In a recent article on words that the COVID-19 crisis is adding to English (and other languages), columnist David Astle mentions magpie as a verb, meaning to swoop on supermarket shelves and clear them (Sydney Morning Herald, 3.4.20). The aggressiveness ...

BENTLEY LEADS After a global search, Federation University has found its new vice-chancellor on home turf – Professor Duncan Bentley, the current deputy vice-chancellor (academic) at Swinburne University. Bentley leads the Academic, International, Online and Indigenous portfolios at Swinburne, and ...

The peak body for independent education providers is calling for a limited extension to the JobKeeper scheme. The Independent Education Council Australia (ITECA) says extending the scheme beyond September “is particularly relevant to the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas ...

The alleged shortcomings and unfairness of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) have been highlighted by education students and even academics. Indeed, an article in The Australian yesterday pointed out a number of issues, including the ...

Western Sydney University and Northcott Disability Care are collaborating to upskill, retrain and employ displaced workers, and address critical workforce shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian government, as part of its Higher Education Relief Package, requested higher ...

This obscure and tongue-challenging word captures what some regard as the most destructive threat to 21st century society. It’s not COVID-19 but the information apocalypse, with fake news and falsified facts flooding through social media, fostering overcredulity in some people ...

The ability of Australia’s 39 universities to assist in national recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic will be compromised without government support, Universities Australia says. UA’s chief executive Catriona Jackson said the university sector and the government have been “working closely” ...

The release of the 2011 film Contagion starting Kate Winslet introduced the world to contact tracers: highly skilled individuals who use a range of methods to ‘trace’ infections humans and those with whom they have come in contact. As COVID-19 ...

A lot of words have come into Australian English from Aboriginal languages. Think of billabong, corroboree, kookaburra, mia-mia, and of course kangaroo – which was famously misinterpreted by Captain Cook and his crew. It’s true of most of these words ...

Words which can only be defined in negative terms are not the most constructive in our vocabulary. Wuss is one such, usually defined as “a weak or ineffectual person”, i.e. not strong, lacking courage, indecisive, not on top of things, ...