Uni Melbourne is late with its annual report, which was not tabled  in state parliament yesterday as required by statutory deadline

HE Minister Gayle Tierney  states there are, “delays in the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office finalising its audit of the university’s financial statements.”

Minister Tierney adds she will provide the report for tabling in both houses, “as soon as practicable after I have received it.”

Scroll down, for details on some of the universities who have filed.

In Features this morning

Warren Bebbington (Uni Melbourne) on how universities can urgently address climate change in teaching, research and service. “It is in their core programs that universities can make the most significant contribution to ending this alarming crisis,” he writes.

plus Catharine Coleborne and Clare Lloyd (Uni Newcastle) on a new BA, with more inquiry-based subjects and interactive pedagogies. It has changed how academics think about designing and teaching humanities.

and Angel Calderon’s (RMIT) analysis of the new Times Higher impact rankings (CMM yesterday) – which Aus universities are up, those that are down, how it happens and why it matters.

As international education takes off have a look at our new zoom conference on what’s next starts Monday. Details HERE.

 

Hobart’s city council has approved the university’s development application for the Forestry Commission building in the CBD, vacant since 2017

The refurbed site will accommodate learning and teaching for 3000 plus staff and students in business, economics and law.

The development is core to the university’s relocation from the existing Sandy Bay campus to the city.

Approval comes ahead of a council public meeting next Wednesday, in response to a petition calling on the City of Hobart to, “suspend all support in relation to the relocation proposal until completion of a comprehensive review of the relocation proposal in a form that enables community comment.”

Such comment will likely to focus on arguments that the university should stay at Sandy Bay and that moving into town will be bad for the existing CBD.

The ABC has covered opposition to the relocation, for example HERE.

But now the Hobart Mercury is on-side, at least with the restoration of the Forestry building, The paper ran a story on Council’s decision yesterday which covered support and opposition to the project but also included images of the “incredible designs.” The Mercury’s website also has very positive video from architect Robert Morris talking about the project.

Yesterday’s  budget is heavy on health with between nothing and not much for universities

Small specifics include:

* $1.5m to “explore” co-locating CSIRO agrifood  research and development to La Trobe U

* $10m for “new skills partnerships” to address skills shortages through collaboration between industry, government, TAFE and dual-sector universities

* $23m for building Victoria U Secondary College in St Albans

And that’s about it. Perhaps it is unsurprising, what with big-spends in the last two budgets, for the $50 million International Education Resilience Fund and  the $350 million Higher Education State Investment Fund. The latter, as this year’s budget papers point out was “a time limited initiative to support Victorian universities during economic recovery.”

 

by CLAIRE FIELD

What the Productivity Commission is thinking about

In a speech last week to the Australian VET Researchers Association (AVETRA) annual conference, the Productivity Commission Chair, Michael Brennan, discussed their productivity inquiry.

He made the point that with the Australian economy now services-focussed, productivity gains like those achieved in agriculture and manufacturing are going to be much harder to achieve. The nature of the work done in service occupations will not see workers replaced by robots but their work is still going to change (with a need for more social skills and a focus on non-routine tasks). Brennan also argued Australia will need a mindset shift to see digital skills “as a form of infrastructure” and that collectively these changes are going to require tertiary institutions to change.

The Commission is thinking through a number of issues:

* what are the aspects of the tertiary education ecosystem (both accredited and non-accredited) that could be improved?

* do we have the right balance between accredited and non-accredited skills and the right mix of skills on offer in our tertiary institutions?

* with the AQF Review recommending improved credit recognition for micro-credentials – how should the sector respond?

* Is it the job of VET to move closer to business (though more non-accredited training and micro-credentials), or is it better to keep its distance, allowing that need to be fulfilled by others and instead for VET to focus on different learners (i.e. those looking for full qualifications)?

* what about the boundaries between VET and higher education? Brennan explained the commission’s recent analysis looking at students who chose university study when the demand driven higher education system expanded places and the question as to whether they would have been better off in VET

* how do we best prepare workers and citizens for a world that requires us to combine the emerging technology of the day, with our distinctly human traits that have evolved over thousands of years?

His predecessor, Peter Harris, in a subsequent interview suggested that governments and the tertiary education sector need to be thinking about people having a “right to return” to more study (predominantly through short courses) as people’s job roles change.

Claire Field is the host of the ‘What now? What next? podcast and in the latest episode was joined by two experts to discuss increased use of robotics and automation and what that means for the VET sector. Listen online or in your favourite podcast app.

The university is in the money – whoever wins the election

U Tas and the National Products Association announce a $100m National Institute for Forest Products Innovation will be established, after the election. They state the coalition has committed funding over five years, which Labor matched last week.

The Institute will be based at U Tas Launceston. The Liberal Party holds the local federal electorate of Bass, with a micro-margin of 0.4 per cent.

VC Zlatko Skrbis says its necessary “in order to boost rapidly declining enrolments”

“ACU needs to strengthen the teaching-research nexus within the Arts disciplines and refresh our Arts course offer” he told staff yesterday.

Professor Skrbis added  ACU is “not immune from the shifting attitude towards humanities, from how courses are funded to perceptions of their value compared to more vocationally based degrees.”

To address this he announced “the most effective and sustainable model is to combine the  School of Arts and the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences.”

“This foundation will allow us to produce an innovative curriculum which brings the best of arts together with humanities and social science disciplines, to deliver a distinctive learning environment across ACU and take advantage of emerging opportunities.”

Which may not go down well with the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, which is already unhappy with a plan for a common first year course in Arts and reminds management that major change requires consultation under the ACU enterprise agreement.

Joy Damousi becomes dean of Australian Catholic U’s new School of Arts and Humanities and director of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences. It’s an internal appointment.

Hilary Bambrick becomes director of ANU’s National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health. She moves from QUT

Mandy Downing is Curtin U’s inaugural Dean of Indigenous Futures in the Faculty of the Humanities. It is an internal appointment.