A little over a year ago, Australia’s higher education community could have been excused for greeting the latest higher education review with scepticism. With a history of reviews leading to little significant reform, the sector mightn’t have been thrilled by ...
More »Monthly Archives: May 2009
Delivering benefits
The government’s budget response stands universities in good stead to adapt to a changing world, says Peter Coaldrake. Human ingenuity has enabled us to populate almost every possible part of the globe. It has delivered unprecedented growth in prosperity, lifespan ...
More »Into the mix
The Bradley targets might mean universities can no longer privilege the academically competent at point of application but have to embrace selection of the full mix, says Conor King. Glyn Davis’s much reported claim that at a real low-SES rate ...
More »Growth strategies for the downturn
In difficult economic times, how can private training providers grow their businesses while minimising risk, asks John Mitchell. When the federal government announced recently that some long-standing providers of employment services would not have their contracts renewed, it was a ...
More »No room for others
Some observations and reflections on the federal budget from a non-university perspective. By Tim Smith. The relevant paper in the federal budget documents on education ‘Transforming Australia’s Higher Education System’ is something of a misnomer. A more accurate title might ...
More »Building on adversity
Tom Karmel explores the implications of the economic downturn for vocational education and training. It seems only yesterday that the big issue for Australia’s education and training system was how to address skill shortages. How quickly things change. Now the ...
More »Noticeboard
New appointments to ANUtitle of distinguished professor on Stuart Cunningham, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) in recognition of his achievements as a researcher and his contribution to humanities nationally and internationally. As ...
More »Country club crisis
The cold winds of recession are gusting over the manicured lawns and through the corridors of privilege, says Toby Miller. As I write these words, I’m sitting in a coffee house at one of our nation’s premier country clubs. Sorry, ...
More »International briefs
Gender matters, but only for females Female students – or more specifically, female air force cadets – are more likely to succeed in introductory-level science courses if those courses are taught by female professors, according to a study by three ...
More »Peer review teeters as experts struggle with burden of work
The peer-review system for allocating research grants in the UK is on the brink of breakdown, as research councils struggle to find enough suitable academics willing to review applications. Research councils say they have to approach many more scholars than ...
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