A learned reader suggest the budget was a compact one for higher education. Readers with long memories will remember this.

In Features this morning

DIRK MULDER on what Canadian TV reveals about the state of international student recruitment there, HERE.

plus Everybody talks about teaching university teaching – on the Q.T. there’s a practical way to do it. SALLY PATMORE (Uni Newcastle) and colleagues, explain HERE. New in Commissioning Editor SALLY KIFT’s celebrated series, Needed now in teaching and learning

with It’s Open Access week, with climate research the theme. GINNY BARBOUR and colleagues make the case for, “openly sharing research findings in order to drive rapid responses and solutions to the climate crisis,” HERE.

as well as MAREE MEREDITH (Poche SA+NT) on why universities need more Indigenous leaders HERE.

And in Expert Opinion

SHAZIA SADIQ (Uni Queenland) on the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering’s new policy paper on STEM education solutions to digital skills shortages, HERE .

The National Tertiary Education Union is having a good week in the Fair Work Commission as enterprise bargaining gets to the pointy end 

The union has won approval for protected action ballots on taking industrial action at Federation U and Uni South Australia.

The union also has approval of a protected action ballot at Curtin U, part of an appeal against a previous ruling.

Counting has started in the Hobart council elections – including the non-binding vote on U Tasmania’s relocation from its present campus to the CBD

The question ended up on the ballot paper due to a fierce community campaign against the move.

A vote in favour of the move will not stop the agin campaign but if a majority of electors oppose it the council and U Tasmania are in strife. Council because it holds the planning powers and the university because opponents of the move will present it as defying the will of the rate-payers, regardless of the size of the vote

It’s admirable among universities in that includes measurable objectives

Vision is to be a global leader by 2028 in, “dual-sector learning and research,” focused on five areas, * health, sport, wellness, * First Nations knowledge * skills for advanced manufacturing and service * green research translation and *policy, advocacy and justice. Application of all is intended to line-up with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

and VU will know if it gets there: the plan sets specific goals to reach by ’28, including,

* publications up from 2.l6 per FTE research in 2021 to 3.24 in ’28

* published in “top 10 per cent journals”’: from 27 per cent to 35 per cent

* a band lift in the Times Higher WUR (from 401-500) to (301-350)

* 80 per cent of four-digit FOR research at “world standard or above” in whatever national assessment is used

* competitive grant funding doubles to $5m

* industry research income doubles to $28m

Modest indeed compared to the earnings of the great and powerful, but rich in moxie – hard numbers that managers can be measured by.

“Mongolia is a young democracy with a growing middle class and a rapidly developing economy that offers unique opportunities for targeted programs to attract larger numbers of Mongolian students to Australia,?” Australian Trade and Invest Commission, weekly briefing, yesterday.

Apparently Mongolia is Australia’s 29^th largest source market, providing 0.4 per cent of international students in 2021.

Where would we be without Austrade!

As the nation debates the merits of a Voice to Parliament, a new conference asks whether the sector is ready for First Nations voices in HE

Are you ready Australia?, an on-line conference, 10-11 November, is by organised by Poche SA+NT in partnership with Twig Marketing, to provide an opportunity for all staff to engage in fresh perspectives into the role and relevance of Australian universities in future.

New and emerging Indigenous leaders will join panels alongside sector leaders, students and community members, promising fresh insights.

Tickets are HERE

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering announces its 2022 award. * President’s Medal: Joanne Daly (ATSE) * Agrifood: George Chen (Uni Melbourne), Zoë Doubleday (Uni SA) * Commercialisation: Forbes McGain (Western Health (Victoria)) and Jason Monty (Uni Melbourne) * Engineering: Aaron McFadyen (QUT) * Entrepreneur: Saeid Nahavandi (Deakin University) * Innovation: Veena Sahajwalla (UNSW) * Rizzardo Polymer Scholarship: Jefferson Lam, (Monash University) * Solomon Award: Laura Downie (Uni Melbourne)

The Australian Council of Deans of  Science announces its new executive. * president: Melissa Brown (Uni Queensland) * secretary- treasurer: Mark Buntine (Curtin U) * Katrina Falkner (Uni Adelaide) * Virginia Kilborn (Swinburne U) * Farzad Khosrowshahi (Victoria U) * Adam Trevitt (Uni Wollongong) * Andrew Woodward (Edith Cowan U) * Brian Yates (Uni Tasmania) is past president

Martin Green (UNSW) wins the Millennium Technology Prize from Technology Academy Finland, for “transforming the production of solar energy.”

Marilyn McMahon (deputy dean Deakin U Law School) is appointed interim chair of Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council.

The American Concrete Association’s 2022 Overall Excellence award goes to Uni Sydney for its Chau Chak Wing Museum.