The higher education sector is going through significant changes. Universities are facing financial losses and shifts in their teaching and research funding. The changes are so significant that some in the sector suggest that the purpose of higher education needs ...

Lexicographers and linguists like to make graphs to show how the usage of words ebbs and flows. It’s a trivial comparison to make, but some of these charts showing recent trends have similarities to the graphics we’ve been seeing of ...

Top economists have warned that university graduates this year will face the toughest labour market since the 1990s recession, and it may take years to recover from lower wages. More than 130,000 students are expected to be affected by the ...

Australia’s response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is consistent with international approaches that mandate physical distancing and self-isolation. However, evidence from prior pandemics shows that periods of self-isolation or quarantine are associated with emotions such as anger, frustration and distress. Common ...

Recent research led by Monash University underscores the importance of assessment feedback, as well as revealing that both academic staff and students need to improve. Limited time, large class sizes, declining student motivation and subpar staff feedback sills were identified in ...

A concerning situation is quickly developing for more than 100,000 independent tertiary education students in Victoria due to the state’s COVID-19 shutdown. The fear is that many of these students will be unable to complete their studies this year and ...

The federal government has poured millions into encouraging more women to enter careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), but uncertainty remains about which – if any – of the programs are delivering results. This is what astrophysicist Professor ...

In its sense of “sparing”, frugal is not a new word, and it often works as a negative when applied to the amount of food on the table, as in a frugal meal. But Samuel Johnson’s C18 observation on the ...

The number of Australian universities who have allegedly committed wage theft is mounting, with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) saying it accounts for one quarter of all our universities. The NTEU is threatening a “wave of class actions” in ...

A group of higher education staff disappointed with proposed sector reforms will meet online on August 24 – the day federal parliament returns – in an act of unprotected industrial action. Called the National University Staff Assembly and organised by ...