A Murdoch University professor has criticised schools for encouraging students to choose between a VET or university pathway. Barry Down, a VET and student engagement specialist, says this dichotomy has become unrealistic. “The reality is that society requires smart workers and citizens with ...

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) wants senators to quash a proposed charge on administering student loans. The group said the cost recovery measure will put Australian universities out of pocket $10 million a year. Should the Higher Education Support (Charges) Bill ...

The world’s oldest universities weren’t just sites of learning. They were also civic, religious and social institutions. Without Oxford, Bologna and Al-Karueein we wouldn’t have modern-day ethics, or defences against bygone empires or the omniscient power of the medieval church. Universities were ...

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group wants universities to have more say in how they spend their funding dollars. They say that universities only get to fully determine how a fifth of their endowment is spent. Raising the issue yesterday at the House of Representatives Inquiry ...

The federal government has scrapped plans to place a “lifetime cap” on student loans, but has been granted support from the lower house to reduce the repayment threshold. Legislation to lower the repayment threshold from $55,000 to $45,000 has been ...

Conor King, executive director of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU), wants the government to know that universities aren’t as cashed up as many assume. Also, he contends, the government’s other presumptions on which university funding plans are based are false. For example, although ...

Australia’s university bodies have broadly expressed support for the federal budget, saying they believe it supports plans to improve access to higher education. Griffith University vice-chancellor Ian O’Connor, the chair of Innovative Research Universities, said in a statement that he ...

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 ...

A number of universities spread around the nation are collaborating to assist in the response to fires, floods, hurricanes and quakes. The Innovative Research Universities group has been set up because Australia’s sensitivity to climate change is combining with an ...