Milton Greenberg writes that the reasons for lifetime academic positions have been eroded in the US with more staff employed on a contingent basis. The Australian experience bears a striking similarity. It seems that tenure is always in the news. ...

Allowing the market to dictate enrolments helps competition but may not always be good for the national interest. The federal government’s higher education reform agenda contains policy measures to promote three worthy objectives – participation, diversity and quality. The fundamental ...

The much awaited Higher Education Base Funding Review has been released by the government but with 145 pages to get through, the sector is holding fire on a final judegment. Among proposals likely to get most attention are: the application ...

Former Queensland Supreme Court judge Kerry Cullinane QC has donated $1 million to James Cook University, one of the largest personal donations it has received. The money will be spent providing scholarships and bursaries for disadvantaged students and provide some ...

Christmas presents in the form of a federal government spend of $377 million under the Structural Adjustment Fund came just in time for universities across the country. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the money would fund 11 new projects in ...

Staff angry at proposed job cuts at the University of Sydney began to dig in last week, with union members protesting outside a meeting of the university senate, and a group of senior academics firing off an open letter to ...

 The now welcome arrival of TEQSA on the beat has come about because the government was prepared to listen to those who work in the sector. In the annals of political discourse, the debate that tracked the formation of a ...

Reactions have been mixed to the announcement that reward funding would be restructured and a discount on HECS fees for maths and science subjects removed in the federal government’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook. Maths, statistics and science units will attract ...

Victoria University is the latest institution to confirm job cuts, with administrative positions to be reduced over the next three months, while Macquarie and Sydney universities continue to negotiate with union members. Victoria vice-chancellor Peter Dawkins said in a statement that ...

Universities are wonderful places to be employed and to do really worthwhile work, whether directly in educating students, or doing research and engagement. Why then does research conducted by universities, by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and by independent investigators, ...