This week’s Mandy (“well they would say that wouldn’t they”) Award goes to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute which praises NSW government plans to spend $150m over ten years on research into, heart disease.

“Research into heart disease is needed now more than ever. What is particularly visionary of the NSW Government is its strong show of support for biomedical research. … the NSW Government should be applauded for its commitment to fundamental biomedical research and innovation.”

Walter and Eliza Hall launched its $9.8m childcare centre yesterday. ““Without improving gender equity, Australia’s medical research sector will continue to lose significant talent. In the long-term this will make the difference in our ability to continue to meet our biggest health challenges, and improve lives,” WEHI director Doug Hilton said when construction started last year.

Anita Bowman (CQU) is the Australasian Sonographer Association educator of the year and sonographer of the year. As learned readers (but until now) not CMM know, sonography uses ultrasound for medical diagnostic examinations. Both honours double as lifetime achievement awards as Aspro Bowman, along with husband CQU VC Scott Bowman are leaving the university at the end of the year to travel.

Vanessa Pirotta from Macquarie U won the Australian round of FameLab, the British Council’s explain-your-research-in-three-minutes competition. She goes on to the world finals, at the Cheltenham Science Festival, which starts today. Ms Pirotta uses drones to collect whale-blow, which she uses to check their health. She follows UTS microbiologist Nural Cokcetin who was last year’s world runner-up.

RMIT researcher Hannah Badland is the Australian Health Promotion Association’s new thinker in residence.

TEQSA announced yesterday that it will look at, “student wellbeing and safety standards” in considering registration renewals by higher education providers.

What, the wellbeing and safety standards in the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards), which became law in October 2015, you ask. Those are the one’s CMM replies.

“After the release of recent research, surveys and media reports revealing the extent of sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities, the higher education regulator is seeking assurance that all providers are fostering safe environments and supporting students in need,” TEQSA said.

Good.  Standard 2.3. (3) states, “a safe environment is promoted and fostered, including by advising students and staff on actions they can take to enhance safety and security on campus and online.” “Advising” does not sound so tough, but “promoted and fostered” gives the regulator ample authority in assessing standards. And with the power to do it on the books since 2015 no one will be able to say they didn’t see it coming.

Japan and South Korea lead the 2018 Reuter’s ranking of the Asia Pacific’s most innovative universities, with Monash U leading the five Australian unis, at 25 (28 in 2017). Japan and South Korea have four institutions each in the top ten, with China and Singapore having one each. The ranking is based on Web of Science research citations plus other data sources including patent filings. The top five are Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Pohang University (SK), Seoul Uni, and Tsinghua Uni.

Australian universities following Monash, are UniSyd at 36 (31 in ’17), UoQ at 42 (41 in ’17), UniMelb at 45 (46 in ’17) and UNSW at 51 (50 in’17).

In February Macquarie U VC S Bruce Dowton told staff that the feds’ funding freeze and the end of the demand driven system meant the uni was “examining structural issues in the budget assumptions to which we have become accustomed,” (CMM February 21). Sound like cuts to you? It certainly does in the law school where there is a proposal to reduce the time casual academic staff can spend helping students out of class hours. This, campus union official Lance Dale says, is crook.

“Because casual academics are committed to their students, are often driven to do their best in the hope of continuing employment, they will continue to provide student consultation (be it, online or in person) irrespective of whether payment for this work is provided or not. This is wrong and exploitative of the good-will and loyalty of these staff. Moreover, because tutors are in direct face to face contact with students, and have thus developed a platform of trust with them, it is natural and desirable that students approach tutors about many issues in the first instance.”

Mr Dale adds, that the five minutes set aside before and after class “does not cut it”, – too many students, not enough time.

This looks economising of the every little bit helps kind, as the university pays down its $253m in borrowings last year, down $100m on 2016.

UoQ researchers Kelly Matthews, Carmen Garratt and Doune Macdonald will have captured and held the attention of the university Senate, with their paper on the future of post-compulsory education, not least because it is a concise as it comprehensive.

They headline three issues:

lifetimes of learning in a digital world: “Continuous learning will be vital as people change careers more often over a longer working lifespan. … University curriculum has to create space for students to learn how to learn and imbue values for continuous learning.”

student expectations will change and new providers will appear: “more favourable attitudes toward online delivery from prospective students and growth in lifelong learning for professionals signal a need to rethink the traditional, on-campus only model of learning.”

technologies will power education and change campuses: “new and emerging technologies promise integrative systems affording a nuanced and personalised student experience creating opportunities for flexible, relevant, and deep learning. … The possibilities of micro-credentialing and online learning opportunities create space to rethink the traditional academic calendar.”