The English Department at the University of Sydney presents a seminar this afternoon on “Poetics of the Absolute: From Schiller to Hölderlin and Coleridge.” So much for suggestionsUniSydney scholars do not see western civilisation as suitable for study.

Macquarie U management and union used the Fair Work Commission’s New Approaches bargaining process for the new academic enterprise agreement and the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union is calling it a success. Understandably so, in that the agreement was negotiated and adopted in under a year – which is fast going by university EB standards.

The FWC model starts with management and staff reps setting out issues and objectives and looking for solutions, rather than beginning with demands and escalating arguments from there. The union reports FWC deputy president Anna Booth “assisted with negotiations.” She also approved the university’s application for the agreement to be adopted, in the Commission.

Competition on price and product-form is picking up in online business qualifications, with MOOC provider edX in particular extending micromasters into full scale degrees. It’s an  uncharted market but one university out exploring is the University of Queensland, which pioneers micromasters and with Curtin U is now following with full business MOOC masters CMM October 12.

The first UoQ micromasters is close to completing and by April the university will have data on four. “The tables are turned,” a close observer of the university’s edX engagement says, “the institution is learning from our students.”

On the basis of what UoQ already knows, word is it will start using different availability models, with some courses being open 11 months a year for self-pacing students and others available for fixed periods three times per annum.

UoQ has also found that the appeal of a masters is strong, attracting people with diverse backgrounds. The university is responding by developing additional content and support for students who need help reaching the required academic standard.

Overall raw enrolments for all UoQ micromasters has reached 100 000, giving the university a big base for expanding numbers of completers who pay US100 for a completion certificate and converting edX users into full masters degrees, either on-line or on-campus.

Niklas Steffens and University of Queensland colleagues studied cases of very high paid CEOs to find that the money can “undermine shared identity between leaders and followers and therefore be counterproductive.

“People identify less strongly with a CEO who receives high pay relative to other CEOs and that this reduces that leader’s perceived identity leadership and charisma,” they argue in new research. As Australian VCs may well attest, it depends how you define “high”.

The WA Government has launched its international student recruitment plan, it only looks a tourism brochure. In contrast a report on tourism in the state’s southwest by Curtin U’s Michael Volgger, Christoff Pforr and Sara Cavalcanti Marques presents a substantial strategy, addressing issues and presenting answers.

Among the pics of scenic vistas and happy students the student recruitment document commits to “a unified and coordinated approach to destination marketing,” “more active engagement with Perth alumni,” and “opportunities to participate in authentic Australian cultural experiences.” There are some marketing specifics, a “one stop shop” for student support and “relevant digital platforms to connect and support students.”

But there is one marketing move that will help the struggling state improve its share of the international study industry – having Navitas founder Rod Jones as chair of Study Perth. Mr Jones sets out three things the state’s international education providers have to do.

* coordinate the marketing of the Western Australian brand of international education

* implement initiatives that focus on enhancing the experience of international students studying in Perth

* promote collaboration and cooperation between international education providers.

Perhaps Mr Jones could hire the Curtin team to come up with the detail.

Robert Griew and Nous Group colleagues have stepped up to fill the policy void in Canberra, with a paper proposing separate funding streams for teaching and research.

“Sooner or later we will need to face the issue of separating the cost of research from the funding of teaching places. This will direct research funding to research activity in a more transparent way. It will also reduce the cost of teaching at bachelor level, through the process of more accurate job definition and valuing great teachers within universities for teaching,” Griew, Jesse Borthwick, Cameron Barnes and Arun Murali write.

They argue that the university teaching-research model dates from another age and does not serve the students who have entered the expanded system of the last generation.

“The contemporary challenge is to provide great training, credentialing and educational service at an affordable price to the great middle of the post-school education population. The current system grants a near monopoly to public universities for this population. We are designing an education system for most of its participants based on the needs of the outlying 15 per cent and the experiences of their parents.”

The Nousers’ proposals include;

*a new category of university that acknowledges full higher educational merit in teaching, at lower price and with less substantial debt imposts on students”

* higher teaching standards in VET to “level the playing field” with high education”

* separating teaching and research costs to lower the cost of the former and make funding for the latter more transparent

* use (assumed) savings from the above for merit-based research funding

* quarantining funds for “local and regional economies and communities”

* end regulatory requirements which dictate what universities must do and leave them to “choose which funds they compete for, based on their strengths and missions.”

This last proposal is a core reason for reform,

“We mask the costs of research and teaching, and we facilitate internal cross-subsidies that avoid a more transparent pricing structure. We thus make it harder for some universities to fulfil their research missions in a global economy, and for others to better exploit local relationships and community engagement (via research or other activity). We bind these distinct missions to a brittle set of definitions.”

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Tania Aspland (Australian Catholic U) is re-elected president of the Australian Council of Deans of Education. Michele Simons (Western Sydney U) is her deputy.

Jason Cowie starts as Curtin U’s CIO in January. He returns to Perth from Florida, where he works with IT advisors Gartner.

Louis-Philippe Demers will join QUT next year as professor of creative innovation and director of the university’s Creative Lab. He joins from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Professor Demers is known for his machine art and interactive robotic works.

Blake Repine is the new COO of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. He was previously associate VC central highlands at CQU.

Leanne Harrison becomes onshore recruitment manager at University of Canberra she moves from a similar role at UNSW in Canberra.

The New Zealand Tertiary Education Union has a new national president, Victoria University of Wellington philosophy tutor Michael Gilchrist. He replaces Sandra Grey.

Is CMM who upset Australian Catholic U by reporting yesterday that 12 universities are involved with its graduate teacher performance assessment measure now. It’s 13, although not all are rolling it out.