tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/australian-national-university-2666/articlesAustralian National University – The Conversation2023-09-21T04:12:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2139942023-09-21T04:12:41Z2023-09-21T04:12:41ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt on the challenges universities face<p>Australia’s higher education sector is under heavy scrutiny. Still recovering from the impact of COVID and criticised for its treatment of staff, it faces strong pressures to step up its performance.</p>
<p>The government launched a broad <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-universities-accord-could-see-the-most-significant-changes-to-australian-unis-in-a-generation-194738">review of the sector</a> in late 2022 to inform a Universities Accord. The interim report was <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-job-ready-graduates-scheme-for-uni-fees-is-on-the-chopping-block-but-what-will-replace-it-209974">released in July</a>, with the full report coming in December. Professor Brian Schmidt, is one of Australia’s most eminent academics, an astrophysicist who shared a Nobel Prize in 2011. Schmidt has been Vice-Chancellor at the Australian National University since 2016, a role he leaves at the end of the year.</p>
<p>The Universities Accord <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/accord-interim-report">interim report</a> suggests 55% of jobs by 2050 will require a higher education qualification. At the moment, the share sits at 36%. To reach that target, Schmidt says institutions, secondary educators and governments will need to work together:</p>
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<p>The single most important thing, is our students when they finish high school have to be university ready. Universities are trying to fix the problems and shortcomings of our [Kindergarten to Year 12] system or even pre-K-12 system. We are the last line of defence.</p>
<p>Once students have graduated and they are university ready, then certainly here at ANU, we find that the access to university is not level. Why? Because studying full time at university is full time. And the notion that they’re going to go work a full-time job and study full-time seems possible and is done by many of the students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, but it puts them at a huge disadvantage. It’s just really difficult to do that. </p>
<p>So we really need to focus on adequate support for students, especially in that first year or two when they come to university so that they can study alongside everyone else on equal basis.</p>
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<p>Schmidt believes universities are facing their “Uber moment” - where big tech companies like LinkedIn, Meta, and Microsoft “take out the middle man” (higher education) and team up with leading institutions like Harvard or Oxford to offer a streamlined, recognised course at a fraction of the cost. </p>
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<p>I guess the question is, do I want to be at the ANU competing with that? The answer is no, because I’m going to lose. Their cost structures are cheaper than mine, but what they’re offering is not what I’m trying to offer. I’m trying to provide people the ability to do more than just the homogenised offering and get to talk to the people who write the textbooks [and] get to live on campus with a bunch of people not just doing the IT degree you are doing.</p>
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<p>With not enough academic jobs available to employ the PhD graduates who want them, are we turning out too many? </p>
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<p>This will be controversial. But the answer I think right now, given the state of the economy, probably yes.</p>
<p>It’s not just academic jobs, we don’t expect all of our PhDs to go get academic jobs. It’s never been that way and it shouldn’t be that way. What we do expect is those PhD students to go get jobs where their skills of research and knowledge add a lot of value to their job. And that’s the part where the Australian economy isn’t very developed.</p>
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<p>The accord’s interim report also highlights the <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-obviously-needs-to-be-done-how-to-make-australian-universities-safe-from-sexual-violence-210057">rate of sexual harassment and assault</a> experienced by students on campuses. A parliamentary inquiry has recommended an independent taskforce to oversee universities’ performance in dealing with this problem. Schmidt agrees the situation is unnacceptable, but believes institutions should have the final say in how and what action is taken. </p>
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<p>Sexual violence is, I am sad to say, rife across Australia […] I truly believe that universities have stood up in a way that no other part of society ever has. We have not ducked. We have actually stood up. But of course, when you stand up and take ownership, the ugly state of reality comes to light.</p>
<p>The proposed committee to oversight at some level I think is not a bad idea. I want to have an expert committee to respond to and to demonstrate the work I am doing. I want to be held accountable, but I want to be held accountable by people who understand the area and can make sensible judgements of what I am doing - being adequate, outstanding or inadequate. </p>
<p>I want to be held accountable by a body, but I do not want that body disembodied from my own governance to command me what to do - because I am confident I am going to do a better job than it can. And so that is an important bit. I want to demonstrate to it that I am doing an outstanding job. I do not want to be dictated what to do because that will be a lowest common denominator.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In this podcast, ANU Vice Chancellor and astrophysicist Brian Schmidt joins The Conversation to discuss the challenges universities are facingMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109092023-08-08T20:06:40Z2023-08-08T20:06:40ZA national university for regional Australia isn’t necessarily a smart idea. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541404/original/file-20230807-665-6usu56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4694%2C3134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the headline ideas floated by the Universities Accord <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/accord-interim-report">interim report</a> is a second national university. This would be on top of the existing Australian National University in Canberra. </p>
<p>The report says it wants to explore the idea of a “National Regional University” to support “high-quality regional education [and] deliver excellence in regional research”.</p>
<p>The basic idea is regional universities could opt in to become part of the new national university.</p>
<h2>This is not a new idea</h2>
<p>Australia’s last major review of higher education proposed a national regional university in 2008. The Bradley review <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv32134">recommended</a> “a study to examine the feasibility of a new national university for regional areas”. But as the interim report notes, this never happened. </p>
<p>The Bradley review suggested a new national university to redress a lack of participation of regional students. This is an issue that rightly still concerns the accord panel today. </p>
<p>But this time, the accord panel’s main rationale for a new national regional university is to </p>
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<p>facilitate and encourage change and evolution in the type, diversity, size and number of tertiary education institutions. </p>
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<h2>Not (yet) supported by regional unis</h2>
<p>So far, the new national university has not attracted much support. </p>
<p>The Regional Universities Network includes seven (though not all) of Australia’s regional universities. The network was “<a href="https://www.run.edu.au/interim-university-accord-report-delivers-hope-for-regional-australia/">encouraged</a>” by several key ideas in the accord panel’s interim report. </p>
<p>But any mention of the national regional university idea was conspicuously missing from its media statement in response to the report.</p>
<h2>Other university models</h2>
<p>The accord report says there are comparable international models for a national regional university, and points to the University of California system. This includes ten campuses in the US state, each with its own local identity and leadership. </p>
<p>But this example is not helpful. The University of California has a significantly different political, educational and social environment. It also has much more funding than Australian institutions. </p>
<p>A closer example of a national multi-state university is the Australian Catholic University. This has <a href="https://www.acu.edu.au/locations">campuses</a> in Ballarat, Blacktown, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, North Sydney and Strathfield. </p>
<p>But it is doubtful whether this would be a good model for a national regional university. </p>
<p>When the Australian Catholic University was formed in 1991, its constituent colleges would not have qualified separately for research status and funding. In contrast, all the obvious candidates for membership of a national regional university are already fully fledged self-contained universities. </p>
<p>Even if a regional university were to consider amalgamation, it would be more likely with a near neighbour, not another more distant regional university.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the name “national regional university” invokes the name of the existing Australian National University. It was not an easy process to set up the ANU. It took <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/about/our-history">decades</a> to achieve a coherent internal structure. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-job-ready-graduates-scheme-for-uni-fees-is-on-the-chopping-block-but-what-will-replace-it-209974">The Job-ready Graduates scheme for uni fees is on the chopping block – but what will replace it?</a>
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<h2>Worrying ‘synergies’</h2>
<p>The accord panel envisages a national regional university would provide opportunities to “find academic synergies and operational efficiencies across existing institutions”. </p>
<p>This is likely to worry university staff and students as “synergies” and “efficiencies” can often lead to cost cutting and job losses.</p>
<p>There is also substantial evidence the strongest synergies in <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/joining_the_dots/26/">teaching</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13662716.2019.1709419">research</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239804696_California_Dreaming_Cross-Cluster_Embeddedness_and_the_Systematic_Non-Emergence_of_the_%27Next_Silicon_Valley%27">service</a> happen when people and organisations are within commuting distance of each other.</p>
<p>There is a risk that a new national regional university will lead to remote, unsuitable, inflexible and unresponsive systems.</p>
<p>As James Cook University has <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/consultations/consultation-accord-terms-reference/submission/15109">noted</a> place-based differences define the roles of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362548242_Defining_regionality_for_Australian_higher_education">regional</a> universities. For example, James Cook <a href="https://www.jcu.edu.au/state-of-the-tropics">positions itself</a> as a “university of the tropics”. </p>
<p>And a “regional” university in north Queensland is substantially different from a “regional” university in western NSW. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-unis-could-not-function-without-casual-staff-it-is-time-to-treat-them-as-real-employees-203053">Australian unis could not function without casual staff: it is time to treat them as 'real' employees</a>
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<h2>TAFEs provide more opportunities</h2>
<p>If we want to improve opportunities for regional students, the accord should consider a bigger role for TAFEs in a national regional university and more generally. </p>
<p>They are widely dispersed in regional and outer metropolitan areas. </p>
<p>The federal government has <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/improving-access-university-outer-suburbs-and-region">already announced</a> more regional and outer suburban study hubs. These could be boosted if they are turned into joint TAFE-university ventures. </p>
<p>Several regional universities have told the accord review vocational and higher education should be more strongly <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/consultations/consultation-accord-terms-reference/submission/15077">aligned</a> and <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/consultations/consultation-accord-terms-reference/submission/15097">connected</a>.
For example, the University of the Sunshine Coast <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/consultations/australian-universities-accord-panel-discussion-paper-consultation/submission/15964">argues</a>, along with changes to regulation and funding, there should be </p>
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<p>more opportunities for physical co-location of education and training facilities.</p>
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<p>Indeed, Australia already has six highly distinctive “<a href="https://www.education.gov.au/system/files/documents/submission-file/2023-04/AUA_tranche1_Australia%26%23039%3Bs%20dual%20sector%20universities.pdf">dual sector</a>” universities, which provide both university and vocational qualifications. </p>
<p>These include RMIT, Charles Darwin University and CQ University but have been largely overlooked by people advocating for more diversity for Australian universities.</p>
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<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>The interim reports contains more than 70 “areas for further consideration” by the accord panel. </p>
<p>Many of these – including the idea for a national regional university – will not necessarily make it into the final report in December. </p>
<p>If Australia is to have a new university there needs to be more careful thought about where it should be and what its ultimate structure and purpose should be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Moodie has worked at two Australian dual sector universities and has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research to investigate relations between vocational and higher education.</span></em></p>One of the headline ideas floated by the Universities Accord is a second national university for regional students. This would be on top of the existing Australian National University.Gavin Moodie, Adjunct Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853742022-06-19T12:04:31Z2022-06-19T12:04:31ZAge and education key demographics in government’s election loss: ANU study<p>Age and education levels were the most important demographic variables in the Coalition’s loss of support between the 2019 and 2022 elections, according to an Australian National University analysis released on Monday. </p>
<p>“These two factors were much stronger predictors than sex, country of birth, location, and even household income,” the study found. </p>
<p>The analysis, titled Explaining the 2022 Australian Federal Election Result, authored by Nicholas Biddle and Ian McAllister, is based on an ANUpoll/Comparative Study of Electoral Systems survey of more than 3500 voters. </p>
<p>It compared people’s voting intentions in April and their actual vote in May, as well as how people voted in 2019. </p>
<p>The study found that in general 2022 Coalition voters tended to be older, indigenous, with low education, living outside the capitals and with household income that put them outside the bottom quintile. </p>
<p>Labor voters tended to have higher education levels, lived in the capitals, and had low incomes. </p>
<p>Greens voters tended to be women, young, born in Australia or another English-speaking country, and without a trade qualification. </p>
<p>Biddle said more than one in three voters under 55 (34.9%) who voted Coalition in 2019 voted for someone else this year. But only about one in five (21.1%) aged 55 and over did so. </p>
<p>The Coalition also lost more votes among the better educated, he said. Some 31% of those who had completed year 12 and voted for the government in 2019 changed their vote in 2022. In contrast only 14.8% of Coalition voters who had not finished year 12 changed their vote . </p>
<p>“Education, and particularly high school education, really matters when it comes to understanding this election result,” Biddle said. </p>
<p>The Coalition also lost more voters in capital cities compared to outside the capitals. </p>
<p>The analysis said the results suggested the change in government was mainly driven by “younger, urban and more well educated” Coalition voters moving away from the government, while Labor was able to maintain its support across most demographic groups, apart from those outside capital cities. </p>
<p>The study found women were less likely to vote for the Coalition compared to men. But the largest gender difference related to the Greens with 22.5% of women voting for them but only 16.4% of men. </p>
<p>Some 13.6% of voters made up their minds how to vote on election day. </p>
<p>Most people voted in May the way they had indicated in April that they would – but more than a fifth (21.9%) changed their mind in the campaign. The most common reason people gave was because their views about the local candidate changed. </p>
<p>The data on those who voted for candidates and parties other than the Coalition, Labor and the Greens has not been fully analysed yet, so there is no information specifically on the “teal” vote. </p>
<p>The survey found voter volatility in 2022 was similar to 2019. “A similar proportion of Australians voted for a different party across those two elections as between the 2016 and 2019 election, and there was a remarkably similar proportion across the two elections of Australians who voted for a different party to that which they had intended to vote in the last survey prior to the election.” </p>
<p>The proportion of people splitting their lower house and Senate vote was low in both elections but appeared to have declined in 2022. </p>
<p>The survey also found a strong post-election increase in people’s satisfaction with the direction the country is going in, from 62.4% in April to 73.3% in May. Biddle said this was one of the highest levels of satisfaction since the 2019-20 bushfires and the pandemic’s start. </p>
<p>But satisfaction did vary according to how people had voted. While satisfaction jumped among Labor and Green voters it went down among Coalition voters. </p>
<p>Most people thought the election had been conducted fairly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Age and education levels were the most important demographic variables in the Coalition’s loss of support between the 2019 and 2022 elections, according to an Australian National University analysisMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825382022-05-05T13:26:40Z2022-05-05T13:26:40ZGrattan on Friday: ‘Gotcha’ questions are ugly journalism but hazards for leaders<p>The public don’t have much regard for journalists and many people will be critical of the “gotcha” questioning that found Anthony Albanese on Thursday unable to recite the six points of his policy on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. </p>
<p>Pursuing “gotchas” is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. We’ve seen plenty of it recently. A while ago, Scott Morrison didn’t know the price of petrol or bread. Because a leader can’t rattle off a list doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t know a policy, and usually there are deeper questions the public would like explored. </p>
<p>Having said that, the NDIS moment was unfortunate for Albanese. And he wasn’t convincing when later on the ABC he denied he’d been caught out, although he’d win sympathy for his contention that “one of the things that puts people off politics, I think, is the sort of gotcha game-playing”. </p>
<p>The incident brought back memories of his stumble at the start of the campaign – when he couldn’t recall the unemployment and cash rates – and it played into the impression he isn’t good on detail. Before the news conference, he had been grilled on TV about whether he was really across his brief.</p>
<p>Albanese is not a strong campaigner, and it doesn’t help that he’s just come out of COVID and had to get through a campaign launch while still feeling its aftermath. He’s relying on having his frontbench colleagues beside him, which is not a bad thing in itself because most of the team are good performers but does risk diminishing him. He is also keeping to a relatively light schedule. </p>
<p>Recognising his own weak points, and the media’s penchant for “gotchas”, he needed to be better prepared. On Thursday he finally rustled up his material on the NDIS from an adviser but the confusion made for bad pictures. </p>
<p>The danger of being trapped by these questions is they not only get immediate headlines but become part of a wider, self-reinforcing negative story. And “gotchas” deflect attention from the big substantive issues, which in this fourth campaign week have been cost of living and rising interest rates.</p>
<p>A just-released poll from the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research and Methods, titled Views on policy and politics on the eve of the 2022 Federal Election, underlines how central the cost of living has become for voters.</p>
<p>Some 3587 people were asked, between April 11 and 26, how much of a priority each of 22 policy areas should be for the next government. Nearly two thirds (64.7%) gave as a top priority reducing the cost of living. Among Coalition voters, 60.8% said this was a top priority: among Labor voters, it was 68.8%.</p>
<p>The only other area rating more than 60% as a top priority was “fixing the aged care system”(60.1%). </p>
<p>Four other areas polled more than 50% as a top priority. These were: “strengthening the nation’s economy” (54.4%), “reducing health care costs (53.5%), "dealing with global climate change” (52.8%), and “improving the education system” (51.6%). </p>
<p>Just 27.2% said fixing the budget was a top priority. </p>
<p>The two issues at the bottom of the list of top priorities were “dealing with the issue of immigration” (22.3%) and “addressing issues around race in this country” (24.8%). </p>
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<p>It is notable that only 36.5% of Australians say dealing with the pandemic should be a top priority for the next government. </p>
<p>COVID is hardly getting a mention in this election campaign. This is despite a continuing high death rate, which only a few months ago would have been dominating headlines and news conferences. Covid-related deaths are now running at about 40 a day nationally, and it is currently the second leading cause of death in Australia, just a little behind heart disease, and ahead of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<p>The COVID years have been a balancing act between health and the economy – the scales, in the minds of politicians and members of the public, are now heavily weighted to the latter. </p>
<p>In campaigns, it is worth thinking about not just what issues are being talked about, but also what is being forgotten or pushed aside.</p>
<p>In this election, the Liberals are fighting on two fronts – against Labor and against the “teal” candidates. Thus on Wednesday treasurer Josh Frydenberg debated his Labor shadow Jim Chalmers at the National Press Club and on Thursday, he was up against his “teal” challenger Monique Ryan in a Sky debate in his Melbourne seat of Kooyong. </p>
<p>It’s a fair bet Frydenberg anticipated his face-off with Chalmers was the more predictable and manageable contest – it was a battle on known ground in which each combatant fought competently. </p>
<p>When Frydenberg met Ryan, he was on more unfamiliar, even treacherous political terrain, despite his opponent being at a considerable disadvantage, in terms of experience and her narrow agenda. </p>
<p>Frydenberg had his arguments marshalled, but prickled when Ryan described him as “the treasurer for NSW” during the pandemic. He was careful to stress his concern for his Kooyong community, and subtly made it clear he was no Scott Morrison (for example when talking about an integrity commission). </p>
<p>With “Keep Josh” signs through his electorate, Frydenberg warned: “People need to know that if they want to keep me as the local member, but they may have an issue with something that the Liberal party has said or done and they want to give us a kick for that, at the end of the day […] that may not leave me as being the local member”.</p>
<p>Ryan stressed the teal issues of climate and integrity, and cast her opponent as “a hostage both to Barnaby Joyce but also his own political ambitions”. </p>
<p>She declared that “For Mr Frydenberg, politics is about power. For me, it’s about people.” </p>
<p>“Politics for me is about people, thank you Monique,” Frydenberg said sharply. “It’s about small business […] It’s about my local community.”</p>
<p>The content of this debate was less remarkable than the fact it happened at all. That the treasurer was going head to head in a major debate with an independent candidate was testament to how concerned Frydenberg has been about this seat that once was seen as the deepest blue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The public don’t have much regard for journalists and many people will be critical of the “gotcha” questioning that found Anthony Albanese unable to recite the six points of his policy on the NDISMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1563022021-07-30T23:00:40Z2021-07-30T23:00:40ZCoral Bell: the ‘accidental academic’ who wanted to stop armageddon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405852/original/file-20210611-15-45o61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C115%2C1365%2C1452&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ANU Bell School</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This piece is part of a new series in collaboration with the ABC’s Saturday Extra program. Each week, the show will have a “who am I” quiz for listeners about influential figures who helped shape the 20th century, and we will publish profiles for each one. You can read the other pieces in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/guess-the-game-changer-106624">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>When Australian international relations scholar Coral Bell died in 2012, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger <a href="https://reporter.anu.edu.au/recognising-foreign-affairs-pioneer">said</a> “no other commentator” had been as perceptive on United States policies.</p>
<p>Three years later, the Australian National University named its school of Asia-Pacific affairs <a href="http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/about-us/dr-coral-bell-ao">after Bell</a>, with former foreign minister Julie Bishop <a href="https://reporter.anu.edu.au/recognising-foreign-affairs-pioneer">describing her</a> as </p>
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<p>one of the great international relations scholars of Australia and the world […] highly respected by policy makers nationally and internationally.</p>
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<p>Clearly she was a superstar in her field. But why, outside specialists, should Bell be remembered and celebrated?</p>
<h2>An academic who thought about the real world</h2>
<p>Bell has been called an “<a href="http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/stories/3464/anu-honours-accidental-academic">accidental academic</a>”. </p>
<p>She began her career as as a diplomat in 1945, and was in the room when the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13wwvkp.17?refreqid=excelsior%3Ad7b699fa0738e78dfe007d418872c30e&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">ANZUS Treaty was signed</a>. But her time in the Department of External Affairs ended after she refused to join a Soviet spy ring — as ANU colleague Desmond Ball <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/2.-From-External-Affairs-to-Academia-Coral%E2%80%99s-Encounter-with-the-KGB%E2%80%99s-Spy-Ring-in-Australia.pdf">sensationally revealed</a> after her death.</p>
<p>However, this early experience of government and diplomacy set her up well for a life of scholarship. Former head of the ANU Bell School Michael Wesley thinks her diplomatic role had a <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/10.-Interpreting-the-Cold-War.pdf">lasting impact on her work</a>, which </p>
<blockquote>
<p>always showed the practitioner’s sensitivity to the often galling realities of policy-making.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She believed the behaviour of leaders and diplomats mattered in foreign affairs, leading her to be variously described as a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357710500231271?journalCode=caji20">classical realist</a>”, “<a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/4.-Coral-Bell-Recollections-of-an-Optimistic-Realist.pdf">optimistic realist</a>” and “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357710500231321?journalCode=caji20">realist optimist</a>”.</p>
<h2>She focused on the big issues and the big picture</h2>
<p>Bell’s work focused on power politics, the Cold War, diplomacy, defence and foreign policy. The titles of her <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/Appendix-Coral%E2%80%99s-Publications.pdf">extensive publications</a> give a sense of the questions she wanted to answer: “politics of power”, “diplomacy of detente”, “conventions of crisis” and “living with giants”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Checkpoint Charlie in 1961" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408084/original/file-20210624-25-ougay7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bell worked at the height of the Cold War, and wanted to prevent further conflict.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museum Checkpoint Charlie/ AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She acknowledged it was difficult to show direct causal connection between academic analyses and the choices of decision makers — but saw herself as influencing the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357710500231321?journalCode=caji20">climate of opinion</a> within which policy-makers operate, and in turn helping shape countries’ behaviour. </p>
<p>Because of her <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/5.-Coral-Bell-and-Her-Mark-on-Strategic-Studies.pdf">historical knowledge</a> and focus on <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/debate/coral-bell-s-end-vasco-da-gama-era-10th-anniversary-retrospective">big trends</a> — demographic, economic, technological and political – she had an uncanny knack of <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/10.-Interpreting-the-Cold-War.pdf">previewing</a> debates and controversies. Her 2007 forecast that Western domination of global politics was <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/pubfiles/LIP21_BellWEB_1.pdf">drawing to a close</a> has held up well.</p>
<h2>She left an intellectual legacy</h2>
<p>Bell also had an <a href="https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/book.pdf">important influence</a> on the growing discipline of international relations. </p>
<p>Concepts she created in the 1960s are still being used in the context of US-China rivalry. This includes the “<a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/a-us-china-shadow-condominium/">shadow condiminium</a>” — or temporary power-sharing arrangements between two dominant powers. Her work Dependent Ally also remains <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/12.-Coral-Bell%E2%80%99s-Alliance-Politics-Practitioner-and-Pundit.pdf">relevant</a> to Australia-US relations, including its discussion of independence within an alliance.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/diplomacy-and-defence-remain-a-boys-club-but-women-are-making-inroads-119984">Diplomacy and defence remain a boys' club, but women are making inroads</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More broadly, she <a href="http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/stories/3464/anu-honours-accidental-academic">influenced later scholars</a> with her focus on careful factual research, beginning with the evidence, rather than abstract theories. Griffith University’s Ian Hall describes this as an <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/6.-The-Interpretation-of-Power-Politics-Coral-Bell%E2%80%99s-International-Thought.pdf">interpretive approach</a>, which forefronts the beliefs of policy-actors and the thoughts shaping those beliefs. </p>
<p>Based on history, law and political philosophy rather than quantitative methods, this has arguably become a <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/15073391.pdf">distinctive feature</a> of Australian international affairs scholarship.</p>
<h2>She was a woman in a profession dominated by men</h2>
<p>Born in 1923, Bell’s gender was always going to be a factor. When she entered the foreign service she was <a href="https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/not-always-diplomatic#:%7E:text=By%20Sue%20Boyd,that%20has%20spanned%20the%20globe.&text=She%20then%20explores%20her%20life,of%20the%2080's%20and%2090's.">paid less for the same work</a> and faced the marriage bar. As <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/3.-Coral-Bell-A-Preoccupation-with-Armageddon.pdf">she recalled</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In my day you were told that if you married you were deemed to have resigned from the diplomatic service. So I gave up the idea. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bell chose the life of the mind and excelled at it, showing gender was <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/debate/coral-bell-s-end-vasco-da-gama-era-10th-anniversary-retrospective#debatResponse_342441">not a bar</a> to being a leading authority.</p>
<p>As security studies academic Sheryn Lee explains, Bell’s success made it easier for other women to forge careers in the field of international relations. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>she was a woman who was a leading authority […] and who forged a path for others through her practice and scholarship.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>An Australian in a field dominated by overseas scholars</h2>
<p>Australian scholars with Bell’s international impact have been rare in international relations. Her intellectual contributions enhanced Australia’s standing in policy and academic communities in the US and United Kingdom.</p>
<p>As Minh Bui Jones memorably <a href="http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/about-us/dr-coral-bell-ao">observed</a>of Bell:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the rest of the world, she brought an antipodean temperament and perspective to the great questions of our time; she was our George Kennan in thick glasses, blue floral dress, white sneakers and a string of pearls.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A significant portion of her career was spent advancing the study of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357710500231321?journalCode=caji20">Australian foreign and defence policy</a> and she spoke up for bringing an <a href="http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/stories/3465/today%E2%80%99s-world-yesterday">Australian approach</a> to questions of international security.</p>
<h2>She focused on issues of human survival</h2>
<p>Bell described herself as having a “<a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/3.-Coral-Bell-A-Preoccupation-with-Armageddon.pdf">preoccupation with armageddon</a>”, especially how to avoid it. She saw <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/Introduction2.pdf">her vocation</a> as the “preservation of human life and human society”.</p>
<p>Coming to adulthood during the second world war, she knew what was at stake when <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/5.-Coral-Bell-and-Her-Mark-on-Strategic-Studies.pdf">great powers went to war</a>. All her life, she remembered the pattern of the rug she was standing on when she heard an atomic bomb had <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303831/pdf/4.-Coral-Bell-Recollections-of-an-Optimistic-Realist.pdf">destroyed Hiroshima</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"562777711463387140"}"></div></p>
<p>In our time, the nuclear threat continues, along with existential threats of climate change, uncontrolled artificial intelligence and pandemics. In the face of such challenges, how countries interact becomes a question of survival of the species. That’s something worth dedicating a career to.</p>
<p>Bell lives on in her ideas and in the minds of those she has influenced. If you’d like to hear her voice, you can <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/dr-coral-bell/3162574">listen to her</a> in 2008, speaking to Geraldine Doogue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Conley Tyler was privileged to know Coral Bell in her later years when she was honoured by the Australian Institute of International Affairs. </span></em></p>When it comes to the study of international relations and power, Australian scholar Coral Bell was a superstar.Melissa Conley Tyler, Research Associate, Asia Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1370672020-04-24T05:56:26Z2020-04-24T05:56:26ZANU will invigilate exams using remote software, and many students are unhappy<p>The Australian National University (ANU) is facing a backlash from students over the proposed use of a digital platform to invigilate exams remotely. The university <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice/learning-remotely/remote-examinations">recently announced plans</a> to use the Proctorio platform to ensure the legitimacy of exams conducted away from campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1252478905069387776"}"></div></p>
<p>Students aren’t happy. A <a href="https://www.facebook.com/No-Proctorio-at-ANU-112247750446698/">Facebook page</a> and a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/australian-national-university-tell-anu-students-say-no-to-proctorio">Change.org petition</a> with more than 3,700 signatures have gained significant media attention. </p>
<p>But the use of technology to solve COVID-19 related challenges has been widespread. So what’s different now?</p>
<h2>What is Proctorio?</h2>
<p>In essence, <a href="https://proctorio.com/">Proctorio</a> is the digital equivalent of the invigilators walking up and down the aisles during student examinations. The software is already used by various institutions around the world, including <a href="https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/11544/files/2420382/download?verifier=J84eQ3dJ92MuPd5EINg3Sy0rThJ63NmfySF0lO5F&wrap=1">Harvard University</a> and other <a href="https://www.kent.edu/sites/default/files/file/Proctorio_StudentFAQ_Final.pdf">US universities</a>. The University of Queensland has also <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/uq-students-raise-privacy-concerns-over-third-party-exam-platform-20200419-p54l77.html">announced plans</a> to use a similar platform, ProctorU.</p>
<p>To use the Proctorio software, the student taking the exam has to install it on their computer and allow the program to access their camera and microphone. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A range of permissions are required by the Proctorio browser extension.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The software is a <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/proctorio/fpmapakogndmenjcfoajifaaonnkpkei">browser extension</a> for Google Chrome. Along with camera access, Proctorio requires permission to:</p>
<ul>
<li>access web page content to allow the extension to function correctly</li>
<li>capture the screen to facilitate screen recording</li>
<li>manage other extensions to monitor other tools being used in the browser</li>
<li>display notifications</li>
<li>modify clipboard data to prevent copy-and-paste capability</li>
<li>identify storage devices to allows the extension to “see” system resources and</li>
<li>change privacy settings to allow an external technical support function.</li>
</ul>
<p>While the provider gives <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/proctorio/fpmapakogndmenjcfoajifaaonnkpkei">reassurance in each category</a> (and there’s no evidence any of it’s untrue), it’s understandable some students are daunted by the extent of permissions requested.</p>
<p>The second part of the system is in the cloud. Data collected on a user’s computer is transmitted to the company’s servers to be analysed. This could include video and audio recordings, as well as images captured of a user’s screen.</p>
<p>In a statement to The Conversation, an ANU spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Data will be stored in a secure location in Australia. Only ANU staff who are trained in privacy and the use of Proctorio will have access to this data. These staff members are also responsible to the University’s privacy policy. Data will be deleted once exams are over and course results are finalised.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Facial detection (but not recognition)</h2>
<p>Proctorio claims to use <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-machine-learning-76759">machine learning</a> and <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/face-detection-for-beginners-e58e8f21aad9">facial detection</a> to identify the likelihood a student is cheating. It’s important to distinguish facial detection from the more controversial technology of facial recognition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/facial-recognition-is-spreading-faster-than-you-realise-132047">Facial recognition is spreading faster than you realise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By <a href="https://proctorio.com/platform/exam-monitoring">observing a student</a> throughout the exam, Proctorio’s system may be able to detect if the student:</p>
<ul>
<li>is looking at a second screen or reading from another source</li>
<li>is copying content</li>
<li>is being prompted by another person</li>
<li>has been replaced with someone else.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/20/concerns-raised-australian-universities-plan-use-proctorio-proctoru-exam-monitoring-software">Concerns have been raised</a> that the system will monitor keystrokes (typing), potentially compromising students’ personal information.</p>
<p>But an ANU spokeperson told The Conversation that “Proctorio does not monitor what keys are typed – just that keys have been typed”.</p>
<h2>What are the issues being flagged?</h2>
<p>Students may nevertheless feel Proctorio is “spying” on them. Any tool that overtly monitors a user’s behaviour, particularly when downloaded on a personal laptop, merits thorough examination.</p>
<p>ANU has released a <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/files/guidance/ANU-CyberAdvisory-Proctorio-Guidance_updated.pdf">cyber security advisory statement</a> and <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/files/guidance/Proctorio_PIA_0.pdf">privacy assessment</a> that aim to address concerns. The key points are:</p>
<ul>
<li>all data is encrypted in transit and storage, and is only available to designated ANU staff. Proctorio has no access to the student data</li>
<li>students may have to show their room to the camera (presumably to verify they are alone)</li>
<li>the system doesn’t record keystrokes or mouse movements</li>
<li>camera, microphone and browser are used to monitor the user. However, the document does make reference to a rather nondescript “other means” of monitoring.</li>
</ul>
<p>In a YouTube video statement, ANU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Grady Venville reassured students the university’s IT security team had undertaken a thorough assessment of the software, and were “very satisfied” it met ANU’s “rigorous cybersecurity standards”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hGqklmHhqok?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) on the use of Proctorio.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is perhaps not entirely reassuring, given the university’s own cyber advisory recognised its “recent security challenges”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/19-years-of-personal-data-was-stolen-from-anu-it-could-show-up-on-the-dark-web-118265">19 years of personal data was stolen from ANU. It could show up on the dark web</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Can ANU force students to use Proctorio?</h2>
<p>ANU, like any university, is entitled to implement assessment strategies it deems appropriate. Given the current situation, finding alternatives to traditional examinations is essential to adhere to social-distancing measures.</p>
<p>The university is somewhat vague with regards to the specific use of Proctorio. In its <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice/learning-remotely/remote-examinations/proctorio-faqs">FAQ</a> it states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Course conveners will determine if your course requires the use of Proctorio for the assessment for your course.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>ANU has confirmed to The Conversation that students have the option to defer the exam instead of using the software. Those without a suitable device can also use a university computer on campus, or enquire about alternative assessments with their convener. An ANU spokesperson also said course conveners “can use a range of other assessment methods” if appropriate.</p>
<p>Some students have asked to be notified before May 8 (the deadline to withdraw from units) if they will be forced to use Proctorio. </p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>The legal situation is currently unclear. While ANU may be allowed to force the use of Proctorio for exams conducted on university-owned devices, mandating its use on privately owned devices is less certain.</p>
<p>If students do use Proctorio on their personal devices, they may want reassurance their device will be safe from surveillance when not being used for exams.</p>
<p>Also, while ANU offers the option to defer exams, students may feel pressure to unwillingly use the system simply to avoid a delayed graduation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-accept-government-surveillance-for-now-110789">Australians accept government surveillance, for now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Haskell-Dowland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian National University is turning to digital proctoring to replace the role of a walking invigilator. But who watches the proctor, what are the risks, and what data will be collected?Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/975332018-06-05T20:06:21Z2018-06-05T20:06:21ZANU’s new entrance criteria won’t do much to improve equity<p>The Australian National University recently <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/new-admissions-for-2020/co-curricular-or-service-requirement">announced</a> that from 2020 it will require all students to meet co-curricular requirements alongside the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) requirement. </p>
<p>The diverse <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/new-admissions-for-2020/co-curricular-or-service-requirement">list</a> of co-curricular requirements includes part-time employment, participation in the creative arts, sports, and community and service activities. Academic internships, international exchange, and scholastic activities such as the prestigious <a href="https://www.googlesciencefair.com/#!?modal_active=none">Google Science Fair</a> are also recognised under the scheme. </p>
<p>This represents perhaps the largest admissions policy shift from a <a href="https://go8.edu.au/">Group of Eight</a> university to date. It’s a clear indication the national university is looking beyond the ATAR to ensure it attracts the most suitable young people to its courses. But it will not do much to improve equity of access.</p>
<h2>Anti-ATAR sentiment</h2>
<p>Sentiment against the Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/atar-should-be-simplified-or-even-abolished-says-chief-scientist-alan-finkel-20180423-p4zb74.html">rising</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">Should we scrap the ATAR? What are the alternative options? Experts comment</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/nsw-universities-taking-students-with-atars-as-low-as-30-20160126-gmdvr6.html">Fairfax report</a> in 2016 showed universities were accepting students with ATARs much lower than advertised cut-off scores. The report confirmed suspicions university admissions are <a href="https://myaccount.news.com.au/sites/theaustralian/subscribe.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/year-12-and-atar-need-a-rethink/news-story/08187e86c4d8f26d7b514e23eb61e4c9&memtype=anon">opaque</a> and at risk of being gamed <a href="http://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/no-the-atar-cant-be-gamed-but-it-can-be-tuned/">by schools</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, there have been calls across the sector to <a href="https://theconversation.com/atars-you-may-as-well-use-postcodes-for-university-admissions-19154">increase transparency</a> around how ATAR is used for university entrance. And a rising chorus suggests the ATAR should be <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">scrapped all together</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel has emerged as a fierce opponent of the ATAR system, going as far as to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/atar-should-be-simplified-or-even-abolished-says-chief-scientist-alan-finkel-20180423-p4zb74.html">suggest</a> the system is “completely obscure” and results in students “being given poor advice” about their post-secondary options. </p>
<h2>What has changed?</h2>
<p>The majority of universities across the country already accept some students based on other-than-ATAR requirements. These include portfolios, interviews, and community service. Most also allocate a number of places to students from underrepresented communities, and specific pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. </p>
<p>What’s different about ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt’s announcement last week is the specific commitment by a high status, research-intensive university to base admissions on more than “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/community-service-as-important-as-atar-for-year-12s-in-anu-overhaul-20180529-p4zi7n.html">just a score</a>”.</p>
<p>The addition of a co-curricular or “service” requirement follows an announcement by <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/australian-national-university-to-abandon-atar-as-sole-entry-requirement-20160801-gqi4ai.html?_ga=2.204029648.1351890709.1528065145-1249041768.1524834919">Professor Schmidt in 2016</a> that the national university was looking to “move away from judging students only on their year 12 ATAR results”. </p>
<p>The move will see students required to meet a threshold of out-of-class activities alongside the ANU floor ATAR of 80 for admission to most courses. ANU has two advantages which allow it to take this policy position: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>the lowest ATAR admitted to ANU in 2018 was close to 80.00, which means ANU draws almost exclusively from the top quintile of results overall</p></li>
<li><p>ANU enjoys a remarkably high completion rate, with <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/third-of-university-students-failing-to-complete-course/news-story/0c70435cf7690878811d957a51523a5b">over 80%</a> successful completions between 2009 and 2014. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>This policy may help to attract students with a “near-miss” on their admission into high-status degrees. By necessity, it will certainly encourage already high performing students to look beyond their academic studies and develop their whole selves in the final years of secondary school.</p>
<p>But it won’t dramatically alter the student cohort in terms of encouraging low-SES students to apply. These students are significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/year-12-results-day-does-the-atar-actually-matter-that-much-48890">more likely</a> to achieve an ATAR under 80 than their more advantaged peers </p>
<p>Rather, ANU’s co-curricular or service requirement will increase competition for places at the lower-end of those students the university already accepts. It gives the university a powerful lever with which to allocate university places moving forward. This is especially important given the <a href="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/link/9d7c304cafe37e80cf41a5e7b34f4e9c?domain=theaustralian.com.au">increased scrutiny</a> on the use of ATAR as the sole basis for university admissions. </p>
<h2>What does this mean for equity?</h2>
<p>ANU’s plan has <a href="https://psnews.com.au/2018/05/31/universitys-new-admission-plan-wins-praise/">drawn praise</a> from Federal Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham. He suggested the policy represents a “commitment to welcome, educate and accommodate the best and brightest Australians, regardless of their background”. </p>
<p>Professor Schmidt has positioned these changes as an access measure. But as higher education policy expert Andrew Norton notes, high-socioeconomic young people tend to <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/05/30/will-extra-curricular-admission-requirements-improve-low-ses-access-to-the-anu/">perform better</a> on these kinds of co-curricular requirements than their less advantaged peers. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Non-academic requirements are very common overseas. The US is the most prominent example, where students are required to apply directly to each institution. That system is widely <a href="https://www.theodysseyonline.com/income-students-disadvantage">criticised</a> as advantaging high-socioeconomic students who often enjoy far superior resources, time, and parental support in putting together their applications. There have been significant moves in recent times to address these issues, with the continued adoption of <a href="http://www.commonapp.org/search-colleges">common application</a> processes.</p>
<p>Multiple factors influence young people’s readiness for tertiary study. This is especially true for students from diverse, underrepresented, and low-socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>First, these young people are at a <a href="https://theconversation.com/career-studies-and-advice-start-early-or-dont-start-at-all-40563">significant disadvantage</a> in terms of the quality and availability of career planning and counselling.</p>
<p>Second, even after they’re admitted, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are significantly <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/completing-university-in-a-growing-sector-is-equity-an-issue/">more likely to drop out</a>. This is often due to beyond-academic reasons, such as balancing work and study, caring responsibilities, and social exclusion.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atar-debate-students-need-to-be-able-to-finish-uni-not-just-start-it-36478">The ATAR debate: students need to be able to finish uni, not just start it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Third, the tertiary admissions process, and the use of ATAR remain <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/call-rethink-australian-university-admissions">poorly understood</a> by the community more generally.</p>
<p>Finally, even if these students do succeed, they tend to find it <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it">more challenging</a> to secure work experience, and full-time employment after their studies. This is <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/%7E/media/files/research/research-evaluation/research-disadvantaged-young-australians-learning-for-life.ashx">due to</a> more limited professional networks and parental support.</p>
<p>In short, less advantaged students require significant additional supports, well beyond acknowledging their diverse pathways for entry into a degree program. These challenges remain the key litmus test for any debate around the continued usefulness of the ATAR.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Duggan receives funding from the Department of Education and Training. </span></em></p>From 2020, ANU will require students to meet co-curricular requirements alongside ATAR. This significant policy shift is meant to improve equity of access, but won’t change much.Shane Duggan, Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral research fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/371082015-02-12T03:24:51Z2015-02-12T03:24:51ZUniversities are (slowly) feeling their way forward on divestment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71734/original/image-20150211-25700-11mukql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C797%2C594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Sydney is hoping to chart a path to climate-safe investment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Sydney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Another Australian university has outlined plans to reduce the exposure of its investments to climate change, and is taking a contrasting approach to the Australian National University’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/anus-resources-blacklist-social-activism-or-the-shape-of-things-to-come-32803">high-profile divestment plan</a> announced in October. The University of Sydney on Monday <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=9&newsstoryid=14575">released plans</a> to reduce the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio by 20% over three years.</p>
<p>That will see the university reduce its carbon footprint to <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=9&newsstoryid=14576">20% below the average</a> of Australian, international and emerging markets, rather than divesting from a particular sector such as the coal industry. </p>
<p>The stated rationale for this is that “divesting entirely from all companies with an interest in fossil fuels could result in divesting from companies that are also committed to building renewable energy sources. In addition, there are many companies that do not produce fossil fuels who are nonetheless heavy emitters”. This is an approach which the London-based <a href="http://aodproject.net/">Asset Owners Disclosure Project</a> (AODP) acknowledges. </p>
<h2>Universities exposed to climate risk</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">Global University Index</a> recently released by the AODP ranks and rates 278 universities on their efforts to disclose their investments exposed to climate risk. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://aodproject.net/">Project’s</a> objective is to protect members’ retirement savings from the risks posed by climate change. It does this by seeking improvements in disclosure and raising the bar on what is considered best practice. The AODP claims to examine “how asset
owners are preparing for the repricing of climate-exposed assets and the physical impacts on climate change” (see page 20 <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">here</a>). </p>
<p>This is indeed a serious issue. </p>
<p>I struggled somewhat to work out what was done by the AODP, how it was done and what the various ratings mean. All but the top five universities were rated D (meaning that their climate change risk management is “poor”, see page 5 <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">here</a>) or X (no information disclosed by any means). </p>
<p>The top 12 places were taken by US universities, with Charles Sturt being the top Australian University, ranked 13th. The University of Sydney, which was ranked before it unveiled its current plans, is ranked equal-28th and scores a D rating. </p>
<p>A Vice Chancellor (who provided a comment on the basis that it would be anonymous) from a British university with a strong reputation for innovation and commitment to sustainability, but which received an X rating in the index, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>this seems a rather pointless league table, when most universities aren’t in it and of those that are almost all are harangued for not meeting even the basic criteria for the table. In reality while I guess universities recognise that climate change will have investment implications, and indeed may be looking at their investment portfolio in this context, as we are, the logical link from climate change via investments to future pension funding (which is what this organisation is focused on) is fairly obscure in the strategic priorities for most universities.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Time for action</h2>
<p>Of course, the issue is broader than universities, although this does not get universities off the hook. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/sustainability-reporting/tech-tp-ca.pdf">Research</a> published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Carbon Tracker Initiative has found that companies don’t typically disclose information on climate change risk that impacts on investors. </p>
<p>Simon O'Connor, CEO of the <a href="http://www.australiansustainability.com.au/home/">Responsible Investment Association Australasia</a> told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Much of the discussion around investors managing climate risk has focused narrowly on the largest of Australia’s super funds. But beyond the large super funds, there are pools of capital across the economy that need to be considering the risks from a changing climate, and subsequent shifts in policy and technologies. </p>
<p>Universities are a case in point, as are a long list of public sector pools of capital - federal, state and territory- as well as funds managed by charities, corporates and individuals. In reality, too few investors are taking this issue seriously enough, as highlighted by the responses to the AODP universities survey.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no doubt that universities, like many other sectors, ought to be doing more. In the case of universities, it is ultimately likely to be students and staff who push for the leadership required to drive the significant change which will inevitably come. </p>
<p>If the AODP is to be a driver of change, I would suggest that it needs to state exactly what it is that universities should do and disclose, and to consider rewarding public commitments that are an important, not to mention difficult, step along the way. </p>
<p>The challenges are abundantly clear from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/divestment-backlash-shows-companies-need-to-improve-sustainability-reporting-33079">criticisms</a> directed at the Australian National University, including from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, over its divestment decision. The University of Sydney’s approach cleverly sidesteps a backlash from the coal industry and its backers.</p>
<p>Last year, the University of Glasgow became the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/08/glasgow-becomes-first-university-in-europe-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels">first in Europe</a> to divest from fossil fuels. This is not an easy decision for an ancient institution (founded in 1451) with a range of stakeholders who will inevitably have diverse views. </p>
<p>But the University of Glasgow’s commitment is not reflected in its D rating (poor) by the AODP. Points were awarded points for “actual performance”, not commitments – even, apparently, where these commitments have been made public (a form of disclosure, I would argue). </p>
<p>Given the slow pace of change in integrating sustainability and climate risk in universities, it seems unlikely that Sydney University was influenced by its AODP rating. Its approach is a good example to follow. Continued slowness by universities leaves them exposed to reputation risk as well as climate risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol A Adams is a former Professor of Accounting and current visiting professor at the University of Glasgow and a part time professor at Monash University.</span></em></p>Another Australian university has outlined plans to reduce the exposure of its investments to climate change, and is taking a contrasting approach to the Australian National University’s high-profile divestment…Carol A Adams, Professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/330792014-10-16T19:33:13Z2014-10-16T19:33:13ZDivestment backlash shows companies need to improve sustainability reporting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61962/original/29298nvr-1413448596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities in the US have led the divestment charge - the ANU is leading the Australian movement. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/40969298@N05/13637499555">Light Brigading/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tony Abbott’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/15/anu-fossil-fuel-divestment-decision-stupid-tony-abbott-says">criticisms</a> of the <a href="http://news.anu.edu.au/2014/10/03/university-to-divest-holdings-in-seven-companies/">ANU’s divestment decision</a> will come back to bite him. The tide of change is such that Vice-Chancellor Ian Young and the ANU Council will be seen as leaders. Others will follow.</p>
<p>Abbott has added his voice to a growing chorus condemning the decision by ANU to divest from seven resource companies, including treasurer <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/joe_hockey_takes_aim_at_lofty_anu_jCEPln8zAJDYAZRYomRhyK">Joe Hockey</a>, education minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-13/pyne-says-anu-decision-to-ditch-mining-companies-bizarre/5808674">Christopher Pyne</a>, and blacklisted companies <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/joe_hockey_takes_aim_at_lofty_anu_jCEPln8zAJDYAZRYomRhyK">Santos</a>, <a href="http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/sloppy-criteria-for-anu-shares-divestment">Iluka Resources</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/16/anu-fossil-fuel-divestment-false-information-miner-says">Sandfire Resources</a>. </p>
<p>But if these companies are unhappy with the analysis of their environmental and social performance, they should take responsibility for better valuing and reporting their environmental and social impacts. </p>
<h2>The risk of fossil fuels</h2>
<p>Abbott’s claim that divesting deprives fund members of a good investment could ultimately be proven incorrect. Even the generally conservative accounting profession is making an increasing amount of noise about the impact of climate change on asset valuations (or <a href="http://genfound.org/media/pdf-generation-foundation-stranded-carbon-assets-v1.pdf">stranded carbon assets</a>). </p>
<p>This is a particular issue in the fossil fuel sector.</p>
<p>“Fossil fuel companies should start accounting for the risk that their vast reserves may ultimately end up as stranded assets.” That’s the title of <a href="http://www.accaglobal.com/zm/en/discover/ab-articles/corporate-reporting/bursting-bubble.html">an article</a> published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) earlier this year. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/sustainability-reporting/tech-tp-ca.pdf">report</a> published last year by the ACCA and the Carbon Tracker (with a foreword by the president of the International Federation of Accountants) found that companies typically do not disclose information that is material to investors on carbon risk. </p>
<p>Why isn’t the Prime Minister of Australia outraged about that rather than a university taking action?</p>
<p>The ACCA/Carbon Tracker report argues that to integrate climate risk into their business, companies need to consider potential CO<sub>2</sub> emissions of reserves, and risks to valuations of reserves if demand for fossil fuel energy falls.</p>
<h2>Moves towards more disclosure</h2>
<p>The Australian Government position is in stark contrast to the mood of recent <a href="http://drcaroladams.net/europe-focuses-on-the-role-of-corporate-reporting-in-transition-towards-sustainability/">events</a> in Europe looking at the role of corporate reporting in sustainable development and incorporating the sustainable development goals. </p>
<p>The events, attended by a wide range of stakeholders, <a href="http://drcaroladams.net/corporate-reporting-for-sustainable-development-and-innovation-from-germany/">concluded</a> that reporting by companies and mandatory reporting requirements were not providing sustainability information needed by investors to assess risk and long term performance.</p>
<p>This is where the focus of policy makers should be — not on a report prepared for ANU highlighting gaps in management and governance by companies of social and environmental sustainability issues.</p>
<h2>Assessing environmental value</h2>
<p>I know of companies which are starting to develop what they refer to as a “social and environmental profit and loss account” or “net impact statement”. Essentially they are evaluating what they are contributing to society and the environment, and setting against that their negative impacts. </p>
<p>This sort of information attracts ethical investors looking for long term returns. Some are starting to calculate how this impacts on financial profit.</p>
<p>KPMG released a <a href="http://www.kpmg.com/global/en/topics/climate-change-sustainability-services/pages/a-new-vision-connecting-corporate.aspx">report</a> last month outlining what they refer to as a “true value” approach assessing how social and environmental risks and opportunities will impact on future financial profit. The report uses hypothetical case studies to measure the impact of this value created (or lost) by companies on profit.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/sloppy-criteria-for-anu-shares-divestment">report</a> in Australian Mining complaining about “sloppy criteria” for the divestment by ANU misses the point. It is up to companies to provide adequate information on their risks, policies and activities for investors.</p>
<p>And, at the end of the day, if the fundamental nature of a company’s business is unsustainable, other criteria for divestment, however “sloppy” are somewhat irrelevant.</p>
<h2>Universities led charge against Nike…</h2>
<p>Universities have a history of being a force for good. The complete turnaround by Nike on corporate social responsibility was due to widespread boycott of its sports products by US universities in the 1990s. </p>
<p>Nike had contracted with factories throughout Asia (which became known as Nike sweatshops) that were found out for using child labour, poor working conditions, excessive overtime, sexually harassing female workers and paying below the minimum wage. </p>
<p>This was widely publicised by CorpWatch (a US based research group), Naomi Klein in her book “No Logo”, Michael Moore and the BBC in documentaries and various anti-globalisation and anti-sweatshop groups. </p>
<p>Nike originally denied the claims and expressed a view that what happened in supplier factories weren’t its concern. This only served to increase the campaign against it. Nike now takes transparency, accountability and corporate responsibility seriously and has restored its reputation. </p>
<p>And social and environmental sustainability practises in the supply chain are of increasing interest to large corporate customers concerned about reputation risk.</p>
<h2>… and tobacco</h2>
<p>The British Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), at the time the third largest fund in the UK, made a significant <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/when-ethics-wins-the-pension-fund-debate/149342.article">response</a>, through a campaign for responsible investment led by academics through “Ethics for USS” and students through “People and Planet” in the 1990s.</p>
<p>They questioned the morality of investing in tobacco which was dropped by the Australian Sovereign Wealth Fund <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-fund-drops-tobacco-should-fossil-fuels-be-next-12337">last year</a>. As a result of the academic and student led campaigns, the USS became the first large UK pension fund to adopt a socially responsible investment policy.</p>
<p>The approach included engaging with companies in which they invested to drive change towards more responsible behaviour. The USS sets out its proactive approach and explains its rationale for not divesting in companies on moral and ethical grounds only and legal advice that it is not permitted to make decisions purely on a moral or ethical stance <a href="http://www.uss.co.uk/UssInvestments/Responsibleinvestment/BackgroundRationale/Pages/default.aspx">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Students taking the lead?</h2>
<p>In any case there is a strong and increasing link between some “moral and ethical grounds” and financial returns. In recognition of this Australian superfunds have also <a href="http://drcaroladams.net/superfunds-looking-for-greater-transparency-on-esg-risks/">called for</a> greater disclosure on Environmental, Social and Governance risk.</p>
<p>This is not to say that universities themselves should not being doing much more to develop future <a href="http://drcaroladams.net/the-development-of-leaders-able-to-respond-to-climate-change-and-sustainability-challenges/">leaders able to respond to climate change and sustainability challenges.</a> But that is another issue.</p>
<p>Of course, we must not forget that in making the decision to divest, Ian Young and the ANU Council were responding to student protests. They are the true leaders in all of this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol A Adams is a part time Professor at Monash University and consults through Integrated Horizons. She writes on her website 'Towards Sustainable Business' at <a href="http://www.drcaroladams.net">www.drcaroladams.net</a> </span></em></p>Tony Abbott’s criticisms of the ANU’s divestment decision will come back to bite him. The tide of change is such that Vice-Chancellor Ian Young and the ANU Council will be seen as leaders. Others will…Carol A Adams, Professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/327362014-10-12T19:08:45Z2014-10-12T19:08:45ZOutrage at ANU divestment shows the power of its idea<p>Is the Australian National University’s decision to sell its shares in some resource companies merely tokenistic? Far from it. The <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/anu_divestment_list_sparks_outrage_cfSmZk6H5SwIAQZniUXKKI">outrage</a> from the affected companies shows how much influence universities can wield when they put their money where their mouth is. </p>
<p>The question is, will other universities follow suit, having seen the considerable criticism that greeted ANU’s decision? </p>
<p>When ANU announced earlier this month that it would divest shareholdings in seven resources companies – Santos, Oil Search, Iluka Resources, Sandfire, Sirius, Newcrest and Independence Group – it initially offered only a <a href="http://news.anu.edu.au/2014/10/03/university-to-divest-holdings-in-seven-companies">sparse explanation</a>. The decision, it said, was the result of a review commissioned as part of the university’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy, with (unpublished) environmental, social and governance ratings provided by the firm <a href="http://www.caer.org.au">CAER</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the companies responded angrily, claiming that the decision was <a href="http://www.theajmonline.com.au/mining_news/news/2014/october-2014/october-9-2014/other-news/sandfire-angry-over-anu-blacklisting">unfair</a>, protesting that CAER’s assessment was <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/company_on_anu_blacklist_takes_action_lVClMbXjCIn7YkNekhoYgO">inaccurate</a>, and threatening legal action. </p>
<p>The outrage has been fanned by a week-long campaign in the pages of the Australian Financial Review (see <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/anu_divestment_list_sparks_outrage_cfSmZk6H5SwIAQZniUXKKI">here</a>, or any other edition of the AFR between October 6 and 11). </p>
<p>On Saturday, Australia’s Treasurer Joe Hockey <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/joe_hockey_takes_aim_at_lofty_anu_jCEPln8zAJDYAZRYomRhyK">weighed in</a>, describing ANU as “removed from the reality of what is helping to drive the Australian economy and create more employment”. </p>
<p>On the flip side, resource companies that escaped the divestment list have seized the opportunity to claim sustainable credentials. BHP Billiton’s president for environment Mike Henry <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/bhp-climate-proofing-its-financial-bottom-line/5800460">hailed</a> his employer’s resilient, diversified portfolio, and reiterated the company’s support for a price on carbon. </p>
<h2>Why so upset?</h2>
<p>It is an astonishingly intense response to a relatively minor shift in a smallish investment portfolio. ANU’s divestment list represents just 5% of the university’s domestic equity, and the value of shares to be sold is around A$16 million. </p>
<p>The seven companies’ combined market capitalisation is A$45 billion. So the divestment amounts to 1 in every 3,000 shares, on average, for these companies. Any direct impact on their share prices will be negligible, and ANU hasn’t ruled out reinvesting if their ratings improve. Why, then, has it been so controversial? </p>
<p>First, divestment from fossil fuels seems to hit a strong nerve with the public. Many people feel satisfaction or pride if their employer or super fund adjusts investments in line with their personal values. </p>
<p>Second, divestment can bring great negative visibility for individual companies. ANU certainly named names in its <a href="http://news.anu.edu.au/2014/10/03/university-to-divest-holdings-in-seven-companies">initial media release</a>.</p>
<p>Third, it puts the spotlight on risk: fossil fuel reserves far exceed the amount that the world can use if climate change is to be addressed, and so there is a fundamental question mark over the future of fossil fuel industries.</p>
<h2>Values and leadership</h2>
<p>It is not only the strength of the companies’ response and the fieriness of the AFR’s campaign that is remarkable, but also the fact that the government is getting involved in the way it has. </p>
<p>The Australian government seems to <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-05-28/address-minerals-week-2014-annual-minerals-industry-parliamentary-dinner-canberra-0">believe</a> that national prosperity is tied to fossil fuels, and that “Team Australia” ought to be backing the sector and its individual companies, no matter their environmental performance. </p>
<p>Pitted against this are the facts that fossil fuel use must decline to avoid the worst of climate change, that this is <a href="http://unsdsn.org/what-we-do/deep-decarbonization-pathways">possible</a> without harming economic prosperity, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-can-get-to-zero-carbon-emissions-and-grow-the-economy-32015">Australia</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-heads-for-price-on-carbon-energy-market-overhaul-is-next-31119">overseas</a>. </p>
<p>Many people feel that Australia should embrace a low-carbon future rather than ride the fossil fuel wave to the end. For some, it is a question of Australia’s economic prospects. For others, it is a question of values. </p>
<p>ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young clearly intends to lead, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2014/s4103229.htm">telling ABC Lateline</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For a university like ours, which is, for instance, a major researcher in environment and alternative energy, we need to be able to put our hand on our heart when we talk to our students and to our alumni and to our researchers and be able to say that we’re confident that the sort of companies that we’re investing in are consistent with the broad themes that drive this university.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Power and money</h2>
<p>One lesson from this episode is that Australian universities have significant power (perhaps even more than they realised) in the debate over corporate responsibility. Who would have thought that a small divestment of A$16 million would draw fire from the federal treasurer and garner a week of front-page coverage in the country’s leading business newspaper? </p>
<p>That kind of power obviously brings responsibility. </p>
<p>Of course, there is no obligation on any investor to explain the reason for buying or selling a particular stock. Yet in divesting, universities need to make doubly sure to consult extensively, explain rationales, set clear benchmarks, define criteria, and make their assessments open to scrutiny.</p>
<p>The ANU list is the result of a single assessment process which has not been open to scrutiny. The assessment uses a number of indicators, making it more vulnerable to criticism. </p>
<h2>A snowball in the making?</h2>
<p>ANU is the first Australian university to divest publicly. But it is a fair bet that the issue is on the agenda for most major Australian universities, or will be soon. </p>
<p>Sydney University announced a review of its investment portfolio, provoking <a href="https://theconversation.com/coal-divestment-and-democracy-31764">strong responses by the coal industry</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://aodproject.net/">Asset Owners Disclosure Project</a>, chaired by my ANU colleague John Hewson, has been pushing large asset owners, including universities, to reveal their fossil fuel interests. </p>
<p>In the United States, where the divestment movement originated, <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/may/divest-coal-trustees-050714.html">Stanford University</a> is among many organisations that have pledged not to invest in coal, although America’s richest university, Harvard, has resisted calls to join them. </p>
<p>The boldest recent divestment decision came not from a university, but a philantrophic trust: the Rockefeller Foundation, built on old oil money, announced that it will divest all investments in fossil fuels, and that is has already sold its investments in coal and tar sands. </p>
<p>The question is, will other Australian universities follow suit, emboldened by the lead from Canberra? Or will they fear to tread where ANU has, having seen the backlash from industry and government? </p>
<h2>The divestment train is moving</h2>
<p>Universities should take heart in the fact that there are much larger capital movements under way away from fossil fuels. Initiatives such as the <a href="http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/2014/09/investors-commit-decarbonize-100-billion-investments/">Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition</a> are growing; this Coalition alone has a divestment target of US$100 billion by December 2015.</p>
<p>As Nathan Fabian, chief executive of Australia’s Investors Group on Climate Change, explained at a <a href="http://www.carbonmarketinstitute.org/events/the_road_to_paris_2015">forum last week</a>, institutional investors increasingly see that fossil fuel companies’ aspirations are incompatible with the global goal to limit climate change. </p>
<p>As a result, investments with companies that are stuck in the carbon business and have no viable plans to evolve their business are increasingly seen as risky. As Fabian put it: “Companies need a low carbon transition story that is fair dinkum. Investors are tired of denialism and obfuscation”. </p>
<p>If divestment grows large, then fossil fuel companies’ stock market values will tend to be lower – and early divestment will not only be a statement, but a strategy to increase university’s returns on financial investments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Jotzo has grants from the Australian Research Council and the Australian government. None of his grants relate to divestment. He is in no way involved in ANU investment choices. </span></em></p>Is the Australian National University’s decision to sell its shares in some resource companies merely tokenistic? Far from it. The outrage from the affected companies shows how much influence universities…Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/77312012-06-18T02:03:47Z2012-06-18T02:03:47ZANU music school cuts: Musicians need to keep in time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11822/original/6hb89kk6-1339983552.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C14%2C786%2C519&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There were protests against cuts to the ANU's school of music, but the changes were sorely needed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Orangedrummerboy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The current crisis at the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/2012-06-17/4068582">ANU School of Music</a> has widely been reported as being, fundamentally, about money. The Australian National University’s (ANU) <a href="http://vcdesk.anu.edu.au/2012/06/15/anu-school-of-music-announcement/">Vice-Chancellor Ian Young</a> has cut ten academic and two general staff positions to address an operating deficit at the School of nearly $3 million per annum. </p>
<p>This is the fourth review of the School in 12 years, and by far the most drastic. The <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/student-jam-to-protest-over-anu-music-cuts-20120513-1yla5.html">resultant outrage</a> in the community has been swift and vociferous: a largely middle-class Canberra population has reacted angrily to what it perceives as an assault on high culture. </p>
<p>Almost all the reporting of the story has focused on a very simple black-and-white opposition: the profound and inestimable value and deeply humanising practice of arts in general and music in particular, versus a corporate culture of management, bureaucracy and bean-counting.</p>
<p>But are things really that simple?</p>
<h2>Until the band stops playing…</h2>
<p>Nearly all music schools in Australia are in financial crisis. The ANU has made headlines simply because its response has been swift and uncompromising. But all seven of the nation’s traditional conservatoires are struggling to make ends meet. Many have blamed the level of Federal Government funding for music as inadequate. Indeed the 2011 <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deewr.gov.au%2FHigherEducation%2FPolicy%2FBaseReview%2FDocuments%2FHigherEd_FundingReviewReport.pdf&ei=AGneT8O5B6WSiAej0e27Cg&usg=AFQjCNEV7HTd8TZP0NyKpJBNb">Lomax-Smith review</a> of university funding found this to be the case. </p>
<p>But the situation is the same or worse overseas: music schools are operating in increasingly straitened circumstances, and their graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to get employment in the area of elite classical music performance in which they are being trained.</p>
<p>But this is all very curious, because the arts themselves, and the creative industries, are booming. A <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CE4QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.australiacouncil.gov.au%2F__data%2Fassets%2Fpdf_file%2F0004%2F71257%2FFull_report_More_than_bums_on_seats_Australian_participation_in_the_arts2.pdf&ei=y2ve">2010 report by the Australia Council</a>, “More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the arts” found that Australians’ engagement with the arts, both as creators and consumers, was increasing. Young people especially were becoming more engaged with the arts and music, and across the population there was a growing sense of the importance of the arts to society’s wellbeing.</p>
<p>Importantly, the internet was identified as an increasingly important means of engaging with the arts, with one in three Australians already using the internet to engage with art in some form.</p>
<h2>A music market</h2>
<p>These statistics are borne out by the economic figures. A 2009 <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.enterpriseconnect.gov.au%2Fwho%2Fcreative%2FDocuments%2FEconomic%2520Analysis_Creative%2520Industries.pdf&ei=rm3eT-PNMaqjiAfuouC9Cg&usg=AFQjCNG81wixcSfhLzM">economic analysis of the creative industries</a> in Australia found that the creative industries (including music) contributed around 3% to our GDP (more than the agriculture or energy industries), and in fact had grown at 5.8% per annum over ten years - nearly twice the rate of the economy as a whole. </p>
<p>It’s a good news story of flourishing artistic practice and community engagement that is increasingly bringing both social benefits and hard cash to the Australian people. So why are all our music schools going broke?</p>
<p>The issue is one of relevance. Looking at the history of music, we see that quite regularly, there are moments of tectonic shift in the styles, economics and technologies that underpin music-making. </p>
<p>In the 1920s in Australia, there were thousands of freelance professional musicians in Australia – more than 4000 in Sydney alone - earning their keep performing in cafes, music halls, theatres, and movie theatres, playing to accompany silent films. </p>
<p>That all changed in the space of five years. The invention of the “talkie” – films with sound – spelled an end to the movie-house orchestra. The rapid spread of radio, and the foundation of the ABC in 1932, saw professional music-making start shift out of the cafe and music hall and into the studio. </p>
<p>The Great Depression accelerated the changes – why would a cash-strapped restauranteur hire a dance band every night when he could buy a radio? </p>
<p>This led to the institutionalisation of classical music in Australia. Under the aegis of the ABC, by 1960 there was a much smaller number of elite performers, mainly comprising the orchestras in each state capital. Each capital had a music school with a curriculum designed to produce players to support that orchestra. </p>
<p>The curriculum included rigorous performance training in the classical tradition; aural skills and theory for sight-reading; a survey-style overview of classical music history.</p>
<h2>Times have changed</h2>
<p>Astonishingly, more than 50 years later, this same curriculum either still exists, or has existed quite recently, in Australian music schools. </p>
<p>Yet almost every other aspect of music-making has changed. The modern music professional needs to be fluent in a wide variety of styles – classical, jazz, contemporary and cross-cultural. He or she needs to be familiar with a quickly changing range of technologies for the creation, notation, recording, manipulation and dissemination of music. </p>
<p>He or she also needs to understand the shifting nature of the music business, requiring a single individual to at different times (or simultaneously) play the role of performer, educator, entrepreneur, and producer, and take advantage of music-making opportunities far beyond the concert hall. Whether that is in schools, community groups, studios, art galleries, hospitals, and increasingly online, in computer games and other applications. </p>
<p>Above all, as modern and younger Australians engage with the arts as participants not just passive “consumers”, the modern professional musician needs to be able to facilitate the music-making of others, at a whole range of standards, not just be an expert practitioner themselves.</p>
<p>There are some shining examples in Australia of curricula that have arisen to meet the needs of the modern world – those at Queensland Univeristy of Technology (QUT), the University of Newcastle, and the University of South Australia spring to mind. </p>
<p>But the old, traditional conservatoires have struggled to keep up. Unless they do, I fear the agonies of cuts and forced restructure currently being visited on ANU School of Music are bound to be repeated elsewhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/7731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Powles is Chair of the Education Committee and Head of Musicology at the ANU School of Music.</span></em></p>The current crisis at the ANU School of Music has widely been reported as being, fundamentally, about money. The Australian National University’s (ANU) Vice-Chancellor Ian Young has cut ten academic and…Jonathan Powles, Associate Professor and Director, Academic Skills at the University of Canberra, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/73832012-05-31T01:52:19Z2012-05-31T01:52:19ZANU should change its tune: why online lessons do not replace live music<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11231/original/np6rqsvf-1338423238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C34%2C734%2C722&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ANU music school cannot replace live one-on-one teaching with online lessons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Orangedrummerboy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian National University (ANU) has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-03/anu-school-of-music-facing-major-changes/3987288">recently announced</a> serious changes to the School of Music in Canberra. Students will receive fewer hours of one-on-one performance lessons, and the current faculty will be significantly reduced. </p>
<p>In making the <a href="http://vcdesk.anu.edu.au/2012/05/16/ensuring-a-sustainable-school-of-music/">announcement earlier this month</a>, Vice Chancellor Ian Young said the changes “will strengthen opportunities for students to develop skills needed across a range of music jobs.” He cited a Professional Development Allowance (PDA) that will be allocated to students, allowing them to (amongst other options) receive video-linked lessons and sessions with the support of the Manhattan School of Music (MSM).</p>
<p>But from where I sit at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, this is news to me. No one from ANU has ever discussed this curriculum or restructuring with us. </p>
<p>While we have had a very positive and mutually supportive agreement to share live, interactive video conferencing with ANU, we have concentrated on content sent to primary and secondary schools, and organised several master class exchanges at the university level.</p>
<p>We have similar partnerships with colleges, universities and conservatories all over the
world; it has never happened before that a university or conservatory proposed to let MSM’s <a href="http://dl.msmnyc.edu/about">Distance Learning program</a> actually substitute for an in-house curriculum or faculty.</p>
<p>At MSM, we can’t endorse ANU’s proposal; we are committed to performance training for musicians, and to the model of one-on-one, live studio teaching. </p>
<p>But ANU’s proposed curriculum raises some interesting questions: why must music lessons be taught live, one-on-one? And if they must, then what is the purpose of live video technology in the teaching of music and performance?</p>
<p>In answer to the first question, one must remember that musical performance is a combination of complex physical coordination,
individual physiology, pattern recognition, abstract reasoning, and artistic imagination – all informed by rich histories of performance practice and interpretation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11228/original/hnqwp2gy-1338420793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ANU students protest the proposed music school cuts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Orangedrummerboy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Musicians ultimately play as individuals, and their talents must be shaped and developed in that context. Even with highly interactive video, a teacher can’t see everything in a student’s body language, cannot touch the
student, and can’t always completely judge the sound environment so as to fine-tune issues of tone and balance. </p>
<p>The student is similarly limited. Therefore, music lessons at every music school in the world are generally taught live, one-on-one, at least once per week, over the whole course of study. Having an active in-house faculty not only supports this model, but also allows
students to interact casually with role models and potential future colleagues.</p>
<p>So what, then, is the use of modern interactive video technology? At MSM we believe that it brings enormous benefit. It means that at the university level, master classes (typically a demonstration class featuring an expert teacher and several students) can be shared with partners around the world. </p>
<p>In these classes, the teacher may be in our New York studio and the students elsewhere,
or the teacher may be in a distant studio teaching students here. While there are limitations, as mentioned above, these classes can also be tremendously informative and enriching, since they most often bring together students with an artist not normally available to them. </p>
<p>The week-to-week development of each student is not typically the focus such classes. But they can be extremely important in transmitting a master teacher’s viewpoints, techniques, and interpretations. </p>
<p>Occasionally at MSM we use interactive video more regularly for particular teachers and their students. But this can never fully substitute for in-person lessons, and therefore we combine such lessons with live sessions taught by and fully coordinated with a faculty member who is on site.</p>
<p>Interactive performance-based lectures can also help on a variety of music topics and can provide professional development.</p>
<p>Many other programs are offered for primary and secondary school children. In that context, distance learning often provides the only access students may have to high quality teaching of particular subjects. </p>
<p>In the future, we believe that home-learners may be able to use interactive technology to study performance, gaining some level of accomplishment and enjoyment. But we don’t foresee that technology will ever replace the live, in-person music lesson as the best way for learning the practice of music.</p>
<p>The new ANU curriculum may be effective and worthwhile for music students whose focus
is not actually playing or singing. And curricular change may be necessary because of budget constraints. But in performance, it appears that the proposed changes will bring a distinct loss of quality in instruction at the School of Music. </p>
<p>The cultural richness and intellectual achievements of music are inevitably tied to performance; as faculty and students take their performance talents elsewhere, one would fear a loss not only to the School of Music and University system, but also to the larger community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/7383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marjorie Merryman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian National University (ANU) has recently announced serious changes to the School of Music in Canberra. Students will receive fewer hours of one-on-one performance lessons, and the current…Marjorie Merryman, Vice President for Academics and Performance, Manhattan School of MusicLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.