A draft strategy for the English-language teaching sector released in 2020 was put on hold. In revisiting the strategy, we emphasise the advantages that Australia’s multilingualism offers learners.
If COVID-19 becomes endemic, we’ll see multiple local outbreaks. Schools and businesses will close for days because too many people are sick. Local hospitals will be overwhelmed without warning.
Academics in all areas have deep concerns about their ability to undertake research during the pandemic and the flow-on effects of this. Women and early career researchers were particularly hard hit.
While inequality is a global problem, its growth is most pronounced and the political, social and economic challenges it poses are most complex and pronounced in the global South.
Community-run centres in regional and remote Australia are having positive impacts on students who were historically under-represented at university and at high risk of dropping out.
The pandemic is forcing many academics to consider their future. These are tough times for universities and many have lost jobs, but those fortunate enough to have a choice should weigh up all options.
Many Balinese believe COVID-19 cannot be fought with health measures alone, and requires ritual offerings and prayer. But collective ritual places people at more risk.
Universities must move swiftly to attend to students’ needs when borders reopen if Australia is to regain market share in the face of fierce global competition.
When students shift to learning from home, they lose many of the in-school support structures and resources. While the priority is students’ well-being, schools have developed new teaching strategies.
Revenue fell by more than $2 billion in 2020 – less than feared – but universities are increasingly vulnerable to worsening conditions, with losses of international students accelerating.
New research shows mindfulness training can be effective when delivered online. The benefits for university students included one particularly notable development for well-being.
The impacts of the pandemic on students and the stigma of having had COVID-19 could be leading to bullying. It’s a complex situation, requiring schools, parents and medical experts to work together.
Many universities overseas have already made vaccination a condition of being allowed on campus. There are precedents for this policy, which is based on strong public health and economic grounds.
As more genomes are sequenced, it will become clearer when and how the Delta variant slipped through the New Zealand border. The greater the diversity in genomes, the older and larger the outbreak.
Andrew Chen, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Models show at least 60% of the population would need to use the COVID-19 tracer app to have enough data to control an outbreak without a lockdown – but only about 10% of New Zealand adults scan in.
How you respond to a risk depends on how you weigh the costs and benefits of an action. The problem is you’re not just a logical computer, and emotions bias your interpretation of the facts.
Online learning during the pandemic gives students more autonomy. For high-achieving students, especially those in academically mixed classes, that’s an advantage, whereas others might struggle.