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Keywords: Universities

  • EDUCATION

    More to tertiary education shake-up than $100,000 degrees

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 25 July 2014
    3 Comments

    Christopher Pyne's proposed changes to tertiary education place many theological providers in an interesting situation. We have seen a number of theological colleges enter into relationships with universities to assist with their financial bottom line, in the face of falling support from their church constituencies. If private providers are to receive government funding directly, we could see some of these arrangements begin to fall apart.

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  • EDUCATION

    School leavers' class wars

    • Ellena Savage
    • 13 June 2014
    11 Comments

    Year 12 tertiary entrance exams: turning 17-year-olds into nervous wrecks since the 1830s. They divide the smart from the dumb, the hopefuls from the no-hopers, and, what it boils down to more often than not, the privately educated from the state educated. But what if there was another way, a way that properly acknowledged the impact high schools have on their students' access to university admission?

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  • EDUCATION

    Uni fee changes will erase egalitarianism

    • Paul Rodan
    • 03 June 2014
    13 Comments

    An unregulated fee regime will result in an increase in course costs and will mean substantially larger debts for students after their periods of study. The prestigious Group of Eight institutions can be expected to exploit their reputational positions to charge top dollar. How does a 17-year-old decide whether selecting the degree from the prestige university over the same course at a newer institution justifies an extra decade of debt?

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  • EDUCATION

    Universities are changing, not dying

    • Jessica McLean
    • 23 September 2013
    4 Comments

    The 'renewal' of Sydney University's Fisher Library has raised eyebrows, with books removed to storage to make way for 'hot desking chill zones and break out areas'. Universities Australia found in 2013 that 88 per cent of survey respondents encourage their children to attend universities. This large pool of students requires educators to accommodate diverse learning needs, and do more than just set essays to assess learning.

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  • EDUCATION

    Thought under threat at Australia's universities

    • Paul Collins
    • 23 May 2012
    27 Comments

    The Australian National University vice-chancellor's proposal to asset-strip Canberra's School of Music prompted the biggest university demonstration in 30 years. ANU isn't the only uni in financial stress, thanks to successive governments' under-funding of tertiary education and user-pays attitude.

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  • EDUCATION

    Gillard's education afterthought

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 15 September 2010
    12 Comments

    Only yesterday, as an afterthought, were the words 'tertiary education' added to Minister Evans' responsiblities. But a clear statement of priorities had already been sent, revealing just where the Government believes universities belong.

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  • EDUCATION

    Will a real university please stand up

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 29 July 2010
    7 Comments

    In 2012 Australian universities will experience a radical shift in government policy, resulting in a marketplace where universities must hawk their wares in a bid to attract the best and brightest. Whether all the present universities will survive in this competitive marketplace is an open question.

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  • EDUCATION

    Why universities welcome theological colleges

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 18 November 2009
    7 Comments

    The movement of existing theological schools into the university structure restores the ancient place of theology as a discipline within a university. But universities could be more interested in money than theology, with theological colleges bringing healthy student numbers and value for money research outputs.

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  • INFORMATION

    Students victims of 'violent' policies

    • Andrew McGowan
    • 16 June 2009

    When our universities enrol international students based on balance-sheet needs rather than strategies of international partnership and engagement, a whole branch of education policy is revealed as bankrupt.

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  • EDUCATION

    Higher education's dirty little secret

    • Andrew McGowan
    • 17 February 2009
    5 Comments

    A recent report into higher education is caught between discontent and fatalism about what prevents universities from doing better for students from the margins. The system's biggest failure may lie in what the report didn't ask.

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  • EDUCATION

    'Ratbag' student activist decries Education Revolution

    • Susie Byers
    • 28 July 2008
    5 Comments

    The current higher education review is hindered by a focus on 'productivity' and 'efficient investment'. Universities should be homes of knowledge whose graduates are more than just pegs to plug the holes in Australia's skills set.

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  • CONTRIBUTORS

    Peter Pierce

    • Peter Pierce
    • 27 August 2007

    Peter Pierce is a former professor of Australian Literature at a number of Australian universities. He also writes reviews for a number of publications, including the bulletin magazine, and is a long time Eureka Street contributor.

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