Budget watchers are hoping for a quiet night next Tuesday, on the assumption that given the government’s current attitude towards universities no news is good news. “There may be some more money for individual  universities along the lines of local deals done with Southern Cross, Sunshine Coast unis and UTas but no one is expecting anything across the system,” one close observer says.  However there is talk of money for applied research as part of an innovation spend designed to muffle the howls that will greet all but announced cuts to the research and development tax concession. But overall a quiet night is expected, there isn’t even a lock-up for education policy people.

Warren Bebbington will chair the board of design college LCI Melbourne, part of a global 21-campus chain, founded in Canada. The college was created 20 years ago as the Australian Academy of Design and is in good standing with TEQSA.

Professor Bebbington was VC of the University of Adelaide from 2012 until 2017, when family circumstances necessitated a move to Melbourne. The appointment builds on his management and governance experience at UniAdelaide, the University of Melbourne and as director of the Victorian College of the Arts.

The college is bang on the national average for overall undergraduate experience on the student survey based Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching, although results for some specific measures are not as strong.

The appontment is on-song with Bebbington’s long-argued case for specialist teaching-only colleges focusing on elite education for specific vocations.

In CMM this morning, David Myton’s regular wrap on what’s happening across the world in highered.

The Group of Eight and the Australian Council of Social Service have formed a ginger group to  act on the core university access equity issue –  enough to eat and somewhere to sleep. This can especially impact rural and regional students who have the marks but not the money to live in commuting distance from Go8 campuses.

“While advocating for inclusive admission mechanisms are important, it is equally important to ensure we have support mechanisms within our campuses in areas such as student support, living allowances, and housing that are sympathetic to student’s requirements. We must also work to ensure government policy  provides the support students need,” the Eight states.

“This is very much about establishing a coalition of the determined to address the issues that can act as barriers to entry for students,” a Go8 observer says.

The two peak bodies have signed a three agreement to build policy resources and advocate for the basic needs of disadvantaged students. The Go8 is convening an expert roundtable to put bedrock equity in education on the agenda. “We must remain vigilant to changing government policies that may affect the vulnerable in the community,” the invitation to participate states.

UWA’s David Harrison is moving to Murdoch U. The corporate comms and government relations chief leaves UWA after six years.  According to Murdoch VC Eeva Leinonen he will be responsible for “vice chancellery managerial affairs.”

Union members at the University of Melbourne have voted to take protected industrial action as enterprise bargaining progresses from prolonged to protracted. Just under 70 per cent of National Tertiary Education Union members on campus turned out for the poll, and 92 per cent of them supported direct action, including possible 24-hour strikes. While the union does not represent a majority of staff, industrial action by members will increase pressure on management to settle a process now running for over a year. Among a raft of outstanding issues are a single agreement (management wants separate deals for academic and professional staff) and an explicit statement of freedom of expression in the new agreement (management says it is already protected). And they are not even arguing about money yet.

Demonstrating commendable modesty, the prime minister announced Saturday morning $70m in funding for the Perth based Pawsey SuperComputing Centre. It is part of a bucket of infrastructure money for WA, undoubtedly awarded according to the highest policy principles. Pawsey will use the money to replace two supercomputers, one of which supports the Square Kilometre Array. The funding matches money provided to the National Computational Infrastructure in December.

Charles Sturt U management is upping the pressure on the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union to settle on a new agreement. On Friday DVC Toni Downes emailed all staff, spelling out the university’s pay offer and making it plain that two $500 payments are added to salary, and not as some assumed, one-off bonuses. She added management hopes to reach an agreement at tomorrow’s meeting.  However the union’s view is that there is much more than money involved and that management is holding out on issues including continuing caps on academic workloads and no forced redundacies.

CSU observers say management wants to keep the focus on money in case it decides to put its offer to a staff vote without union agreement. This worked in September 2013 when the union representing some support staff backed the university’s offer  and the NTEU opposed it.  The union is certainly preparing for management to do this again.  Late Friday NTEU branch president David Ritchie wrote to staff, listing unsettled issues and warning, “take it or leave it is not a negotiation.

“We ask all staff to be cautious should management try a similar approach, which would block the work of your colleagues to secure a good quality outcome for everyone.”

Is CMM who wrote Catriona Jackson was the “anonymous” choice for new CEO of Universities Australia, when “unanimous” was the word intended. Thanks to readers who pointed this out.

Denholm Aspy from the University of Adelaide reports research showing taking Vitamin B6 can help people recall dreams however it does not effect their, “the vividness, bizarreness or colour.” Hardly makes sleeping worth the effort.

Regional Australia relies on its universities for the skilled workers who keep economies afloat, according to new research.  A report commissioned by the Regional Universities Network found 69 per cent of bachelor degree graduates from the six RUN institutions were working in regional Australia, compared to 23 per cent of graduates overall. Across RUN member catchments, two-thirds plus of their graduates in health, education, agriculture and engineering, work full-time locally. “Increasing the skills levels of employees in regional Australia helps overcome skills shortages, protects regional areas from structural adjustment as the economy shifts to tertiary industries, and encourages population growth by increasing the diversity of jobs,” Run chair and University of the Sunshine Coast VC Greg Hill says.