Minister's powers to block ARC funding grants will be scrutinised in a parliamentary inquiry addressing political interference in research.  On February 9 the Senate opened public submissions to consider removing ministers' veto powers from the Australian Research Council Act 2001. ...

Calls to secure the independence of the Australian Research Council (ARC) has sparked a fierce debate around academic freedom and government interference in independent research.  In late December, acting minister for education and youth Stuart Robert vetoed six humanities research ...

Academic freedom remains a matter of concern for academics throughout Australia and beyond, however this needs to be put in context when considered in the international arena. Yojana Sharma (2021) recently remarked upon a survey of some 200 Singaporean academics ...

The High Court has upheld the sacking of controversial academic Dr Peter Ridd by James Cook University, putting an end to a near four-year battle. On Wednesday, the five justices of the High Court unanimously dismissed Dr Ridd’s appeal, but ...

Universities Australia has welcomed a review into academic freedom and freedom of expression announced by education minister Dan Tehan on Friday. Professor Sally Walker will conduct the review with the assistance of universities, focusing on their progress against former Chief ...

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has unveiled the details of a university foreign interference taskforce announced during his address to the National Press Club in Canberra. “The information that our universities hold is of interest to foreign actors, and therefore ...

University of Queensland academics have voted against the proposed curriculum for the Ramsay Centre’s revised Western civilisation degree. The move by UQ’s Board of Studies of Humanities and Social Scientists (HASS) at a meeting on Monday followed an earlier vote ...

This week the National Tertiary Education Union called on Murdoch University to guarantee the jobs of three of its staff who spoke out during the Four Corners ‘Cash Cows’ episode on foreign fee-paying students. The call was prompted after Murdoch’s ...

A judge has ruled that James Cook University’s termination of Dr Peter Ridd’s employment was unlawful. The marine scientist was dismissed by JCU in May last year. In his view, it was because he “dared to fight the university and ...

Asian rankings darlings the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University are suffering internal tumult after 10 professors openly criticised them. An article published in Singaporean newspaper Today detailed how several high profile academics in non-STEM fields left ...