Universities expand economies, support democracy and promote sustainability.
Indigenous owners left their mark on the ANU campus in the form of this scar tree. Now the goal is to increase Indigenous achievements in higher education.
ANU
The tertiary qualifications target requires higher education providers, schools and communities to work together. But higher education can also help close the gap in the other target areas.
The pandemic has restricted protests, but more Australians benefit directly from higher education than ever before.
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Three decades ago, in another time of upheaval in higher education, 7% of working-age Australians had a degree. Today 33% have one. More people than ever have a stake in what happens to universities.
Nigerian university students.
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India's new National Education Policy is impressive, and could create opportunities for Australian universities. The key issues, however, relate to implementation.
The University of Ghana is considered one of the leading centers of learning in West Africa.
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For years, we've heard Australia's spending on tertiary education is some of the lowest in the OECD. This is only true if you ignore GDP growth. Real spending was actually going up, until 2016.
The VET sector is struggling to keep up with the rapid changes in industry.
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In April 2019, the government-commissioned Joyce review made 71 recommendations to reform the VET sector. Here's what the report said, and what the government is doing about it.
Many universities use tutorials to complement lectures.
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Jan Feld, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Nicolás Salamanca, University of Melbourne, and Ulf Zoelitz, University of Zürich
As students return to campuses this week, new research shows universities could save money by not asking professors to teach tutorials because they are no more effective than student instructors.
If we don’t respect plumbing as an occupation, how will we respect the system that trains plumbers?
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Many young Australians and their parents don't consider VET as a potential post-school pathway, even if it might be more suitable for them than university.
OECD data can be a cherry-picker’s picnic in local higher education funding debates.
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Australian tertiary education policy and funding debates are better served by domestic data.
In short, less advantaged students require significant additional supports, well beyond acknowledging their diverse pathways for entry into a degree program.
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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.
Tanya Plibersek announced Labor’s plan to conduct a review of the tertiary education sector in March this year.
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Labor has promised to review the tertiary education sector if elected next year. There are some major issues, and some examples from abroad they should consider.
Employers’ changing demands for workers with higher education raises legitimate questions about how suitable current higher education is as preparation for employment.
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Practical ways forward for higher education policy reform include fixing the dysfunctional relationship between higher and vocational education or government-sponsored analysis of the future of work.
Africa’s massive variety of languages should be celebrated and used in tertiary education.
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Alternative scenarios for tertiary funding in South Africa are set out in a completely separate report from the Davis Tax Committee drawing from work done by the higher education department.
South Africa boasts world class universities. It must not allow their quality to drop.
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Senior Research Fellow in Youth, Research & Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Honorary Fellow in Education Policy, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne