planet settlements. Admirable preparation for the presently impossible.
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Just before Easter, the Reps Standing Committee on Education announced an inquiry into attainment, including “factors that drive variations in educational attainment including between and among boys and girls.” TOR’s are school-heavy but also include VET and HE, which makes this a big-deal for the university lobbies that will need to position themselves when ATEC inquires about growing their low SES enrolments.
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The NSW Legislative Council Committee Inquiry into university governance has issued an interim report. “Several themes emerged” from case studies of UTS and Uni Wollongong, including:
- “University leaders' launch of extensive restructures, substantially assisted by consultants, which were then scaled back in the face of significant staff and public concern”
- Fewer staff and student members of councils and more externals, “with corporate credentials but limited experience of the university sector”
- “Sidelining of collegial governance processes”
- Entrenchment of a culture of corporate managerialism that has weakened working conditions.
And there is way more to come. “It will be important to monitor these themes, and to make further observations, as the inquiry continues through hearings focusing on each of the universities around the State,” the interim report states.
For now, the Committee recommends the Auditor General performance audit UTS, “with a focus on governance integrity, financial management, the use of consultants in decision‑making, workforce management, psychosocial risk oversight, and the governance of controlled entities.” And that the State Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education use powers in the University of Wollongong Act to request a report from the uni on its, and related entities, commercial activities.
Two universities incorporated under NSW Acts down, eight to go.
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The Science Deans Council’s submission on amendments to the Higher Education Standards Framework explains their “distinctive learning environments,” “create particular responsibilities for universities to ensure safety, professionalism, inclusion and academic integrity.” But four of their five recommendations apply to their but also all other disciplines; a commitment to addressing racism, incorporating governance principles and transparency requirements, supporting people with a disability and regular cyclical review of the threshold standards.
And while the fifth is couched in the context of “emerging technologies,” the aspirations surely apply across STEM, “universities also have an educational and societal responsibility to equip graduates to enter a world of rapid technological change, and to ensure they are confident in applying emerging technologies responsibly and ethically.”