The Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency tweets it is “working on a new TEQSA experience” and invites students, HE employees and “the wider community” to help by completing a survey. It’s a start.

In Features this morning  

Angel Calderon on the ARWU ranking HERE

plus David Chinofunga (James Cook U) on creating maths courses: remember to include what students already know. This week’s contribution to Commissioning Editor Sally’s Kift’s celebrated series, Needed now in teaching and learning.

with Frank Larkins (Uni Melbourne) on Queensland public universities 2021 financials: good  results – for reasons that won’t all happen again.

The Wicking Centre at Uni Tas announces its MOOC, “Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury” starts next week

The five-week course is “easily accessible and available to everyone with an interest in TBI, neuroscience or brain health,” – and free!

CMM is a big fan of the Wicking Centre, for its MOOCs on dementia and one on MS (with the Menzies Institute of Health Research at U Tas).

They are excellent examples of  what MOOCS are made for – communicating complex issues to mass audiences with personal needs to know. Why there are not a mass of publicly funded MOOCs on all sorts health issues eludes CMM. They would be way cheaper than government advertising campaigns in old media and real help for people struggling with bureaucracies at the interface of the medical and welfare systems.

But it’s not to commemorate the first anniversary of the beginning of bargaining

The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union is on strike today.

It’s the fourth day of industrial action since May, over enterprise bargaining negotiations, which started in August, not this one, August 2021.

The union says there will be another, on Open Day Saturday, August 27, “if progress isn’t made in negotiations with management.”

The union nominates, “exploitative casualisation,” job security and “a pay rise above inflation” as among core issues.

The NTEU also mentions “preservation of academics’ right to conduct research.” This relates to management wanting to change the number of academic staff on the long established 40-40-20 teaching, research-service workload allocation a live issue even older than this bargaining round (CMM November 15 2021).

US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy was at UNSW yesterday, which gives the university bragging rights over Uni Melbourne, which hosted Secretary of State Antony Blinken in February.

Sure Mr Blinken is fourth in line for the presidency but Ambassador Kennedy is, well, a Kennedy. However Uni Queensland is still tops for great and powerful friends. President Obama gave a cracker of a speech there in 2014.

by CLAIRE FIELD

It was EdTech week in Melbourne last week and I was pleased to attend the EduGrowth Summit which kicked things off

There were a number of thought-provoking discussions in the sessions I was able to attend, including Pascale Quester providing more details on the reform path she is pursuing at Swinburne University. The changes are driven around a desire to “put learners at the centre” in specific and meaningful ways. They also involve Swinburne academics focussing more on coaching rather than lecturing, and the integration of Swinburne’s VET division into the university – rather than reporting through its own deputy vice chancellor.

Other interesting points included:

* universities and TAFE Institutes using virtual reality for off-shore student support and delivery

* the Victorian government working with a number of education institutions to develop short on-line courses, which staff in the government’s overseas posts are now promoting to overseas government agencies and to off-shore businesses

* a representative from the University of Melbourne suggesting full degrees may not be the future for all students, particularly at postgraduate level

* Deakin University’s Global Studio working with academics to redesign courses to meet the needs of different learners and employers, including in offshore markets

Kate Pounder (Tech Council of Australia) and Patrick Kidd (Digital Skills Organisation) had everyone paying attention when they discussed the extent of our digital skills shortage and the upskilling and reskilling opportunities employers and individuals need the tertiary education sector to deliver on.

The Summit highlighted many of the strategic issues in and around the Australian EdTech sector, as well as how increasing numbers of tertiary education providers are using technology across their organisations.

What was missing was the policy discussion which is occurring in Europe – where governments are looking to work with the EdTech sector not to impose regulation and policy prescription on providers, but instead to work collaboratively on issues such as data privacy, quality of learning, etc.

David Linke, EduGrowth’s Executive Director, is right to call for an Australian EdTech Innovation Fund (Europe is investing €10 bn in a technology fund).  What is also needed is for Australian policy makers to engage with the EdTech sector, in the same way their European counterparts are.

 Claire shares her reflections on the 2023 EdTechXEurope conference and what Australia can learn from it, in the latest episode of the What now? What next? Podcast

Attila Brungs marks six months as VC by moves to “slightly modify, simplify and focus” strategy – and reorganise some senior roles

The university, he says, will “increase focus” on objectives including,

* improving student experience

* scaling lifelong learning

* supporting research “excellence and translation”

Measures to accomplish this include, splitting Merlin Crossley’s Academic and Student Life portfolio into two DVC roles, Academic Quality and Education – Student Experience.

Professor Crossley takes the former, which includes “academic quality, including promotions”, government relations, and the library.

“The role will also enable him to expand his existing research and teaching alongside the DVC role,” VC Brungs states.

Education and Student Experience covers “development and adoption of innovative practices in learning and teaching,” incorporating research into the “student experience” and research translation. It also includes student recruitment.

An international portfolio, named Global will become a VC report, responsible for “developing and implementing the university’s global engagement and international strategy.”

The new structure starts Monday with recruitment for the DVC Education and Student and Global jobs to start “shortly.”

The Australian Teacher Education Association announces its 2022 awards and grants. Research awards go to, Sharon McDonough (Federation U) and Mark Selkrig (Uni Melbourne). ECR grants go to, Sun Yee Yip (La Trobe U) and Haoran Zheng (Monash U).

Peter Jones joins Macleay College as GM. He was previously at Study Group, for seven years.

Ron Maxwell is appointed deputy chair, VET at Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia. He is CEO of not for profit jobs and skills agency VERTO.

MS Australia announces “incubator” grants for multiple sclerosis research by * Alistair Govier-Cole (Monash U) * Vivien Li (Royal Melbourne Hospital) * Belinda Kaskow (Murdoch U) * Bruce Taylor (Uni Tas)

The National Measurement Institute reports Oliver Jones (RMIT) wins its Barry Inglis Medal and Neil Robinson (UWA) wins the NMI Prize.

At Southern Cross U, David Heilpern becomes dean of law. He was previously a magistrate. Richard Dunford starts a six-month appointment as interim ED of Business, Law and Arts.

University of the Sunshine Coast announces appointments * Richard Constantine is COO as of October, he relocates from Victoria U * Alex Elibank Murray moves up to PVC Global and Engagement from USC’s head of international * Anthony Perkins will be foundation dean of the School of Health, starting October. He moves from Griffith U.  * Omer Yezdani has started as Chief Data Officer (as previously reported in CMM).