Digital technology and COVID-19 have transformed the ways universities are delivering courses. But some are taking a minimalist low-cost approach, while others are aiming higher.
Workplace stress among academics has long been higher in Australia and New Zealand than overseas, and research suggests the flow-on impacts on students could fuel a vicious cycle of negative feedback.
With ideological issues such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, lecturers told of how a vocal minority of international Chinese students are attempting to police teaching materials and class discussions.
There’s no perfect teaching approach guaranteed to prepare student teachers to teach subjects in English in a multilingual environment. But there are things universities can do to prepare them.
If universities produce graduates who can work effectively in a team, the healthcare system will be strengthened and this would improve the health outcomes for patients.
Higher education in the US has been faulted for not requiring students to read and write enough. But is that criticism justified? New research raises doubts.
The lack of dedicated funding and support for research commercialisation, on top of the other obstacles academics face, means Australia’s poor performance is no mystery.
Tight funding and COVID-related limits on face-to-face contact have forced academics to find other ways to expose students to the real-life work they are preparing them for.
The Job-Ready Graduates policy aims to remove ‘the misalignment between the cost of teaching a degree and the revenue that a university receives to teach it’. But new research challenges its costings.
At best, when universities differentiate and specialise it can marshal talent and sharpen their focus. At worst. though, this debate can present universities with a false dilemma.
A recent Title IX lawsuit alleges discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation at religious schools. Two scholars argue that this might be a pivotal moment.
Politically and socially, Australia is fast expanding its engagement with India and her neighbours. Universities, in contrast, have wound back their commitment to South Asian studies.
Being age-friendly is not just a matter of responding to the needs of Australia’s ageing population. It will benefit all students and the university as a whole.
Many Australian students specialise before they’ve had a good general education. American undergraduates do get that, and perhaps Australia has gone too far down the path of early specialisation.