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Ways the ball bounces
Who knew there’s a basketball court in the Tardis
A team including QUT researchers Kerrie Mengersen and Paul Wu use “dynamic time warping” in video footage of basketball games to track outcomes of ball movement.
And Victoria U is the first university to be a FIFA (as in global soccer) Research Institute for Football Technology. VU technology assesses the accuracy of electronic performance tracking systems.
There’s more in the Mail
In Features this morning
On-campus, in-person classes augmented with on-line delivery is not working, Martin Betts (HEDx) and David Kellermann (UNSW) argue in a new selection by Commissioning Editor Sally Kift, HERE.
“This plays out in different ways regarding equity, inclusion and accessibility and we need to make specific responses for these factors. There is a huge ongoing agenda for innovation here in new approaches to equitable access to technology-enabled pedagogy,” they state.
plus, James Guthrie and John Dumay (Macquarie U), with Ann Martin-Sardesai (Central Queensland U) make the case for ending Excellence in Research for Australia in their submission to the Australian Research Council review.
Challenge for UNE Council: calm a storm or trigger a tempest
A meeting of University of New England staff and graduates Friday called on Chancellor James Harris to resign and for the university’s Council to appoint a successor, “through an open and consultative process, including with strong staff representation”
What happened: The proposal was adopted by a meeting of the university’s Convocation, (CMM November 30) attended by just shy of 500 people eligible to vote.
It was called by Interim VC Simon Evans , after months of controversy over Mr Harris’ support for former vice chancellor Brigid Heywood’s Future Fit restructure plan and a belief among UNE staff that Council was slow to distance the university from Professor Heywood following police charging her with assault. Professor Heywood has pleaded innocent and will face court in the new year.
Other motions at Convocation included a call for “renewal” of Council and establishing a university ombudsman, to “provide a genuinely independent means of investigating complaints relating to process and procedures followed.”
The meeting also called on Council to establish a standing convocation committee with elected representatives of convocation constituencies, “including strong staff representation,” meeting at least twice a year.
And why: UNE has been in what appears to some a permanent state of restructure for years and successive managements have failed to win staff support.
While the university is not publicly announcing the vote on motions that the event occurred at all is a major victory for the university branch of the National Tertiary Education Union which has campaigned long and hard against what it argues are badly designed structural changes. It is also an achievement for the university’s professoriate which has consistently called for management to engage with the university community. “ We hope that this will make UNE a less hierarchical and more collaborative university, better able to meet the significant challenges we face,” professoriate president Thomas Fudge says
What’s next: Council is not obliged to do anything about Convocation’s recommendations, which would be an excellent way to divide the university community into warring camps. Convocation was summoned to calm storms of dissension, ignoring its recommendations will trigger tempest.
As for a standing committee of Convocation, Council cannot win. If it accepts such it creates a loyal opposition at UNE. If it rejects the idea, critics will claim Council is out of touch with the state the university is in.
CMM asked the university for comment Friday and received, a 31 word no-comment. “UNE is committed to listening to the views of staff and alumni in a forum that will contribute to and enrich the communication between the UNE community and the UNE Council.”
A sign of pay rises to come at ANU
Staff covered by the university’s industrial agreement will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise as of February while enterprise bargaining continues
I “know that everyone has been feeling the increased pressures by the rise in the cost of living and I hope this increase will alleviate some of the stress being felt,” VC Brian Schmidt tells them.
The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union was quick to claim it as a win, pointing out it had been calling for months for a pay lift.
The union had wanted 5 per cent, perhaps as the first of three equal increases under the new agreement. That management has awarded 3.5 per cent may indicate what it will offer for the next two annual increases.
Senate committee inquiring into student debt
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi wants to end indexation of student loan debt and tie the repayment threshold to the median wage
The Senate has sent her bill to the Education and Employment Legislation Committee. It will report in April, with hearings to be set and submissions due February 23.
Government witnesses who graduated pre-HECs, will undoubtedly choose their words carefully if they have to explain why the bill should fail.
A script to fill from GP College
“There’s “a fair pay rise, improved conditions and expanded leave entitlements” for staff at the Royal College of General Practitioners in a new enterprise agreement proposal negotiated with the National Tertiary Education Union and approved by a thumping majority of staff voting.
It is “enterprise bargaining at its best” between “a strong union” and “a reasonable employer” says NTEU General Secretary Damien Cahill.
“While some employers in our sector have chosen the low road on wages and conditions, RACGP is to be commended for using enterprise bargaining to invest in its staff,” Dr Cahill said.
Gosh, whoever could he mean?
Maybe Griffith U management.
At Griffith U management and the campus branch of the NTEU are campaigning against each other. GUM wants staff to vote for its enterprise agreement offer, which includes a 12 per cent total pay rise and better benefits. The comrades want management to keep negotiating, including on workloads and casualised work – there’s a stop work today.
The NTEU has lost two recent votes, with staff at Southern Cross U and Charles Darwin U agreeing to management offers it opposed. A third loss in a row would encourage other VCs to ignore union opposition and put offers direct to staff.
Achievements
ANU’s 2022 awards include
Michelle Banfield (Epidemiology, Population Health) Burton award for equity, diversity, inclusion * Hilary Charlesworth (Regulation and Global Governance) Chancellor’s Peter Baume Award * Matthew Colless (Astronomy and Astrophysics) Chancellor award for distinguished contribution * Faith Gordon (Law) VC award for engagement and impact * Megan Head (Ecology, Evolution) VC award for education
* Colin Jackson (Chemistry) VC award for research * Tobias James (Health and Medicine) VC award for service, innovation, transformation * Peter Kanowski (Environment and Society) Chancellor award for distinguished contribution
* Andrew Macintosh (Law) VC award for engagement and impact * Karen Morgan (International strategy and future students) VC award for service, innovation and transformation * Meredith Nash (Engineering, Computing, Cybernetics) VC award for impact, engagement * Adrienne Nicotra (Ecology, Evolution) VC award for education * Lucas Owen (Security) Chancellor award for service
* Ashley Schram (Regulation and Global Governance) VC award for early career academic * Anya Wotton (Comms) Hopkins award for health and safety * VC award for excellence: the team which organised the July address by President Zelensky of the Ukraine led by Caterina Giugovaz (Comms) and Anne McNaughton (European Studies) *