22 November 2017

New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that 39.4 per cent of Australians aged 25-34 now hold university degrees, bringing the nation close to the target of 40 per cent attainment set by the Bradley Review of Higher Education that was used as the trigger for the demand-driven system, with NSW, ACT and Victoria all exceeding the 40 per cent target. Against this backdrop, Swinburne University VC Linda Kristjanson has urged the government to reconsider any plans to recover budget savings from abolishing programs such as HEPPP or re-capping undergraduate places, highlighting the success of the demand-driven system in lifting the supply of skilled graduates and increasing enrolments from Indigenous and regional students. Professor Kristjanson also highlights the need for attrition figures to be taken in the context of the diverse student populations of particular institutions and their equity missions.

However, former University of Canberra VC Stephen Parker has suggested that new educational models, such as degree apprenticeships and associate degrees, are better options for disadvantaged Australians than university study, questioning whether increasing university access has structurally increased the gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged. Outgoing University of Melbourne VC Glyn Davis has also called for reforms, proposing the establishment of a Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission to make decisions about university funding, as well as opening the system to new institutions that are more specialised by discipline and could straddle vocational and university sectors.

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ANU has been named 21st in the world for the employability of its graduates as ranked by the Times Higher Education Global University Ranking, with the University of Sydney coming in at 48th and the University of Melbourne at 50. Elite institutions in the United States remain the top performers for graduate employability, with Caltech, Harvard, Columbia and MIT ranking in the top 5.

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The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation will be launched this week, with the new academic centre to be dedicated to the goal of reviving the study of Western civilisation. Funded by a $3 billion bequest from businessman Paul Ramsay, the new centre will fund two universities in NSW or the ACT to each offer 60 places a year in a bachelor of arts in Western civilisation, with 30 students each year to receive a full $25,000 scholarship. The Sydney Morning Herald reports 10 of the 12 universities in NSW are vying for the opportunity to host a Ramsay program, with postgraduate scholarships also on offer for study at prestigious international universities.

However, in The Conversation, UON’s Professor Catharine Coleborne urges caution in narrowing the Bachelor of Arts curriculum around Western European concepts of knowledge, highlighting the large number of increasingly mobile students from diverse backgrounds and proposing an expansion of the curriculum to include multiple languages, literatures and perspectives of a range of cultures and peoples.

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Professor Mike Calford has been named as the new Provost at ANU, joining the university from the University of Tasmania, where he is currently Provost. Professor Calford, who was previously the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Newcastle, will join ANU in March.

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