UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES – AUSTRALIA

Arts degrees to cost $50,000 until at least 2027 despite Albanese reform promises, vice-chancellor says

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Krishani Dhanji
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 26-Aug-25

Western Sydney University’s vice-chancellor George Williams says changes to the former Coalition government’s job-ready graduates scheme will take some time to implement. The scheme prioritised courses whose graduates are in high demand, while increasing the cost of degrees in disciplines such as arts and humanities. Williams says the scheme was flawed from the outset, and it was a major disincentive for students to go to university – particularly for women and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. He hopes the cost of arts degrees will be reduced in time for the 2027 student intake.

CORPORATES
WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

Unis capped at 40pc overseas students

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-24

Sources within the federal government have indicated that it proposes to enforce new caps on international student numbers from the start of 2025. Labor is expected to announce specific caps for each university and college within days, but they will be required to limit foreign student numbers to 40 per cent of their total enrolment. The proposed caps will be based on 2019 figures, when there were 671,200 foreign students in Australia; this compares with an estimated 780,100 in 2024. Sydney University, Monash and RMIT are among at least 10 universities that currently exceed the cap.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, MONASH UNIVERSITY, RMIT UNIVERSITY

Universities on workplace watchdog’s wage theft priority list

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angus Thompson
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 22-Jun-22

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker says wage underpayment has become a systemic issue in Australia’s tertiary education sector. The FWO is investigating 11 of the nation’s universities for potentially underpaying their staff. Parker says the high level of casual staff at universities is also a major concern. The National Tertiary Education Union’s president Alison Barnes says wage theft in universities is "out of control". Wage theft in the higher education sector will be one of the FWO’s priorities in 2022-23, along with the fast food, hospitality and agricultural industries.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION

Universities on brink of ground zero

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Geoff Chambers, Tim Dodd
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 3-Jun-20

The University of Sydney’s vice-chancellor Michael Spence has warned that the higher education sector’s loss of fee revenue from international students will jeopardise its future research capabilities. Australian National University vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt has expressed similar concerns, noting the economic benefits of university-based research. The nation’s universities are lobbying the federal government for increased funding to offset the loss of revenue due to the pandemic, but Education Minister Dan Tehan says their focus should shift to local students and online learning. Some universities have already laid off employees.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Australia prepares to extend China travel ban due to coronavirus

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Eryk Bagshaw
The Age – Page: Online : 11-Feb-20

The federal government’s 14-day travel ban on non-citizens entering Australia from the Chinese mainland will expire on 15 February, and sources have indicated that it is likely to be extended. The move will prevent about 56 per cent of the Chinese students at Australian universities from arriving in time for the start of the academic year. Meanwhile, more than 100 Australian citizens and permanent residents are still in Hubei province, but the government has no plans for a third evacuation flight.

CORPORATES

Campuses may lose $2bn in fees

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tim Dodd, Heidi Han
The Australian – Page: 7 : 7-Feb-20

The federal government’s travel ban has prevented nearly 100,000 Chinese university students from arriving in Australia for the start of the academic year. S&P Global says the universities’ operating margins will be hit if the travel restrictions are not lifted in the next few weeks. The firm estimates that the travel ban could cost universities up to $2bn in fees, and notes that the broader economy will also be impacted. Some universities will offer online courses for the first several weeks of the semester.

CORPORATES
S&P GLOBAL INCORPORATED

Inside a massive cyber hack that risks compromising leaders across the globe

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Stephanie Borys
abc.net au – Page: Online : 3-Oct-19

Australian National University vice chancellor Brian Schmidt says a cyber attack on its computer network in November 2018 was an ‘extremely sophisticated operation’. It was also very simply executed, with ANU’s systems being compromised after a staffer merely previewed an email with an attachment, which allowed the hackers to create a copy of the university’s network map. The hackers were then able to access ANU’s enterprise systems domain, which enabled them to steal the personal data of ANU students from the last 19 years. The motives of the hackers remain unknown, but the stolen data could potentially include that of former students who are now in positions of power in both Australia and abroad.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Uni funding: job success gets more weight

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Robert Bolton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 2-Oct-19

Education Minister Dan Tehan has advised that the federal government will give more weighting to graduate employment outcomes when allocating additional money to the nation’s universities under a new performance-based funding model. The increased focus on ensuring that university graduates are equipped with the skills to obtain employment quickly follows the government’s move to provide an extra $80m in performance-based funding in 2020. Meanwhile, the Australian Learning Lecture Project has questions the relevance of ATAR entry scores for admission to university courses.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, AUSTRALIAN LEARNING LECTURE PROJECT, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

University outrage at research cash cut

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Koziol
The Age – Page: 1 : 13-Nov-18

Australia’s leading universities have criticised the federal government’s plans to redirect $134m from the Research Support Program to provide increased funding for regional universities. University of Sydney vice-chancellor Michael Spence says universities will have to reduce their research activities while many students will miss out places at the nation’s top universities. Monash University’s vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner has described the funding cuts as "unnecessary" and "reckless".

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, MONASH UNIVERSITY, THE GROUP OF EIGHT LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY

Students’ skills no issue for employers

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Stephen Fitzpatrick
The Australian – Page: 5 : 9-Jan-18

Universities Australia’s Catriona Jackson has downplayed the findings of an employer satisfaction survey which showed that many graduates do not think their degree has much relevance to their job. Jackson argues that employers’ satisfaction regarding all key graduate metrics has increased since the survey was undertaken in 2017, and more than four out of five employers are satisfied with the graduates whom they employ. National Tertiary Education Union president Jeannie Rea in turn says the focus should be on whether graduates consider their degree to be relevant after they have been in the workforce for several years.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITIES AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP