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Western Sydney University

Western Sydney University prides itself on challenging the traditional notion of what a university should be. We are deeply embedded in the community and the region we serve – Australia’s fastest growing economy.

Ranked in all major global rankings systems, we are delighted to be ranked the world’s best in the 2022 Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings.

Assessing universities on their commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Western Sydney University topped the list out of more than 1,400 universities for our work tackling issues like sustainability, climate action, equality, inclusivity and social justice.

Western Sydney University is also a research leader – the result of focused investment in its research strengths and facilities. We see learning and research as connected aspects of the student experience. We work with regional, national and international partners to deliver research that has a positive impact on the economic, social and environmental well-being of our communities.

With a modern outlook, the University has an agile and contemporary take on traditional higher education offerings, affording students, both international and Australian-based, significant advantages and unique opportunities.

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Displaying 1041 - 1060 of 1338 articles
Home schooling is on the rise, but why? Shutterstock

Evidence of home schooling success erased from inquiry report

Karleen Gribble, Western Sydney University; Chris Krogh, Western Sydney University; Katherine Watson, University of Newcastle, and Rebecca English, Queensland University of Technology

Home education has had a massive rise in popularity in Australia in recent years, with increases of 100% in six years in Victoria, 50% in two years in the ACT, 50% in eight years in South Australia, and…
The recent report on foreign investment in Australian property failed to address how to solve affordability issues. Joel Carrett/AAP

Foreign investment in real estate inquiry: a lost opportunity

Dallas Rogers, Western Sydney University

The federal government has missed an opportunity to give serious thought to housing affordability in Australia. The House Standing Committee on Economics recently released its report on individual foreign…
Take note: how does a typing on a laptop stack up to handwriting? Ed Yourdon/Flickr

Remember this: you can still think deeply in the digital age

Joanne Orlando, Western Sydney University

Two people walk into a seminar: one takes photos, video and an audio recording of the presentation, while the other takes hand-written notes. Which person do you think will better recall the information…
Three Australian IS fighters may have been killed in the last month, including Mohammad Ali Baryalei. AAP Image/YouTube

Foreign fighters test the state’s monopoly on violence

Elizabeth Roberts-Pedersen, Western Sydney University

Estimates are that there are more than 60 Australian citizens in the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) armies sweeping through Syria and Iraq. In a recent case, reported by the Sydney Morning Herald last…
Fiona McFarlane’s The Night Guest has won the inaugural Voss Literary Prize. Tambako The Jaguar/Flickr

The Voss Literary Prize celebrates a fine new Australian novel

Anthony Uhlmann, Western Sydney University

The Voss Literary Prize, for which I was a judge, was awarded for the first time this week. The winner, Fiona McFarlane for her novel The Night Guest, was chosen from a shortlist that included Hannah Kent…
Sales of infant formula are booming in China, attracting investment from new quarters. Shen Xiang/EPA/AAP

China’s ‘white gold’ infant formula rush comes at a public health cost

Karleen Gribble, Western Sydney University and Julie P. Smith, Australian National University

Alongside this week’s announcement of a free trade deal between China and Australia came reports of Gina Rinehart’s investment in a Queensland dairy operation to supply infant formula to China. Australia’s…
In the wake of a controversial new report clearing Qatar’s successful World Cup bid, FIFA has never appeared more foolish, deluded and self-serving. EPA/Walter Bieri

Scandals are forever for FIFA as World Cup hosting saga drags on

David Rowe, Western Sydney University

Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the independent Adjudicatory Chamber of football governing body FIFA’s Ethics Committee, announced on Thursday that his committee had exonerated Qatar and Russia over the…
After the Spurr email saga academics banded together to stop racism on campus. AAP

Don’t be a bystander – help eradicate racism from campus

Kevin Dunn, Western Sydney University; Jacqueline Nelson, Western Sydney University, and Tatiana Lozano, Western Sydney University

In recent weeks we have been reminded that our university campuses, like everywhere else, are not racism-free spaces. The controversy surrounding poetry professor Barry Spurr serves to remind us that universities…
Most women are just happy to have an orgasm, any old way. Ares Tavolazzi/Flickr

Health Check: clash of the orgasms, clitoral vs vaginal

Jane Ussher, Western Sydney University

Controversy over vaginal versus clitoral orgasm is nothing new; it’s a debate that has consumed sexologists and psychoanalysts for the last 100 years. Now, new research has added fresh fuel to the controversy…
Gut bacteria can manufacture special proteins that are very similar to hunger-regulating hormones. Lighthunter/Shutterstock

How the bacteria in our gut affect our cravings for food

Vincent Ho, Western Sydney University

We’ve long known that that the gut is responsible for digesting food and expelling the waste. More recently, we realised the gut has many more important functions and acts a type of mini-brain, affecting…
A national financial planning register is unlikely to prevent future scandals similar to those of the Commonwealth Bank. AAP

National financial planning register will just list problem, not solve it

Sharon Taylor, Western Sydney University

Under changes proposed by the government, financial planners will be required to register with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission from next March. They will need to provide details of…
The abuse unleashed online can be devastating at times. Flickr/Spyros Papaspyropoulos

Five ways to fight online abuse with good manners

David Rowe, Western Sydney University and Helen Barcham, Macquarie University

Online and social media’s capacity to enable anyone to communicate their ideas and views is much celebrated. So why do so many people feel nervous about getting involved with online debate? Too often…
Environment minister Greg Hunt will now push forward with his Direct Action policy, after successfully negotiating with Clive Palmer. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Palmer deal gives green light to Direct Action – experts react

Frank Jotzo, Australian National University; Alan Pears, RMIT University; Caroline A Sullivan, Southern Cross University; Jemma Green, Curtin University; John Quiggin, The University of Queensland; Ken Coghill, Monash University, and Neil Perry, Western Sydney University

The federal government’s Direct Action climate policy, a A$2.5 billion scheme aimed at paying polluters to cut their greenhouse emissions, is set to be approved in the Senate after a deal between environment…
Detroit, a thriving manufacturing city 50 years ago, is now bankrupt. ifmuth/Flickr

Speaking with: George Galster on revitalising Detroit

Dallas Rogers, Western Sydney University

Speaking with: George Galster CC BY-ND18.9 MB (download)
Detroit is in turmoil, officially bankrupt and home to some of America’s poorest citizens. But 50 years ago it was thriving, boasting a booming manufacturing sector and a steadily growing educated middle-class…
Intuitive processes may underlie decisions of those who help others while risking their own lives. AAresTT/Shutterstock

‘Extreme altruists’ motivated by gut instinct: study

Penny Orbell, The Conversation

If you noticed a person in grave danger would you act first and think later in order to save them? New research suggests people who put their own lives in danger to help others make the decision to do…
The current curriculum includes life skills that are taught across all subjects, but the review wants them only taught when “necessary”. Shutterstock

There’s more to education than spelling and numbers

Sue Roffey, Western Sydney University

Headlines in newspapers on Monday morning said much of the curriculum review has been welcomed across Australia. The removal of the four “general capabilities” from the curriculum is a travesty many are…
An Iraqi man prays at the Al-Noori Al-Kabeer mosque – now draped with the Islamic State flag – in Mosul, northern Iraq. EPA/STR

The truth about whether Islam is a religion of violence or peace

Milad Milani, Western Sydney University

Islam has a history of violence. Muslims can be violent. Denying this is not at all different to denying that Islam is peaceful and that all Muslims are pacifists. The dichotomy is simply false. The Qur’an…
Could a work of fiction constitute a truth commission in its own right? NCinDC

When the war is over, literature can help us make sense of it all

Matt McGuire, Western Sydney University

As we’ve marked the centenary of the first world war in 2014, the great poets of that conflict – Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke – have brought the literature of conflict into focus. But…
Refugees may find a welcome in rural and regional Australia if resettlement helps ease labour and skill shortages. AAP

Regional Australia can be a carrot or stick in the new refugee policy

Rae Dufty-Jones, Western Sydney University

Accompanying the reintroduction of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) in Australia last week was a new type of immigration visa, the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV). What is significant about the SHEV…

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