Parliament has not actually agreed to TEQSA’s “potential new powers” over universities, but it is hiring like legislators have. The agency is recruiting a Director, Regulatory Investigations and Enforcement with “key accountabilities” including, “lead and manage enforcement operations” and “support the development of the investigations and enforcement functions.”
There is no mention of specific competencies, such as a Certificate IV in Raiding Premises (which FC just made up) – perhaps because that would be for an ASQA job.
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ANU has issued an unreserved apology to academic Liz Allen, for its “indefensible treatment.” The university’s joint statement with her does not provide specifics, but Dr Allen complained comprehensively about ANU people and behaviour in her evidence to a Senate committee hearing in August ‘25, HERE. An independent inquiry by Vivienne Thom was commissioned by the university. There is no mention of any financial settlement paid to Dr Allen and there will not be. ANU has memoed staff to stay shtum.
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As a Senate Committee considers expert evidence on how the Government will allocate student places, Jason Clare announces $50m for universities to help them support disadvantaged and regional students, facilitate credit transfer from TAFE and help with technology investments. The ten sharing the structural adjustment funding are; James Cook U, Uni Southern Queensland, Uni Canberra, Uni Tasmania, Uni Sunshine Coast, Uni New England, Australian Catholic U, Central Queensland U, La Trobe U and Federation U.
And in line with his equity emphasis, Mr Clare has also announced 1,000 winners of the year’s Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships ($40,000 UG, $20,000 PG). ““Being a teacher is the most important job in the world, and we don’t have enough of them,” the Minister states.
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Danielle Dixson was a star when a PhD student and ECR at James Cook U, undertaking “novel research into marine science.” Over a decade since she returned to the US, JCU still promotes her achievements. A paper she co-authored with JCU colleagues has just been retracted. “ Ocean Acidification Disrupts the Innate Ability of Fish to Detect Predator Olfactory Cues” appeared in Ecology Letters in 2009 and journal publisher John Wiley has just pulled it, after a “third-party complainant” pointed to a problem with the data. Wiley states the authors acknowledged inconsistencies but argued “reported data anomalies did not affect the overall published results.” But Wiley decided, “the data provided during the investigation were not consistent with the observation methods described in the article.” Another of Dixson’s co-authored papers was retracted by Science in 2022.
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The ACT Government and Uni Canberra have a “refreshed” partnership of the “pro-active excellence” kind – all made easier for the Territory, what with the Feds paying for just about everything. It includes an oblique acknowledgement of what Minister Clare wants all unis to do, with Uni C signing on to comply with the new council governance requirements, plus an elected 40% of members. There is no mention of the floated merger of the university with the local TAFE.
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A Reps Committee inquiry recently recommended Mandarin, Indonesian, Hindi and Japanese should be priority languages for Commonwealth funding. “Supported languages” should include those of South Asian communities, including Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telegu and Bengali.
Last week the Government announced senior school funding for Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. “Community language education helps young Australians maintain a connection to their culture and family while building skills that strengthen Australia’s engagement with our region,” is the sell. It must make advocates of Indonesia literacy, now unwell in schools and expiring in universities, wonder why they keep trying.
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Research lobbies badgered the Government into springing for associate membership of the EU’s $155bn over seven years research funding scheme, Horizon Europe. Now the Department of Industry, Science and Resources states “we will work to ensure we realise the benefits of association.”
“Without targeting this support, there is a risk that Australia's participation and return on investment will be below potential” is the Feds reason.
DISR suggests options on how it will help and no, keeping out of research bidders way is not one of them. The Department mentions a national contact point (EU required) which it suggests “would set priorities and provide national consistency, performance expectations, training and support.” DISR wants advice on how to encourage research bids “that best align” with the National Science and Research Priorities and Future Made in Australia agenda. It also suggests ways Government could support bids and asks “at what stage in the application process would support be most beneficial?” FC suspects “never” is not what the Department wants to hear.
Perhaps the Group of Eight, which paid half the $40m national membership fee, could ask for an exemption.