From that sodden city, Uni Sydney Ideas reported yesterday that last night’s scheduled event, “Lights on: bringing the nightlife back to our city” would be on-line due to the weather.

In Features this week

Frank Larkins (Uni Melbourne) crunches the numbers on uni staff losses. They aren’t as big as reported – but casuals still bore the brunt.

with Angel Calderon (RMIT) on why ratifying the global convention on qualification recognition makes sense for Australia. (It could help here on recognition of prior learning and credit transfer between states and institutions.)

plus  Steven Warburton and Mitchell Parkes (UNE) argue it’s time for the sage to leave the stage, for the guide to sidle off the side and to welcome the agile, adaptive academic – the meddler in the middle! This week’s selection by Commissioning Editor Sally Kift for her celebrated series Needed now in teaching and learning.

in CMM Monday (on the website), Mitch Parsell (U Tas) on the work of John Biggs, the 2021 lifetime achievement winner in the Australian Awards for University Teaching.

There were 31 reports last year, “a significant increase” on previous years

Of them, 21 went to a university inquiry and all respondents, “were found to have engaged in misconduct.”  Just over half were excluded from the university with the others variously suspended, “denied access” for a period or received conditions on their enrolment.

The other cases are either in progress, outside ANU jurisdiction or subject to “other processes.”

The university states there were nine reports in 2020 but suggests the increase, “may signal” that victims/survivors, “feel safe and empowered to report to the university.”

ANU states reports were finalised in an average 27 working days.

The university and the National Tertiary Education Union are in the Fair Work Commission as management appeals a decision it can’t publish student evaluations of teaching

Management wants to publish evaluations of courses but the union argued the university’s enterprise agreement forbids publishing evals that identify staff, which is easily done by anybody who know which academics teach what. Commissioner Johns agreed (CMM November 23).

UNSW appealed in a hearing last week and the parties wait a decision, expected this month.

The government’s plan to accelerate research from lab to market involves  IP rules that is easily understood and implemented. It’s not there yet.

The Innovative Research Universities wasn’t happy with the original prop in October. It still isn’t.

The unhappiness originated in September, when the feds proposed a Higher Education Research Commercialisation IP Framework (CMM September 22) designed to keep it simple and speedy (CMM September 22). Alas, the KISS was not welcomed, with critics suggesting it would enforce compliance rather than enable opportunity (CMM October 19).

The feds came back with a starter version, for the “trailblazer universities” programme (CMM November 25, February 3) but the IRU now wonders whether the original framework is intended to apply “across all commercialisation activities’ by January.

The lobby says it won’t further comment on contents until timing and coverage is sorted and there is “a fuller stakeholder consultation” with a pilot to test the IP framework.

An Australian degree does not always secure a seat on the gravy train when students return home. Ly Thi Tran (Deakin U) and colleagues report what can happen in Vietnam and offer ideas to improve the home-coming work experience

Professor Tran with Deakin U colleagues Huyen Bui and Mark Rahimi and George Tan from Charles Darwin  U report qualitative research with Vietnamese graduates of Australian institutions who went home. The researchers found the reasons grads cited most, were “challenges in gaining a foothold in Australia’s labour market” and prospects at home. However outcomes were not always as optimistically expected with employers favouring graduates of local institutions and people returning seeking jobs with multinational organisations.

The researchers suggest governments and host universities can help students who will go home with;

* work integrated learning and internships when they return

* host universities keeping students informed on labour markets

* helping students network at home while studying away, including via alumni

* embedding employability in curricula

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics announces its Science and Innovation Awards. * Mingkai Jiang (Forest and Wood Products Australia) * Stephanie Kerr (Hort Innovation (for tree crop cultivars) * Bobbie Lewis Baida (Australian Wool Innovation) * Xiaoqing Li (Cotton RDC) * Amy Moss (Australian Egg) * Sonya Moyes (Australian Meat Processor Corp) * Samantha Sawyer (Wine Australia) * Thomas Schmidt (CSIRO Biosecurity) * Lauren Stavely (Australian Pork) * Valentin Thépot (Fisheries RDC) * Ashiwin Vadiveloo (Agrifutures Australia) * Jaco Zandberg (Grains RDC)

Uni Adelaide announces two new professors in the School of Psychology. Elaine Fox joins from Uni Oxford, as does Kevin Dutton.

Marnie Hughes Warrington (Uni SA) is named honorary professor of history at ANU, where she is a former DVC.

Stephen Weller (Australian Catholic U) becomes chair of HES, (formerly known as Higher Ed Services).