Researchers from Federation U, Southern Cross, U the universities of Groningen and Tasmania and investor Guinevere Capital have Australian Institute of Sport funding to research performance in E Sports .

“The team will work with key stakeholders and emerging athletes to identify these key factors so that athletes are better prepared for future international competitions.”

Presumably concussion is not a problem.

In Features this morning

The pandemic showed us innovation can happen fast – especially with recognition of the best places to foster it. Beth Beckmann (ANU) and Lynn Gribble (UNSW) set out their Four Cs strategy, new this week in Commissioning Editor Sally Kift’s celebrated series, Needed now in learning and teaching.

plus Merlin Crossley (UNSW) on the pain and plight of early career academics and what can and can’t be done, HERE

And in Expert Opinion

Academic Integrity expert Cath Ellis (UNSW) on the GPT IV challenge. “It is presenting a very real and present threat in terms of how we have done things for a very long time. She talks to CMM, HERE.

The new chief operating officer is leaving

Alan Corr’s appointment was announced last November – he moved from law firm Clifford Chance. VC Patricia Davidson tells staff he “has been presented with another job opportunity more aligned with his career goals” and will leave next week.

Mr Corr replaced Cathy Duncan-Ross who moved from property company Lendlease to become Interim COO, last winter, (CMM June 24)

by CLAIRE FIELD

Last week’s Asia-Pacific Association for International Education conference in Bangkok generated a very different discussion on international education than we sometimes have in Australia (with our focus often on enrolment numbers, recruitment strategies and revenues)

Framed around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the conference focussed on students and the profound impact international education has on their lives and on communities. Congratulations to APAIE President, Sarah Todd from Griffith University and the organising team.

There were many excellent presentations, and a couple I regrettably missed, including the Austrade session with the Australian Technology Network and HE consultants, Lygon Group, on international student sentiment.

The absolute standout session focussed on Western Sydney University’s partnership with the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and IIE International – whereby the three partners provide full scholarships (for university tuition fees, living expenses and a stipend, travel costs, as well as assistance with visas, academic transcripts, etc) for displaced students from Myanmar.

There are 90 000 people living in nine refugee camps, along the Thai-Myanmar border, most have lived there for decades. The Australian government will not grant students from the camps a visa because of their displaced status – WSU has nonetheless been working with its partners to support some since 2019. The Vietnamese government issues the students with visas and WSU and its partner of 15 years, UEH, provide students with a WSU degree on the university’s Vietnam campus.

With more than 100 million displaced people in the world and almost three million in our region – there is much more for education institutions to be doing to assist students and, in turn, their families and communities. Huge congratulations to Western Sydney U’s PVC Global Development  Yi-Chen Lan, VC Barney Glover and all the team involved in this incredible initiative.

English language education quality assurer NEAS was another Australian organisation which stood out at the conference. They are working with the ASEAN Universities Network to quality assure English language teaching across the region and have more recently started assisting English-language teachers in Ukraine.

Interestingly, while NEAS is engaged with the AUN, other Australian peak bodies and governments are not yet as involved. The AUN has received funding from Japan, India and the European Union for partnership activities to help build the capacity of AUN members. As Australian institutions continue to expand their partnerships with individual ASEAN institutions, we should also be looking to deepen our engagement with key bodies like the AUN and support their work in the region.

Claire Field spoke to NEAS CEO, Patrick Pheasant, on the What now? What next? podcast about their work in Australia, ASEAN and Ukraine

Do research pay-walls exclude AIs of the GPT-4 kind?

Indefatigable open access analyst Danny Kingsley did not know, so she asked – and reports what she was told.HERE

Her take-out is “It’s a brave new world. Prepare yourself.”

The awards system makes training quals hard to understand

The House of Reps committee inquiring into the status of VET will hear evidence today from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Jobs and Skills Australia.

But they are not the only agencies with views on what to do about VET. While one might think the Department of Education would be glad to be rid of training policy it’s submission to the inquiry nails why VET qualifications are widely seen as second-string – the implicit status hierarchy in the Australian Qualification Framework.

Thus DoE points to the Noonan Review of the AQF (2019) which it states found,  “the current AQF architecture and taxonomy undervalues the value and taxonomy of VET qualifications.”

Plus the AQF as it stands is too damn hard to understand – there are ten AQF levels on each of which learning outcomes and complexity of qualification are specified for knowledge skills and application. The Noonan review proposed shifting the AQF from levels to actual occupations.

Which has not happened, DoE reports that “technical work” is underway on implementing recommendations, but (and it is quite a big but), “although many stakeholders agree with the overall reform intent of the AQF Review, stakeholders have varying perspectives about how some of the more complex Review recommendations should be addressed.”

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering announces its Traditional Knowledge Innovation Award

It will be issued annually to acknowledge the “translational power of research and development done by and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples or communities through the lens of modern innovation.”

The first award will be this year, announced at ATSE’s annual dinner, in October.

The government says the pace has picked up

Member for Bennelong Jerome Laxale, wanted to know how student visas are being managed so he took the opportunity offered by Question Time in the House of Reps on Monday to ask Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

Who just happened to have the figures with him – apparently 380 000 student visas have been issued, “this programme year” which is 40 per cent higher than pre-pandemic 2019-20. Visas lodged outside Australia are being processed in a 13 day average and 80 per cent of applications in the system are less than two months old.

Mr Giles must be confident indeed – this sort of statement risks rebuttal from student visa applicants unhappy with their outcome, or lack of one.

Nic Cola is appointed CEO of RMIT On-Line. He will move from Group GM at Helloworld Travel.

Marco Herold starts work as CEO of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute.