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2006-12-14T06:10:00.000+11:00

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Concern over uni staff levels

2006-10-08T09:33:00.000+10:00

A Launceston City Council alderman has repeated concerns that senior staff levels at the University of Tasmania in Launceston have eroded. Ald. Robin McKendrick has listed a notice of motion for Monday's meeting, recommending that the council seek an urgent meeting with Premier Paul Lennon to "express serious concerns at erosion of senior staff levels and numbers".The issue was first raised by Legislative Council President Don Wing in July, when he said the facility was concentrating its professors in Hobart at the expense of Launceston.At that time, university executive director for planning and development Paul Barnett said there were 14 non-administrative professors in the North, compared with 50 in Hobart.He said other professorial positions were being considered.A university spokeswoman yesterday said those numbers had not changed and would not make any more comment on the issue.Ald.

McKendrick will speak to the motion on Monday.A Government spokeswoman yesterday said that it was an interesting request because funding and staffing of universities was a Federal Government responsibility.Meanwhile, the council will decide on a road layout for an Outline Development Plan at St Leonards, which may involve a road link between Abels Hill Rd and Johnston Rd to make the transition to the Tasman Highway safer.A report to the council from infrastructure manager Geoff Brayford said the link would "provide for efficient traffic movement from east to west" by removing the two existing 90-degree angle curves on a steep section of Abels Hill Rd which "are dangerous".The council has also been asked to approve changes to the fee structure for truck and combination truck entries to the Remount Refuse Disposal Area.If changes are adopted, they would see a $6 rise to $14 for a covered small combination vehicle up to 4.5t (gross combination mass) and a $6 rise to $18 for an uncovered small combination vehicle up to 4.5t GCM.

But pensioners may receive some slight rates relief, after the council recommended a remission of more than $4500 to 595 pensioners after finding an error with its water charges.HAVE YOUR SAY: Write a letter to The Examiner at PO Box 99, Launceston 7250, or e-mail editor@examiner.com.au.

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

DIMIA catches 21 illegal workers

2005-03-26T14:30:00.000+11:00

Community information has led to the location of 21 illegal workers and visa overstayers in northern Victoria the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone said today.

‘Staff from my Department located these people at two caravan parks and two residential addresses during a compliance operation on 22 and 23 March in Cobram and Murchison,’ the Minister said.

Of the 21 people located, 10 were visa overstayers while 11 were illegal workers.

The group, of whom seven were female and 14 were male, came from the following countries: Indonesia (10), Malaysia (8), Vietnam (1), Singapore (1) and Korea (1).

All have been transferred to immigration detention prior to removal from Australia.

‘The operation once again highlights the effectiveness of my Department’s compliance operations in locating and detaining people who are unlawfully in Australia or who breach their visa conditions,’ the Minister said.

The Minister said employers who had doubts about their employees’ entitlement to work can call the Department which will be happy to answer any questions or arrange a site visit if necessary.

‘My Department provides Employer Awareness Training and a free Entitlement Verification facility for employers to check whether their employees are allowed to work,’ the Minister said.

DIMIA officers, often with assistance from state police, make regular visits to workplaces in many parts of Australia, including restaurants, farms, shops, offices, factories and brothels, in an effort to detect and locate people who are in the country illegally or who are working illegally.

People with information on illegal workers or visa overstayers should call the Immigration Dob-In Line on 1800 009 623.

SOURCE : DIMIA

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Victoria Uni - No Strike but tension lingers

2005-03-26T14:22:00.000+11:00

VICTORIA University of Technology narrowly averted a 48-hour strike yesterday but discontent among staff remains high.

University administration was at loggerheads with the union after conflicting statements were issued late yesterday.

Vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman contradicted statements from National Tertiary Education Union VUT branch president James Doughney and general secretary Grahame McCullough that an agreement had been reached for a 22 per cent pay rise to June 2008.

"Despite these statements, no agreement has been reached," she said. "The university has made no new offer to the union. Both parties have been negotiating on an agreement through to June 2006. At this stage this is unchanged.

"The action is prejudicial to future negotiations."

Professor Harman said the university would continue to consider its position "and looked forward to resuming discussions after Easter". Dr Doughney said staff had been concerned about proposed faculty restructures, job losses, planned changes to the academic board and what they saw as a lack of progress in enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations.

He said there was unrest among members about a deterioration in education services and worsening staff conditions at the university.

The union feared that VUT did not want to settle a three-year agreement because management wanted an opportunity to "attack employment conditions as soon as possible after the Howard Government's changes to industrial laws come into effect after July1".

Professor Harman said she was delighted the strike had been averted. "This is good news for our students; however, many students will still be disrupted because of the very late withdrawal of the strike action," she said.

One point that staff and management at VUT are agreed on is the uncertainty the university faces in an era of change.

"The Nelson reforms have made our future uncertain," Professor Harman said.

"We need to protect our future viability and sustainability as a teaching and research institution." Dr Doughney said staff had been feeling uncertain about their future because of the Nelson reforms and the university's refusal to sign an EBA to 2008.

"We are concerned that under [federal Education Minister Brendan] Nelson, this university's income will be reduced and we are desperately concerned that the Nelson plans will see VUT becoming a teaching-only institution," Dr Doughney said.

"The people of the western region here in Victoria fought long and hard to get a real university."

He also raised concerns about the university's decision to replace its academic board.

The university's governing council last year voted to merge the academic and TAFE boards into a smaller, 35-member education board, but critics say the move would turn it into little more than a training institution.

Industrial action is also on the cards at Charles Sturt University because of staff concerns about job security, pay, and staff workloads. Staff at Wagga, Albury and Bathurst will take stop-work action today.

SOURCE : The Australian

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Cheating scandal rocks Sydney University

2005-03-26T14:17:00.000+11:00

Australia's oldest academic institution, the University of Sydney, has moved to stamp out plagiarism after more than 200 students were suspected of cheating.

In one department alone -- the veterinary faculty -- 73 of the 628 students were investigated for allegedly copying or fabricating material. Most of the copied material had been taken from the Internet, and in many cases, students were caught by anti-plagiarism software.

Many of the students were made to resubmit their work, although only one was ultimately failed by the faculty.

The Faculty of Health Sciences uncovered 80 cases of alleged cheating. Of these students, 29 were failed, 31 were given written warnings and 17 were counselled.

A further 39 cases were detected in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, while 29 economics and business students were investigated, taking the total number of students allegedly involved to more than 200.

Confidential faculty reports were made public under Australia's freedom of information laws.

Plagiarism from the Internet has become so easy that 25 Australian universities have purchased licenses for anti-plagiarism systems. These allow universities to cross reference students' work with previously published material.

But Felix Eldridge, president of the National Union of Students, denied there was a major problem in Australian universities.

"The vast majority of plagiarism is young students misunderstanding academic procedures and not knowing how to footnote," he said.

The University of Sydney has since updated its policy on plagiarism to make students aware they should not take information from new technologies without acknowledgment.

Last year, the University of Western Sydney investigated 39 cases of alleged plagiarism.

SOURCE : Tapei News

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Australian universities join forces to become more competitive

2005-03-26T14:10:00.000+11:00

Two of Australia's oldest universities are combining forces to compete with major overseas universities.

The Australian National University (ANU) in the capital, Canberra, and Sydney University have struck an agreement to share international recruiting, research resources and teaching.

The deal will enable the institutions to offer joint tertiary degrees, in which students will be allowed to move between courses at both universities.

They will also be able to apply for funding grants together.

The ANU Vice Chancellor, Ian Chub, says the agreement extends the ability of the two leading universities to provide major research, educational and international opportunities.

"No university can do all it would like to do these days on its own and so you have got to form a few strategic partnerships," he said.

SOURCE : ABC

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Big blow to IDP - loses lucrative Botswana contract

2005-02-04T23:24:00.000+11:00

THE Botswana Government will sever links with IDP Education Australia in a body blow to the universities' troubled international marketing and recruitment arm.

After weeks of speculation that one of IDP's most lucrative contracts was under threat, the company yesterday confirmed that at the end of March the Botswana Government would not renew it.

The Botswana High Commission will take over the $19million student fellowship scheme under which 500 of its students are placed and supported in Australian universities.

A Botswana Ministry of Education spokesman said yesterday his government had had a good working relationship with IDP for more than 10 years. But it would now use itsown officers to administer students abroad.

It began taking over the management of its students in December. The latest move will complete that process.

Botswana pays IDP about $6million every three months under the fellowship scheme.

While the biggest slice of that is passed on to Australian universities for tuition fees and other allowances, IDP retains about $1.5 million a year in management fees.

From the end of March that $6 million will pass directly from the Botswana Government to Australian universities, with the Botswana High Commission managing the program instead of IDP.

It comes at a crucial time for IDP as it pares back its operations and turns to its core business of student recruitment in Asia.

Late last year its critical cash-flow problems triggered the closure of seven overseas offices and 60 staff redundancies. A steady stream of resignations continues to exacerbate the not-for-profit company's woes.

The group blames its crisis on a drop in international student numbers due to external factors beyond its control.

Three days before Christmas universities mounted a rescue bid, pledging $7 million in interest-free loans over two years.

At the same time $6 million in fees from the Botswana contract came to IDP, giving it a temporary reprieve.

IDP president and vice-chancellor of Curtin University of Technology Lance Twomey said then that if the Botswana contract had not come through "IDP would have found it difficult to meet commitments".

Professor Twomey refused to discuss the Botswana contract with the HES after a board meeting on Monday.

In a statement issued yesterday he said: "While students from Botswana were a sizeable segment of IDP's fellowship management in the past, student numbers from other countries have increased, particularly in the Middle East, where IDP has contracts with government and private companies."

In the same statement chief executive Lindy Hyam said: "It has been a privilege to be part of this contract, with IDPand Australian institutions contributing to the human resource development of Botswana."

No one at IDP would speak to the HES about the developments yesterday.

Reported in The Australian
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DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Change to CPA Australia's postgraduate strategy ensures diverse offering for MBA studies

2005-02-04T23:16:00.000+11:00

Pathways towards members obtaining a masters degree will be streamlined under a postgraduate strategy change by CPA Australia. This change in strategy builds on the strength and reputation of the CPA Program in the marketplace and will enable member access into a broad range of MBAs.

Current MBA credit arrangements with Charles Sturt University, Curtin University and Deakin University and a wide range of other universities around Australia will continue.

Intakes into the three CPA MBA programs - Charles Sturt University, Curtin University and Deakin University - will cease at the end of 2006, however, students enrolled at that time will be unaffected as they will be able to complete their CPA MBA studies and obtain the qualification.

The rationale for this change is to ensure that a diverse offering of postgraduate opportunities is available to all members of CPA Australia and that credit arrangements (recognition of the completion of the CPA Program segments by universities) be pursued to the maximum extent to assist members in completing these programs in the shortest possible timeframe and at less expense.

CPA Australia will continue to encourage and support our members to choose the best MBA for their career progression. While the CPA MBA will be discontinued from January 2007, members currently completing the CPA MBA will continue to be supported.

The MBA programs on offer include both on campus and distance learning study options.

Members based outside of Australia will continue to have access to MBAs through off-shore programs from Australian universities as well as through distance learning.

For further information regarding MBA credit arrangements or the CPA MBA transition arrangements, contact Michelle Webb, education development executive, by email at michelle.webb@cpaaustralia.com.au or by phone on +61 3 9606 9603.

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

UNSW sets its sights on India

2005-02-03T04:02:00.000+11:00

THE University of NSW is boosting its profile in India, a nation with significant research strengths "largely neglected" by Australia's higher education sector.

UNSW deputy vice-chancellor (international and development) John Ingleson said India's rapid economic growth would see its better universities evolve into powerful institutions within 10 years, but it remained "off the radar" in Australia.

In the past four years UNSW has signed 12 memoranda of understanding with Indian universities and institutes and developed special funding for student and staff fellowship programs there.

Other initiatives include the establishment of the Indian Advisory Council, whose members include Indian academics, bureaucrats and business representatives; the hosting of joint conferences; and joint research projects. UNSW also funds staff and student exchange programs.

Professor Ingleson said the Australian higher education sector had concentrated its attention on South-East Asia and as a result had little presence and a low profile in India.

"My reasoning for India is that it has been off the radar screen for Australia and it will be a very important country in the region," Professor Ingleson said.

"We haven't [engaged with India] in the past 20-30 years and we should."

He said a common legal system, the presence of an English-speaking elite and a growing economy made India a natural partner for Australia in education.

India has been identified as the "sleeping giant" of the international student market, but Professor Ingleson said student recruitment was not the university's primary goal.

"The fit was good in terms of our research needs ... it isn't about recruiting students but more about institution to institution links.

"It has to be mutually beneficial not just about ripping out students."

Part of boosting Australia's profile in India was sending staff to key Indian conferences, encouraging research collaborations and financing student exchanges.

UNSW also developed the International Assessments for Indian Schools, launched in India last year by NSW Premier Bob Carr. The tests provide an international benchmark for academic achievement in a range of subjects from Years three to 12. So far, more than 100,000 students have sat the tests in English, science and maths.

"In 10 years' time, if India's economy keeps growing at this rate, its better institutions will have more money and they will be powerful universities," Professor Ingleson said.

"We want to be there and to be a part of it. The US and the UK have invested much more in India than Australia has."

He said there was "tremendous research" being conducted in India. "Some of the basic sciences are very strong and complement our work."

The university is spending $150,000 a year on its Indian connection.

Reported in The Australian
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DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

47 Malaysian Illegal Workers Removed From Australia

2005-02-01T18:37:00.000+11:00

Forty-seven Malaysians located working illegally mainly in regional Victoria have been flown home, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, announced today.

‘My department’s compliance staff located these people over the past six to eight weeks, the majority of them were found working on farms in the Goulburn Valley,’ Minister Vanstone said.

‘The group of 34 men and 13 women had been detained while arrangements were made for their departure as required by law.

‘The group was removed on a charter flight to Kuala Lumpur, avoiding the necessity of prolonged detention while commercial seats were sought.

‘Given the large number, charter removal was a cost-effective option.

‘The success of operations such as this should send a strong message that the Government does not tolerate people living and working illegally in this country.’

In the 2003-04 financial year the department located over 20,000 people who had overstayed their visas or breached their visa conditions.

The Minister reminded people working in Australia without permission that if they were here illegally, it is not a matter of if, but when they would be caught.

People with information on illegal workers or visa overstayers should call the Immigration Dob-In Line on 1800 009 623.

Source - DIMIA Media Release

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Full speed ahead for an IT recovery

2005-02-01T17:55:00.000+11:00

It has been a difficult few years for Australia's university IT faculties, but as the 2000 tech wreck's IT winter shows the first signs of thaw, educators feel optimistic about the future.

Despite IT enrolments continuing to decline, by as much as 25 per cent a year at some universities, educators are hopeful that news of growth in the industry will restore student confidence in an IT career.

Last year, Victoria's Monash University reduced its University Admissions Index score for entry to its computer science courses by five points. It didn't want to do so again this year, so cut places instead.

The University of Technology Sydney reduced its computer science requirements by two points, as did the Queensland University of Technology and Deakin University in Melbourne. Lower scores are the best indicator of lower student demand.

Yet all signs indicate that there is, or soon will be, a new IT skills shortage. The cost-cutting of recent years - a natural reaction to the irrational exuberance of the tech boom - has left IT departments with minimal inhouse skills, particularly in many newer areas of technology such as internet security, wireless and Voice over IP.

Just a few years ago, to be "in computers" was something special but since Y2K and the dotcom bust, the computer industry has fallen to earth. Job prospects are bleak, salaries falling, enrolments down and work moving offshore.

At least that is the perception.

IT has lost its shine, but this is likely to be temporary. Fewer people entering the industry, and the retirement of many older workers, means IT workers are again in demand.

For years the Australian Government and many in the IT industry talked up the lack of IT capability. This continued during the recent downturn, leading to a significant oversupply of programmers, business analysts, database administrators.

That oversupply became a political issue in the US, and hard data from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and other sources, indicates that unemployment in the IT industry has been above average for the past few years.

Add to that the export of many IT jobs to other countries, most notably India, and it is little wonder that the computer industry no longer beckons our best and brightest. The computer industry is now just another profession competing on the jobs market.

A recent survey by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers found that the number of graduates employed in Australia this year will grow by 16.6 per cent, but growth in the IT industry will be marginal.

Now IT spending is picking up again and there is a concern that we face a severe shortage of skilled practitioners. Fewer school leavers entering training means fewer graduates in a few years, just when their skills are likely to be needed most."

The combined impact of falling student numbers and the impending retirement of thousands of baby-boomer professionals will significantly reduce the pool of IT workers in coming years," says Australian Computer Society president Edward Mandla. "Students continue to abandon IT as a career, with recent research showing they have little understanding of the various IT roles available and where IT can take them."

Mandla says the problem is compounded by the lack of a training culture in the IT departments of many big organisations.

"We have a corporate culture that often requires professionals to work long hours focused on a particular technology over a number of years, while giving little priority to retraining workers in new skills," he says.

Those new skills will be very different than those needed in the past. Gartner Executive Programs research director Andy Rowsell-Jones sees signs that Australian companies are starting to invest in IT infrastructure again, but in a different kind of infrastructure than they have in the past. Key areas are business process efficiency, security and customer-management.

"IT is being seen again by Australian companies as part of the solution, where it used to be seen as part of the cost problem," Rowsell-Jones says. "The whole industry is ageing and the popularity of IT jobs among those of university age is certainly not as high in Australia as it is in other places.

"There will be judicious sourcing - if you can't get your talent in-house, you'll get it from someone else. If you can't get it in the country, you'll import it," he says.

The problems and changes we are witnessing in the IT skills market are symptomatic of much larger changes in technology, and in the way that technology affects our jobs and lives.

The IT job market is not dead. It is not even sick. Nor is it what it was, or will it ever be again. - with Adam Turner, and Ben Haywood

Business cycles favour job-seekers

Australia's chief information officers agree that economic conditions rather than any new-found faith in IT will drive increased investment this year. They also agree with educators and recruiters that an IT skills shortage is either looming or already here.

Yet they still worry about picking the right technology for the long term, especially after recent high-profile mergers.

For Nigel Smyth, CIO of Macquarie Bank, business confidence is vital. He says IT cycles follow business cycles and it has been a strong year or two for business, including the financial sector. "Business is expanding on the back of strong markets," Smyth says, "and people are wanting to invest after a period of consolidation."

Martin Cassidy, IT director of NSW Lotteries Corporation, says every company is driven by its own investment requirements, but in his case these are steady. Economic confidence also is improving.

"There's a general feeling the ship is steady," says Cassidy, who believes a fall in IT undergraduate numbers will have little effect.

Hemant Kogekar, pictured, Brisbane-based group executive of IT for Suncorp, disagrees about the long-term effects.

"Australia is not leading in sending jobs offshore and there is still demand here," he says. "Over a three- to four-year cycle you may see a shortage emerging. What happens is if there is a shortage, the cost (of staff) will go up, and that may drive people to look for alternatives, such as sending work offshore."

He says some big projects, such as the customer relations management development at Commonwealth Bank, are soaking up many people. In Brisbane there are candidates available, he says, but they find jobs faster.

Cassidy agrees: "It's hard to get good people at any level. I was hiring for a couple of positions and didn't get the depth or range of people coming through for either technical or managerial positions."

Macquarie Bank's Smyth, who sometimes works with the University of Technology Sydney, is finding it harder to secure contractors and skills, agreeing with Kogekar that any shortage can be expected to drive up wage costs. "Costs in London and New York are starting to come up again and we don't think we're far behind here." - Rob O'Neill

Graduates back in the hot seat

Skills in demand include experience in systems such as customer-relationship management and enterprise resource planning - and new voice and data communications technology. Experienced networking engineers are also in short supply.

Demand for entry-level positions is also rising, but new ICT graduates are in short supply.

The chief executive officer of national IT recruiter Diversiti, Deborah Howard, says there was a sharp rise in demand for skilled IT people in the first few weeks of 2005.

"It is becoming difficult to get quality candidates," Howard says. "Whereas before, when you put an ad out you would get heaps of applications, you don't necessarily get that now. There has been an upturn in demand for people with skills in CRM tools, such as Siebel, and specific modules of SAP."

She says there is demand for IT workers skilled in mining and resources, banking and finance industries.

Jane Bianchini, pictured, technology division director at listed recruiter Ambition Recruitment & Contracting, says this will continue through the year.

"Given the changes to the immigration points system, non-resident graduates who have completed their studies are required to either go (to) regional (areas), continue to study or are forced to return to their country of origin," Bianchini.

"The lure of working overseas, being attracted to higher salaries and the opportunity to work on bigger (global) projects will also see many of our highly skilled ICT professionals lost to other countries," Bianchini says.

She tips that utility computing - in which computing power is delivered as it is needed, much like switching on a light or turning a water tap - wireless networking, Linux and upgrades to existing enterprise systems will "prove more difficult to source throughout the year".

Project managers with business acumen are also in demand, says Peter Acheson, chief executive of recruiting company Ambit.

"As organisations invest capital in IT projects in 2005, we will see increased skills shortages in specific areas," Acheson says. "In the past, the market has been happy with project managers with a strong technical orientation. Now the market wants the strong technical skills but also good people-management skills and financial literacy."

Acheson says there is also strong demand for skills in systems that manage customers such as Siebel and Oracle/PeopleSoft.

"Up until about 12 months ago, organisations had stopped investing in (customer-relationship management), but now they have started up again and there is a real shortage of good people," he says. "In the communications area, the emergence of technologies like 3G (mobile phones) has led to a situation where it is hard to find a network engineer."

Some recruiters tell clients to look outside Australia in the quest for talent. "Overseas is an option," Acheson says. "We certainly do a lot of overseas recruitment of engineering people, but by the second half of this year we expect to be doing more in IT."

He adds that organisations with a need for skills should tap into the graduate market, "but there are not enough graduates out there", he says, adding this year's university-leavers will find it easy to get jobs, especially in banks, insurance companies and telecommunications carriers.

Diversiti's Howard says the ICT recruitment industry should look at demand for skills over the next two to five years, lobbying the Commonwealth to grant access to offshore sources of scarce skills. "We should involve DIMIA (Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs) in that discussion, so that we can encourage them to put it back on the hot skills list again." - Stan Beer

Schools promote IT - just for fun

IT jobs are boring - that's the perception of high school students, according to a survey by Multimedia Victoria last year.

Up to 41 per cent of students have some interest in studying IT at a tertiary level, but a lack of knowledge about the types of jobs available was the main inhibitor to an interest in an IT career, the survey found.

These findings have been a particularly strong influence on Monash University's approach to attracting IT students.

"It's just as important to present IT jobs as being interesting, interactive, creative, and as inherently satisfying, as it is to promote an awareness of labour market conditions," says Titian De Colle, IT faculty marketing manager at Monash.

The university plans to markedly increase its activity - including visits - in schools this year.

Across the border, in addition to school visits, the University of Sydney runs a computer science summer camp for year 12 students to promote the merits of careers in IT.

"I don't think any of the things we are doing are trying to shift students who are not interested in IT into being interested," says Associate Professor Alan Fekete, pictured, acting head of the school of IT at the University of Sydney.

"It is more trying to convince those who are interested that there is a place for them in IT," he says.

The University of Sydney and the Queensland University of Technology are also adjusting their courses to make them more appealing to school leavers.

Both universities have noticed a trend towards double degrees and subject combinations that pair IT with another study area.

At the Queensland University of Technology there are already indications that better double degrees are stabilising enrolments.

"Last year our enrolments dropped in both single degree and double degrees. But while single-degree numbers have fallen off again this year, our double-degree numbers have stayed flat," says Professor Simon Kaplan, dean of the faculty of information technology at QUT.

De Colle says: "All sorts of indicators are pointing to a stronger labour market in IT and ... that will make its way into schools, and careers teachers will again encourage students to apply for IT programs. It just takes time." - Ben Haywood

Reported in Sydney Morning Herald
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DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Universities urged to end secrecy over names of full-fee students

2005-01-31T19:44:00.000+11:00

The Universities Admissions Centre will ask universities to reverse a policy of keeping secret the names of those who are offered full-fee-paying places, now that six NSW universities offer the degrees that cost up to $150,000.

The admissions centre's managing director, Andrew Stanton, said the names of students offered full-fee places had never been published because it was "considered a bit of a privacy issue" in 1999, when the protocols on handling full-fee applications had first been set. But that was in the days when only the University of Sydney and the University of NSW accepted full-fee students, who gain entry to courses on marginally lower marks than Commonwealth-subsidised students but pay much higher course costs.

This year six universities - the University of Sydney, the University of NSW, the University of Newcastle, the Australian Catholic University, Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University - offer full-fee places, encouraged by Federal Government changes.

Under the Government's higher education changes, which take effect this year, institutions may enrol 35 per cent of their Australian students as full-fee payers in most courses, and the students have access to a new loans scheme to help finance the expensive degrees.

Mr Stanton said the initial sensitivity about publishing the names of offer recipients was to do with "the public perception that people were getting in because they could pay for it".

"That view has softened," he said. "People are realising it is a valid alternative."

Full-fee applications were only one of many entry schemes giving admission to students with entrance scores below the standard cut-off, Mr Stanton said, and it was unfair to fix upon the full fee-paying route "in isolation and misinterpret it".

The universities have a "users' committee" at the admissions centre, where representatives of each higher education institution liaise with the centre's staff.

Publishing names with full-fee-paying offers was "something that we will take up" with the universities, Mr Stanton said.

The proposal has high-level support at the University of Newcastle, which this year entered the full-fee market, making 567 offers for places in 59 courses.

The deputy vice-chancellor, Brian English, said such enrolments were now "a regular part of the system, and the clarity of the offers [process] would be enhanced ... if the names of everybody were published. It would be easier for the students and easier for everyone else."

There was "no stigma in being offered a fee-paying place", and the logical system was to publish two offers for applicants who qualified for entry under both schemes, Professor English said.

"Students might have put HECS [the subsidised Higher Education Contribution Scheme] law at Sydney first [on their preference list], and law fee-paying at Sydney second, then a mixture of other HECS and fee-paying courses, so they might get one offer for fee-paying law and another for HECS arts," Professor English said.

The state president of the National Union of Students, Sarah-Jane Collins, said "the stigma [associated with being a full-fee student] is gone to some extent", but Australian students should not be paying such large amounts for an education.

University main-round offers to students wanting to pay their way into university rose almost 80 per cent this year, from 1647 offers to 2943. Some students applied for both a HECS and a fee place.

Reported in Sydney Morning Herald
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CQU student dies in waterfall plunge

2005-01-27T17:25:00.000+11:00

A YOUNG man drowned after he and a friend were sucked under a waterfall on the Gold Coast hinterland.

Salman Amin, 25, was swimming at Natural Bridge when he became trapped under the weight of the famous waterfall.

He was one of 24 Brisbane-based Bangladeshi university students who had been enjoying a day trip to the hinterland. Another student was pulled from the water after trying to rescue Mr Amin, described later by friends as a poor swimmer who suffered from asthma.

Rescue divers searched the turbulent water hole into the night and found find his body about 10.40pm.

"It was located under a rock ledge near the falls - it was in about three metres of water," a police spokesman said. "The body was retrieved and formally identified and the family has been advised."

It is the third swimming hole tragedy in Australia in recent days.

On Christmas Day, four members of a Pakistani family drowned at MacKenzie Falls in Victoria, and on the same day a 38-year old Charleville man died after diving into a weir near Cunnamulla.

Onlookers said about six people had been swimming near the waterfall, which cascades through a picturesque natural arch formation in the lush Numinbah Valley.

"Salman decided to go under the waterfall to see the pressure, but he slipped and went under," fellow student Mudassir Chowdhruy said.

"Other friends told him not to go very close to the waterfall but he did. He was not a very good swimmer and he was asthmatic."

Others saw him resurface before once again being forced underwater by the weight of the falls.

Another friend, known only as Imran, attempted to reach Mr Amin but also found himself in trouble.

A rescuer dragged Imran from the icy water. Paramedics treated him on the rocky bank of the falls, covering him with a reflective heat blanket to prevent hypothermia.

He was later carried out of the gorge on a stretcher.

Dozens of police, ambulance, fire and State Emergency Service workers rushed to the scenic tourist destination, but it took nearly an hour and a half for divers to properly prepare to enter the water and begin their search.

Mr Amin's friends were outraged at the delay and said more should be done to warn others of the danger of the water hole. Noman Musa, 22, said friends had to trek for 10 minutes to find a mobile phone signal and call for help.

"I'm really upset about it. There's no lifesaver up here. There should be a lifesaver, this place is very risky," Mr Musa said. "There has to be signs. There's no signage here."

Onlookers Jessica and Paul McKenna, of Brisbane, said Mr Amin "completely disappeared" under the falls.

Mr Amin was a second-year marketing student at Central Queensland University's Brisbane campus.

Meanwhile, four bushwalkers who spent Monday night lost in bushland at Mt Barney National Park emerged safe and well yesterday morning before search parties were deployed.

Reported in The Courier Mail
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Union and UTAS to discuss pay dispute

2005-01-27T17:14:00.000+11:00

More talks will be held today in a bid to end the pay dispute involving English language teachers at the University of Tasmania.

The academics walked off the job for 24 hours at the end of last year and have threatened further action unless a satisfactory offer is made.

They met earlier this week to consider a revised pay offer.

Karin Dowling from the National Tertiary Education Union says further talks with the university this morning will attempt to resolve the sticking points.

"Failing that, our members intend to meet next week to further consider their position in the bargaining," she said.

"But really we'd just like to focus on the positive progress that we think has been made in the negotiations and to encourage the university to continue to talk through some of the last remaining issues."

Reported in ABC Regional
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New offer may end teachers' strike at UTAS English Language Centre

2005-01-26T19:04:00.000+11:00

TEACHERS from the University of Tasmania's English Language Centre have postponed a strike planned for tomorrow as part of a continuing salary dispute.

The English Language Centre teaches English to international students who either have an interest in bettering their English skills or need lessons to help them with their studies.

ELC teachers went on strike for 24 hours on December 15 to consider a revised offer, which was rejected.

The university made a revised offer of a 20.25 per cent increase in four instalments from 2004-2007 but NTEU members rejected the offer last Wednesday.

They voted to continue their industrial action but the university said yesterday it would make a new offer.

ELC teachers are seeking parity with other university staff in leave flexibility, job security, workload regulation and improved professional development opportunities.

The centre's academic year began on January 4 and a strike would have an impact on the teaching of modules, enrolments, organising classes and students' graduation.

NTEU industrial officer Karin Dowling said it would cost the university at least $15,000 a day to refund ELC students for a lost day.

Reported in The Mercury
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Students tell top universities to lift standard of teaching

2005-01-26T18:57:00.000+11:00

Some of the most prestigious universities have the highest dissatisfaction levels with the quality of their teaching, yet retain low dropout rates, says a comprehensive ranking of student experiences released by the Federal Department of Education.

Undergraduate happiness - measured in Student Outcome Indicators of Australian higher education institutions, 2002 and 2003 - will become funding criteria for universities next year, when the Commonwealth will open a competitive learning and teaching performance fund.

Universities will quote measures of student satisfaction to compete for shares of the fund worth $54.6million next year, growing to $113.8million in 2008.

The fund could partially offset the sandstone institutions' strength in winning competitive research funding.

The report shows that of the 37 public universities, student satisfaction with teaching was lowest at two members of the elite Group of Eight research-intensive universities - the University of Adelaide, followed by the University of NSW.

The University of NSW's move to second-worst was a step up from the previous report, released in 2001, which showed UNSW at rock bottom.

In contrast, the highest level of satisfaction with teaching was recorded at the University of New England, followed by Murdoch in Western Australia. Both scored highly in the 2001 report.

Nevertheless, UNSW enjoyed the second-lowest dropout rate of first year students, and the third-lowest dropout rate for continuing students. The University of Wollongong recorded the lowest first year dropout rate.

The director of policy and analysis at the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Conor King, said that for the last decade universities had been trying to improve students' experiences in the lecture theatres, and the Commonwealth's performance fund would "focus attention even more on teaching quality" and reward institutions that made it a priority.

However, it was important that funding depended on more than just happy responses from student surveys and low dropout rates, "unless you want to produce a homogenous sector where you [the universities] only choose the students who will stay with you," Mr King said.

A higher education policy analyst with Griffith University, Gavin Moodie, said that high levels of student satisfaction and low dropout or failure rates were not infallible indicators that all was well. They could also imply soft marking and raised the question: "Do institutions with lower cut-off scores [for entry] mark easier than other institutions - who would bloody know?"

Relying on student satisfaction levels might also fail to take into account the inevitably lower degree of individual attention an undergraduate receives in the crowded lecture halls of popular courses, such as first year psychology, compared to niche courses "like Swedish", Mr Moodie said.

Nevertheless, the pro-Vice-Chancellor (education) at UNSW, Adrian Lee, said that "we clearly need to improve our teaching".

The research-intensive nature of UNSW meant that in past years, "staff had the feeling that effort in research was what counted," Professor Lee said.

However, since 2000, UNSW had set up teacher-training programs and mentorships, he said. The university has also launched a comprehensive set of teaching guidelines that push staff to make their classes challenging, inclusive and relevant.

Professor Lee said that UNSW had won national and state teaching awards since the renewed emphasis on how best to deliver courses.

Reported in Sydney Morning Herald
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AGSM slumps in rankings

2005-01-26T18:51:00.000+11:00

THE Australian Graduate School of Management has plummeted more than 30 places in the Financial Times ranking of the world's top 100 business schools' MBA programs.

AGSM, a joint venture between the University of Sydney and the University of NSW, fell from 53rd place last year to 84th in the latest table, released on Monday. The school had improved from 69th to 53rd between 2003 and 2004.

Its only Australian counterpart on the table, the Melbourne Business School, had a better year. Its ranking jumped from 72nd to 63rd. On a three-year average ranking (2003-05), the University of Melbourne's MBS also came out on top, at 66th against AGSM's 69th.

Harvard, Wharton, Columbia and Stanford in the US filled the top four places. The London Business School was fifth.

AGSM award programs director Sharyn Roberts said the school was pleased that for the sixth year in a row it had made the Financial Times top 100. The drop in places was not a concern.

"Business school rankings do fluctuate from year to year and what's really important is the long-term performance, that's where we have our focus," Ms Roberts said.

"In terms of how it might be used more broadly, we do understand that students look at it but the crucial thing is that we remain focused on our mission to attract the best-quality students, the best-quality faculty and produce outstanding graduates."

MBS dean and director John Seybolt said in a statement: "This ranking is especially gratifying because it is based on alumni perceptions of the value of the program."

MBS was listed in the top 10 schools for economics.

According to the Financial Times, MBS students can expect a salary increase of 106 per cent on graduation compared with their pay before enrolment. AGSM students can budget for a 78 per cent rise.

Average salaries three years after graduating are $141,430 for MBS students and $126,631 for AGSM alumni.

Calculating course costs, the opportunity cost of not working during the course and salaries three years after graduation, MBS is ranked 40th best in terms of value for money. The AGSM is 64th.

But job prospects are better for AGSM graduates, 83 per cent of whom were in work three months after leaving, against 66 per cent of MBS graduates.

Both schools are roughly equal on the proportion of female students (25 per cent each) and female faculty members (AGSM 22 per cent, MBS 23 per cent).

Ms Roberts said the AGSM was pleased with enrolments for 2005 after reports last year suggested the school had suffered a dramatic drop-off in numbers.

"We have 1600 in our MBA executive programs for session one and 150 students in the full-time program," she said.

Numbers are "on par" with last year's enrolment, Ms Roberts said.

The University of Queensland's Brisbane School of Management, 82nd in last year's survey, dropped out of the top 100 this year.

MBAs are offered at 36 of Australia's 38 universities.

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Nelson wants a say in course cuts

2005-01-26T18:45:00.000+11:00

FEDERAL Education Minister Brendan Nelson has signalled he wants greater control over what universities teach, warning they must negotiate with the Government before closing courses.

He has also fired a salvo at the peak Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, questioning "the intellectual integrity" of public statements it has made.

Dr Nelson raised the issue of course closures in specialist areas with low enrolments - particularly in allied health and languages - following a couple of controversial closures last year.

Last month he wrote to all vice-chancellors citing "growing community concern" about these.

"I will be including an additional condition of grant in funding agreements that will specify that closures of specialist courses must be negotiated and agreed with the commonwealth," he said.

One higher education source described the move as the most intrusive from a federal minister since Labor education minister John Dawkins.

"Since the Higher Education Support Act came in, the Government is controlling the enrolment mix of students subject by subject," the source said.

"Now it's controlling what courses you open and what courses you close."

But AVCC vice-president and vice-chancellor of Wollongong University Gerard Sutton said he agreed with Dr Nelson's intention - if he gave extra funding to sustain those courses.

"The issue as to whether or not a university can continue a course depends on the appropriate number of students and the funding level associated with it," Professor Sutton said.

"So if as part of the negotiations ... he's suggesting that for those courses special funding would be made available to those universities to keep those courses going, that is fine.

"If he's saying that within the current resources he would insist on those courses being run then that would be unreasonable." But vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland John Hay said while he had not seen the detail, it could mean "extremely bureaucratic intervention".

"With about 6000 courses UQ is regularly introducing new courses and closing others," Professor Hay said.

Closing a course was not a decision that was made lightly. Further, a raft of factors such as teaching capacity, demand, research opportunities, and community need were all taken into account when considering such a move, he said.

In a separate letter to AVCC president and vice-chancellor of Macquarie University Di Yerbury, Dr Nelson has taken the unusual step of admonishing the peak lobby.

At issue were comments made by the committee's chief executive John Mullarvey on ABC Radio just before Christmas.

Mr Mullarvey was being interviewed about the federal Government's plans to transfer the remaining state control of universities to the commonwealth after the release of a paper flagging options for doing this.

Dr Nelson's letter, obtained by the HES, said: "I would ask you to carefully read the transcript [of the interview, which he enclosed] and reassure me of the intellectual integrity of a number of statements that are made."

Among the statements that irritated Dr Nelson was Mr Mullarvey's assertion that the only way to make it easier for students to get into university was to have more Government-funded places: "That's not something that the Government has put on the table."

"I may be missing something," Dr Nelson's letter said, "but have we not just announced the funding of 36,000 HECS [places] over the next four years while crossing the historical threshold of providing an income contingent loan for full-fee paying Australians in the eligible public and private universities?"

Reported in The Australian
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Thousands of Temporary Entrants Chose to Call Australia Home

2005-01-24T16:26:00.000+11:00

Thousands more people who come to Australia temporarily for skilled employment or study are choosing to stay for good, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said today.

New figures, released today by Senator Vanstone, show more than 36,000 permanent visas were granted in 2003-04 to people already in Australia on temporary visas.

‘This is more than double the number of eight years ago and represents a profound shift in the way people migrate to Australia,’ Senator Vanstone said.

‘Almost a third of places in the 2003-04 Migration Program went to people already in the country.

Senator Vanstone said students and skilled workers are driving the change.

‘In the case of students, in 2001 the Government changed the rules to allow overseas students in Australia to be able to apply to stay permanently as skilled migrants at the end of their studies,’ Senator Vanstone said.

‘In the case of skilled migrants, last financial year over 13,000 permanent skilled migration visas were granted to students in Australia, a 50 per cent increase on 2002-03.’

There was a seven per cent rise in the number of permanent visas granted onshore under the Employer Nomination scheme to workers who entered on temporary programs in 2003-04.

‘The people being granted these visas are typically young and skilled, and now are more often educated in Australia. This is benefit to all Australians,’ Senator Vanstone said.

‘They are usually proficient in English and have established social networks and experience of our labour market and culture, increasing their chances of settling quickly and successfully.

‘Most are coming from the United Kingdom, the People’s Republic of China and India.’

Source - DIMIA Media Release
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Editors quit University of Queensland Press over restructuring

2005-01-24T01:58:00.000+11:00

THREE senior editors have walked away from the University of Queensland Press amid claims its editorial autonomy is under threat.

As UQP overhauls its operations, three of its five commissioning editors are among nine staff to take redundancy packages in the past two months.

General manager Greg Bain said the press was managing "perfectly well" with only eight remaining staff, as it had outsourced its production and was using freelancers. Once it had recruited more staff its workforce would be 12 or 13, with a stronger emphasis on internal editorial control, he said.

Editor-at-large and former publishing manager Craig Munro, senior editor (literary fiction and non-fiction) Rosanne Fitzgibbon and senior editor and manager of black Australian writing Sue Abbey left UQP this month.

Managing editor Madonna Duffy is tipped as the frontrunner for the new position of publisher, which was advertised recently in the trade newsletter Weekly Book News.

An interim publishing committee has been set up comprising several members of the UQP board, a move Ms Fitzgibbon said threatened independent decision-making about what was published.

She said the board had never before been involved in the creative process of deciding what should be published.

As reported in the HES last August, UQP, which comprises a publishing arm and bookshop, has been slashing costs to rein in a $3.5 million debt, which it says is costing the university $215,000 a year in interest.

Considered one of the most important publishers of Australian literature since World War II, UQP launched the careers of a raft of authors including Peter Carey, David Malouf and Kate Grenville when it published their first novels.

But like many scholarly publishers in Australia and overseas, it has fallen on hard times and has found it difficult to compete with the big commercial publishers.

The university said it wanted to retain the press but that there had to be changes, including moving out of some marginal areas of publishing and seeking new business.

"The university is not walking away from it," acting vice-chancellor Paul Greenfield told the HES. "It has supported it and continues to support it."

The restructure document says the press will continue to publish scholarly and general books. It has set a target to move from 40 titles this year to 60 in 2007, with the number of scholarly titles increasing from seven to 16 over that period. Children's titles would rise from 10 to 16 and nonfiction from nine to 13.

Asked about the impact of fewer commissioning editors on the press's capacity to spot new writers, Mr Bain said UQP was building closer relationships with literary agents. "That's really helping us to identify strong talent," he said.

But Ms Abbey, who has worked for UQP for 23 years, said she was concerned about the mentoring of emerging authors. "UQP has made and maintained its reputation for divining talent and for nurturing and fostering the careers of emerging writers," she said. "My major concern is that the mentoring aspect of UQP is now left with one individual or desk editors."

National Tertiary Education Union UQ president Andrew Bonnell said the restructure had "pretty much gutted" the press in terms of expertise and corporate memory. "I think it's going to be very hard for them to maintain the level of innovation in terms of getting quality new writers, [as] the press had done in the past, without active, experienced commissioning editors," he said.

"They can say they'll see what agents give us, but it's not the same as having strong commissioning editors."

Reported in The Australian
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Data from heaven for UNSW

2005-01-24T01:03:00.000+11:00

STUDENTS at the University of NSW may benefit through research, commercialisation and employment from a possible tie-up between the university and an Australian satellite technology company.

The video technology, according to its Australian owners, will be able to spot and track from space a fire smaller than 4000sqm.

Executives from Astrovision Australia, seeking a university to act a repository for reams of data sent earthwards by the satellite, have been in talks with senior academics from the University of NSW.

Astrovision chief executive officer Shubber Ali said the university would be able to use the data in teaching.

UNSW school of biological, earth and environmental sciences geologist Geoffrey Taylor said there was an agreement in principle to explore a partnership between the university and Astrovision.

"From UNSW's perspective, our interest is not merely as a data repository but also in the research that can be done on a medium and long-term data archive," he said.

"The technology will provide a perspective that we've never had before, that is to look at earth processes at a variety of time scales."

Mr Ali said there was also a promise of jobs for graduates and that the company had designed a curriculum based on the data.

"We expect there will be opportunities for students on a graduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral level in research and, downstream, employment opportunities," he said.

"It should bring roughly 100 direct hi-tech jobs and about 500 indirect jobs in programming, systems analysis, data fusion and computer modelling."

Astrovision is in the process of raising the $200 million it needs to build and launch (in 2007) a satellite that will be fitted with seven sensors, some of which will be able to spot fires as they start.

One of the sensors would be able to transmit a fresh image every second, said Astrovision Australia managing director Michael Hewins, a former space lawyer.

The technology is based on NASA science used on deep space research missions.

Astrovision Australia, which opened for business in October 2003, sees the Defence Department, the Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Customs Service, bushfire authorities and other emergency services as customers.

The satellite, which will be in geostationary orbit, can picture an area stretching from Bangladesh to North Korea, Hawaii and the Antarctic.

It can zoom into an area 1000kmx1000km and can detect a bushfire smaller than 4000sqm.

Among its sensors are the streaming video camera, a thermal imager that can detect heat blooms, and a lightning tracker. Images from these can be overlaid.

"Whenever a bushfire starts, we can see it live, which means it can be monitored, which means the efficiency of the firefighting crews - to get there, see where the most serious hot-spots are and cut down on the damage - becomes much better than it has been," Mr Hewins said.

Professor Taylor said the satellite could be used to track storms or locust plagues and to see how soils behaved under different climate events.

Internet access to an archive would probably be free, but live video would be available only by paid subscription, Mr Hewins said.

Reported in The Australian
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Foreign Students Settle

2005-01-23T20:24:00.000+11:00

One in three of Australia's new settlers is a young person who originally came to study or work.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said 36,700 temporary residents, mostly foreign students, were given permanent residency in the year to last June, compared with just 15,000 five years earlier.

More than 13,000 were beneficiaries of a little-noticed policy introduced in 2001 that allows foreign students permanent residency if they line up a skilled job within six months of completing their course.

New Immigration Department figures show the number seizing the opportunity jumped 52 per cent last year, as growing numbers of Asian students chose to stay and work in Australia.

Almost half had qualifications in information and communications technology, and about a quarter had accounting degrees, with engineers the next largest group. Two-thirds came from India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea.

"This is a benefit to all Australians," Senator Vanstone said. "The people granted these visas are typically young and skilled."

Demand from foreign students lifted the number of people settling permanently in Australia to almost 149,000 in 2003-04, up from 95,000 six years earlier.

The number settling here under government programs has jumped in six years from 79,000 to 129,000, while a further 20,000 arrived last year from New Zealand.

Reported in The Age
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Immigration raid nets 59 people

2005-01-23T20:19:00.000+11:00

Thirty-nine people have been sent to Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre and another 20 ordered to leave Australia after being caught in raids by the Immigration Department.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said all were found to be in Australia illegally during compliance operations in Sydney in the past two days.

Fifty were "unlawful non-citizens" and nine were found to be in breach of their visa conditions, she said.

"The illegal workers were located across several industry types including construction, hospitality and manufacturing," Senator Vanstone said.

"A total of 35 people were located at their workplaces and warning notices will be issued to all employers."

The operations were conducted throughout Sydney, including Liverpool, Girraween, Marrickville, Botany, Camperdown, Hurstville, Fairfield, Penrith, Merrylands, the northern beaches and Circular Quay.

Of the group, there were 38 men and 21 women from China (12), Indonesia (8), Egypt (6), Fiji (5), Malaysia (5), Thailand (4), Pakistan (3), Lebanon (3), the Philippines (2), Hong Kong (2), Sri Lanka (2), Nigeria (1), United Kingdom (1), Japan (1), South Korea (1), Germany (1), Taiwan (1) and Bangladesh (1).

Reported in Sydney Morning Herald
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International students at University of Sydney need to improve their English

2005-01-19T21:00:00.000+11:00

Extra English language classes will be offered to overseas students at the University of Sydney after a review found that they did not do as well as Australian students, or foreign students at the country's other main universities.

In an otherwise positive report from the Australian Universities Quality Agency, the inferior progression rates of the university's foreign students was identified as an area of concern. Students studying the humanities, the social sciences and science and technology were seen as most at risk.

The university's acting vice-chancellor, Professor John Hearn, said its own assessments found that overall overseas students did as well as local ones. But he conceded that in fields such as economics and business, progression rates differed.

"All international students have got an internationally recognised entry level requirement of English, but it is clear that some may need additional support," he said. "We will be now giving more options and support for English teaching for students who require it. They do get this already, but it is an area which we will now be strengthening."

At present students requiring English tuition can receive it from the university's Centre for English Teaching. But as a result of the quality agency's audit, they will now be asked directly whether they want it from university staff.

"We will now be far more active in looking at this, predicting which individuals may need support and recommending that they do it," Professor Hearn said. "We won't be doing this in any threatening way, but we will be getting more onto the front foot and saying to students that if they really want to get the most out of their year or years at our university, then a little bit of tuition in English might be of assistance."

The agency's positive commendations covered areas including the university's governance, innovations in teaching, and staff performance.

The audit said: "There can be no doubt that the university has been achieving outstanding research outcomes. It is consistently one of the highest generators of external research revenue and has one of the largest postgraduate research student cohorts."

Professor Hearn said: "We are very happy with this report, and its findings are very positive in endorsing the major parts of our operation.

"Our rejoicings are that we now have endorsed quality products in teaching, research and in our management of our assets."

However, the audit also highlighted that a number of staff and students believed that the university needed to better maintain its teaching premises. Overcrowding was a big problem.

"Students reported that many of the teaching classrooms are overcrowded, suggesting problems with timetabling," the audit said.

"In some cases this results in students not being able to attend class.

"Moreover, students also stated that a number of the classrooms are windowless, with air-conditioning that does not appear to work effectively and teaching aids, such as overhead projectors, that do not always work."

The university's many heritage-listed buildings for which no special funding is provided was identified in the report as a "complicating factor", inhibiting their redevelopment or maintenance.

Reported in Sydney Morning Herald
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When dollars, not marks, get you a university place

2005-01-19T20:48:00.000+11:00

Thousands of students are now finding that equality comes at a price, writes Louise Merrington.

Intellectual capability has tragically little to do with entrance to Australian universities - the hard truth is that if you are willing and able to pay your way in, academic performance is a secondary consideration.

Throughout their schooling, but particularly during their senior years, students and their families are constantly told university entrance is based on merit and intelligence. They are led to believe that the number allocated to a course indicates how smart you need to be to study it. If you don't get the score then you obviously won't suit the course.

In reality, however, the ENTER is little more than an indicator of supply and demand. If a course with a limited number of HECS places is popular, the score goes up. Full-fee places are less popular; thus the score is lower and entrance much easier - provided, of course, you have the money.

My cynicism stems from experience. Two years ago I was one of 34,000 Victorian students receiving first-round university offers. In spite of an ENTER score in the high 90s, I missed out on my first preference, and only narrowly made it into my second preference, which, at the end of 2002, had an ENTER requirement of 98. What continues to gall me, however, is that if I had been willing to pay nearly $15,000 a year, my score could have been up to 10 points lower and I would still have been admitted.

In a system where the decimal point on your score can be the difference between being admitted to a HECS place or missing out completely, a 10-point buffer for domestic full-fee-paying students is nothing short of ridiculous. Such a yawning chasm laughs in the faces of those students who work hard through years 11 and 12 only to miss out at the final hurdle because of a system that is geared against them.

Domestic full-fee places also pose another, less documented threat. When degrees become commodities to be bought and sold, rather than qualifications earned solely through hard work and academic achievement, they begin to lose their value. Universities are transforming from centres of learning into mere corporations, where academia must be sacrificed to balance the books, and students are missing out as a result. Even those who get in face higher staff-student ratios, the casualisation of lecture and tutorial staff that makes it far more difficult to seek academic support, and a host of other problems.

As this year's round of university offers continues to emerge, so will the disturbing figures. Even in areas such as teaching and nursing, which, we are continually told, face appalling shortages of well-trained and qualified staff, it is highly likely that the demand for HECS places will once again outweigh the supply. It seems that the Government is yet to grasp the idea that sound investment in universities today will bring immeasurable returns in the future.

These students are tomorrow's doctors, nurses, educators, lawyers, engineers, architects, researchers, scientists and other professionals. They will be the ones that design our infrastructure, defend our freedoms, teach our children and save our lives. Consequently, if the Government continues to strangle universities in the interests of short-term gain, the decision will inevitably return to bite them in the proverbial behind.

Changes such as the recent Nelson reforms (which allowed universities to increase HECS fees by up to 25 per cent and domestic full-fee places by up to 35 per cent) will survive long after the ministers who implemented them have been forgotten, and students will continue paying for these policy errors for generations. It is critical that the politicians of today look beyond their own careers and do what is best for Australia's future, even if it means that some rich noses will be put out of joint.

If our universities are to remain world-class institutions of learning and research, they must be properly funded so that their resources can be spent on education. And if today's students are to grow into competent, highly sought-after professionals, then they must be able to access an affordable education. Yet as tens of thousands of students are finding out this week, equality in this country increasingly comes at a price.

Louise Merrington is a member of the editorial team of SAGE (The Age's youth supplement).

Reported in The Age
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Help DIMIA track illegal workers and students

2005-01-15T20:18:00.000+11:00

A telephone service for reporting illegal workers and visa over-stayers has taken more than 21,000 calls from the community since it was launched in February 2004.

Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone, said the community plays a critical role in protecting our immigration system by using the Dob-in Line.

‘Information from the Dob-in Line is passed to Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) compliance officers around the country Australia who use the information to help locate people who have over-stayed their visa or are working illegally,’ the Minister said.

‘An estimated 50,000 people are unlawfully in Australia at any one time. Of these, a large number are probably working in breach of their visa conditions.’

In 2003-04, DIMIA located over 20,000 visa over-stayers and illegal workers. There were around 11,000 in New South Wales, 4,500 in Victoria, 2,000 in Queensland, and more than 1,500 in Western Australia.

There were also about 500 in South Australia, 265 in the Australian Capital Territory and Regions, 184 in the Northern Territory and 62 in Tasmania.

‘DIMIA’s compliance teams across Australia are focused on a variety of industries including accommodation, cafes and restaurants, agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, construction and personal and other services,’ the Minister said.

People who have information about illegal workers or over-stayers are encouraged phone the Dob-In Line on 1800 009 623.

So far this financial year, DIMIA officers have located about 9,300 people unlawfully in Australia or working in breach of visa conditions, (to the end of November.)

‘DIMIA has excellent facilities to assist employers to ensure they are hiring workers entitled to work in Australia,’ the Minister said.

To advise the department about a person working or living illegally in Australia, please call the free national telephone number 1800 009 623 or FAX 1800 009 849. Any information provided by members of the community about people working or living illegally in Australia will be treated in the strictest confidence. For Melbourne Metropolitan region only, use the following fax number: 03 9235 3040.

Employers can check the work status of potential employees by using the following facilities:

->Entitlement Verification Online

->Work Rights Faxback Facility (1800 505 550), and

->Employers’ Work Right Checking Line (1800 040 070).

SOURCE - DIMIA
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'Brain drain' in Victoria

2005-01-15T18:46:00.000+11:00

UNDER-FUNDING of Victorian universities was causing a brain drain in the state, the federal opposition said today.

New figures on the Department of Education, Science and Training website indicate 5341 Victorian students left the state to undertake tertiary studies last year, Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said.

"The brain drain means that nearly 2000 of the best and brightest young Victorians are being sent to NSW to start their university studies and more than 3000 are going to the other states and territories," she said.

"It is ridiculous that a state with such a strong university sector should be forced to export students to other states."

Ms Macklin said the Federal Government's decision to cut 2400 HECS places from Victorian universities from this year made the situation worse.

National president of the National Union of Students, Felix Eldridge, said the Federal Government's university funding cuts have had an impact on the quality of courses available.

"Students are being forced to travel interstate to do courses that they want because the funding isn't there for all universities everywhere to provide good quality education," he said.

A spokesman for Dr Nelson said there would be more, not less, fully funded HECS places for Victorian universities this year.

"The Government has just passed a reform package that has put more than $2.6 billion into universities over the next four years," he said.

"In fact, Victorian universities will be allocated more than 2600 new fully funded HECS places.

Reported in The Australian
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IT company sues Victoria University of Technology for $48m

2005-01-15T18:28:00.000+11:00

VICTORIA University of Technology is being sued for $48 million in an intellectual property dispute, one of the biggest claims ever to be brought against a tertiary institution.

IT and software group iP3 was founded by two academics - Ken Wilson and Donald Feaver - who were working for VUT at the time.

The university took the men and their company to court when they entered into an agreement with an overseas company to develop and patent computer software programs.

VUT took out injunctions on the company on the basis that the university owned the intellectual property of the software. The Supreme Court of Victoria found in February last year that the university did not own the intellectual property of the software because it was invented outside the scope of the academics' employment there.

But the court also found the academics had a duty to inform the university of their research and that the university was entitled to a share of the profits.

IP3 is now suing VUT - in one of the largest claims ever brought against a university - for loss of business and harm to the company resulting from VUT having taken out the injunctions.

IP3 chief executive Ahmed Youssef said the company had been valued at between $50 million and $60 million and had been attracting considerable interest from overseas companies before VUT took out the injunction in June 2003.

"The company was the meat in the sandwich (between the two academics and the university) and we are now worth much less," Mr Youssef said.

"It was 20 months of hell for my company and I have lost about 60per cent of my staff because of the uncertainty we face. We are back to work now but it will take us some time to catch up."

He said the unlisted Australian public company had about 100 shareholders - some of whom had put their superannuation into the company expecting a large return on their investment - who had all been left in limbo.

VUT issued a statement yesterday saying "it is hard to comment because this is the subject of ongoing litigation and the university has no information on the amended claim at this point, having only been alerted to this issue via the media".

The two academics - Professor Wilson, who worked in the faculty of business and law and was head of the school of applied economics, and Mr Feaver, who was a senior lecturer in applied economics - resigned from the company early last year.

Reported in The Australian
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Assessment level changes for few countries

2005-01-15T01:59:00.000+11:00

From 1 April 2005, a number of countries will move to a lower Assessment Level. This reflects improved performance of certain countries against key indicators of risk and builds on earlier changes to European Union accession countries’ Assessment Levels in November 2004.

The changes are expected to make it easier for passport holders from these countries to meet the requirements for the grant of a student visa.

For futher details Click Here

SOURCE - DIMIA
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Indian Students - Your Golden Chance to Participate in a 'Research on Indian Students in Australia'

2005-01-14T19:47:00.000+11:00

Michiel Baas is a Dutch PhD student from the University of Amsterdam (Holland), who is doing research on Indian students in Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on three questions:

- Why do Indian students come to Australia to study there ?

- What do their lives and lifestyles look like when they are studying in Australia ?

- What are their plans after graduation ?

From February 2005 Michiel Baas will be in Melbourne to meet, talk to and interview Indian students from different universities. At the moment he is trying to get in touch with Indian students who are either planning on going to, or who are already in, Australia. If students are concerned about confidentiality, there is no need for that. Although he will use the information for his research, he will never do so in connection with a person's name or give details so that a certain individual could be recognized by others.

Before Michiel Baas started doing his PhD he did a Bachelor in International Management and worked for computer giant IBM for a couple of years. Then he did his bachelor and master in cultural anthropology. His master thesis was on Indian IT professionals who live and work in Bangalore, India, where he lived for half a year in order to doresearch. You can contact Michiel Baas by mailing him on: michielbaas@yahoo.com

CQU creates history

2005-01-12T01:30:00.000+11:00

For the first time in Australia a new qualification will combine TAFE and university study to provide tailor-made training for the coal industry, Employment, Training and Industrial Relations Minister Tom Barton said today.

Mr Barton said Central Queensland TAFE and Central Queensland University worked together to develop the new qualification which was tailor-made for a recruitment drive by one of Australia's largest coal producers, Anglo Coal.

"This innovative partnership is just one example of the State Government working with the Central Queensland Mining Industry to address skill shortages," Mr Barton said.

"We are also on track to establish the Mining Centre of Excellence in the first half of this year. Modeled on the highly successful Aviation Australia - which was established by the Queensland Government to provide skills for the aviation industry - the Mining Centre will see industry and Government working together to address identified skills-related issues.

"We will be ramping-up consultations with mining companies, the Queensland Mining Industry Training Advisory Body and other industry stakeholders in coming months to work with them to establish the Centre and to produce the training solutions needed.

"We are proposing a joint industry and public sector governance arrangement with Centre staff being appointed from the mining industry. We want the centre to be industry-focused and industry-owned.

"The mining sector is a vital part of Queensland's economy and we are committed to ensuring the industry remains strong."

Mr Barton said the Anglo Coal, Central Queensland TAFE and Central Queensland University training program was the first in Australia to offer vocational training and university study concurrently for the coal industry.

"Anglo Coal has a head office in Brisbane and nine mine sites in Central Queensland, including open cut and underground mines, thermal coal mines and coking coal operations, as well as thermal coal operations in New South Wales," he said.

"The company wanted a customised study program that combined practical training with academic learning to help recruit people to newly created Mining Associates positions in their mines across Eastern Australia.

"Initially, up to 10 people will be selected by Anglo Coal for the four-year program to receive an advanced diploma-level qualification in engineering."

Anglo Coal's Chief Mining Engineer -Surface Operations Warren Seib said the new training arrangement would ensure the recruits gained specific knowledge and skills the company required from its mining professionals.

"It is ideal for Anglo Coal to have a program of study designed to give our new employees both a formal education and on-the-job experience," Mr Seib said.

"We knew that TAFE and Central Queensland University were both quality educators and had an excellent working relationship. This unique collaboration will allow our newest recruits to experience the best of both worlds."
The training program will be delivered in Central Queensland in 2005,

SOURCE - Queensland Government
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Immigration at 10-year high

2005-01-11T01:04:00.000+11:00

The number of migrants and refugees settling in Australia is at a 10-year high, according to the latest figures on Australia's annual immigration intake.

The data also shows a large decline in migrants settling in New South Wales.

Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone says more than 111,000 people settled in Australia in the past financial year, an increase of nearly 20,000 on the previous year.

Senator Vanstone says while the biggest group of 40,000 still settled in NSW, that represents a decline of 7,000 people on figures from three years ago.

She says the drop for NSW is in line with the Federal Government's efforts to encourage migrants to settle elsewhere.

Victoria had 28,000 migrants, Queensland 20,000 and Western Australia close behind with 15,000 migrants.

The largest number of people came from the United Kingdom, followed by arrivals from New Zealand, China, India, South Africa, Sudan and the Philippines.

Senator Vanstone says the record number of people settling in Australia does not signal a return to the high immigration days of previous Labor governments.

"The immigration intake under the Howard Government is markedly different from that under the previous government," she said.

"We've shifted very much to a skilled migration intake bringing in people who are under 45, are qualified and can very quickly get a job and contribute to the Australian economy."

Senator Vanstone says the decline in new arrivals in New South Wales shows the Federal Government's regional migration scheme is working.

"Both Victoria and South Australia have been very prominent users of that opportunity and we've been keen in the immigration program to make sure that people go where they are wanted," she said.

"Because there has been a decline in NSW in the numbers ... I think that confirms that we are doing is working."

However, the Federal Opposition says a more cohesive approach is needed for Australia's population growth.

Opposition immigration spokesman Laurie Ferguson says immigration is only part of the solution for Australia's needs.

"We need a long-term population policy as to where we are going in the next decade or two," he said.

Mr Ferguson says despite a decline of 7,000 people for NSW, the overall figure of 40,000 means the overwhelming number of immigrants still settle in Sydney.

He says programs for other states need to be expanded.

Reported in ABC News

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Raids by DIMIA leads to cancellation of student visas

2005-01-10T03:26:00.000+11:00

Several overseas students have had their visas cancelled after being caught working unlawfully in the sex industry, according to government figures seen by the Herald.

The figures, compiled by the Department of Immigration, also show that 15 per cent of those working lawfully in the sex industry were overseas students.

"In 2003-04, 23 student visa holders were located working unlawfully in the sex industry," the department said in a written response to a Senate committee.

"The department has also been collecting manually data on persons found working in the sex industry and where no action is taken by DIMIA [Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs]. From March-October 2004 emerging data trends indicate that 15 per cent of those found working lawfully in the sex industry held student visas (a total of 50 persons)."

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, said yesterday that the vast majority of sex worker cases did not involve trafficking in human cargo.

"In most cases it's simply people trying to earn extra cash," he said.

"Emerging trends show an increase in South Koreans working in the sex industry; before that it was Malaysians.

"Our compliance system is focused across a wide range of industries - taxis, security, building, restaurants and hospitality - not just the sex industry."

The spokesman said the immigration "dob-in" line, where people could phone and alert authorities to overseas visitors overstaying visas or working illegally, was working well.

Students are deemed to be working illegally and in breach of their visas if they work more than 20 hours a week.

The Department said it had "heard anecdotally" that some overseas students face financial hardship while in Australia.

"The Department is concerned if this anecdote is correct," it said.

"DIMIA will investigate any such cases, but details are required in order to do this."

It took seriously any issues arising in relation to the care and welfare of overseas students and had established student welfare reference groups in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth where the vast bulk of overseas students studied.

The overseas student market is worth $5.6billion a year to the economy.

DIMIA also cancels student visas if it finds evidence of the student being involved in any illegal, illicit, dishonest and criminal activity in Australia.

The Department also said it had not undertaken any formal studies on why student visas had been cancelled. But, it noted a rise in student visa cancellations from 3986 in 2000-01 to 7049 in 2001-02 following the introduction of mandatory reporting of students failing to attend classes to the Department of Education. By 2003-04 the number of student visa cancellations had reached 8241.

According to the questions put to the department, the Sydney Business and Travel Academy had 105 visas cancelled in 2002-03.

Asked to supply details of any investigations being conducted, the Department said: "DIMIA Compliance is investigating this issue so no comment can be made at this stage".

Reported in The Herald
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Universities help in wake of tsunami

2005-01-08T17:13:00.000+11:00

UNIVERSITIES are looking at fee relief, scholarships and other forms of financial assistance for international students from countries devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

On the first working day of the year yesterday, staff at many universities held emergency meetings to map out plans for helping affected students enrolled on their campuses.

Global emails were sent out to staff and students at universities with big international enrolments, reminding them about counselling and other support services.

The Department of Education, Science and Training has set up hotlines and websites for students as it tries to gauge the effect of the tsunami on the education sectors.

It said the next stage would be to work with universities to provide support and pastoral care to students and to liaise with peak international education bodies to identify issues arising in the aftermath of the tsunami.

DEST's international division, Australian Education International, is providing regular updates through two websites at www.studyinaustralia.gov.au and http://aei.dest.gov.au.

International students can also ring DEST at (02) 6240 5069 and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs on 1300 735 683.

Last year about 210,000 foreign students were enrolled in courses at Australian universities. The biggest proportion of those students come from countries hit by the tsunami, such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Monash estimates that 6000 of its 15,000 foreign students are from affected countries.

It is considering options for fee relief for students whose families have been hit by the disaster.

Corporate services director of Monash International, John Rivett, said the university might help international students in Australia to return home.

A spokesperson for the University of NSW said about 3700 of its students were from affected countries.

More than 4000 of RMIT's students are from India, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

University of Tasmania held a concert and raised funds for relief work.

Vice-chancellor Chris Whitaker said the university was considering a raft of measures, including scholarships and other financial support.

IDP Education Australia and Australian Education International said staff in their overseas offices were safe and well. And none of their offshore offices had been damaged.

However, IDP reported that two staff in its Sri Lanka office lost their homes.

Curtin University of Technology - one of the big four enrollers of international students - is closed until Monday.

Reported in The Australian
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International students react to higher fees

2005-01-08T17:07:00.000+11:00

AUSTRALIA risks pricing out overseas students by hiking fees and risking quality, deputy Opposition leader Jenny Macklin has warned.

Amid fears of a looming threat to the $5billion-a-year industry, international students have also warned Australian costs are nudging the US for high-fee degrees, including MBAs and commerce.

A recent drop in demand for university places from overseas students has been blamed on the rising Australian dollar and increased competition from Asian nations.

However, in her strongest warning to date on the education export market, Ms Macklin has warned that prices are too high and plans to relax the criteria for what institutions qualify as a university could drive down quality.

"Basically, the danger is that we are pricing ourselves out of the market," she told the HES.

"And of course, it is a highly competitive overseas market. Yes, we have a good product but the price is important.

"Universities are now highly dependent on the revenue they receive from international students. If that falls away they are going to be in very difficult financial circumstances."

National Liaison Committee for International Students in Australia spokesman Aditya Tater said students were reporting "big differences" in quality between universities, regardless of fees charged.

"The prices for the various courses are going up every year but the quality is staying the same," he said. "If you look at Singapore and Malaysia, student numbers from those countries have gone down because their education systems have improved and students are staying there. In certain cases, the course fees are quite high, they are almost up there with the US."

Research prepared by IDP Australia, an independent non-profit global recruiter of students, suggested serious risks threatened the education export market. In a paper presented to the IDP conference late last year, Comparative Costs of Higher Education Courses - Update 2004, analyst Marcelo Follari found Australia remains competitive in relation to the US and the UK.

But the median fee for an engineering degree was $90,019, on a par with the $91,670 cost in the UK and $119,882 in the US.

The cost of a bachelor degree in IT ranged from $32,836 in China to $61,818 in Australia and $130,856 in Ireland.

Students seeking a bachelor of business could pick up a degree for $31,731 in China, $54,331 in Singapore, $60,464 in Australia, $77,890 in the UK and up to $167,828 at a US private university.

The research concluded that: "Australia is competitive in price against the US, UK and Ireland. Australia is not competitive against emerging Asian study destinations. China is expecting record numbers of students to enrol in its universities this year as foreigners seek to cash in on the country's booming economy by becoming proficient in Mandarin."

Education Minister Brendan Nelson's plan to review the national protocols defining universities, possibly introducing greater flexibility for new higher education providers was another concern, Ms Macklin said.

Acting education minister Gary Hardgraves said the Howard Government did not determine overseas student fees. "International student fees are set by the individual universities and it is a matter for those institutions," he said yesterday.

Reported in The Australian
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Shortage fears as IT graduates dry up

2005-01-06T01:14:00.000+11:00

FEARS of a return to the late 1990s, when there was a shortage of IT graduates, have been fuelled by universities reporting a slump in applications for next year.

Despite an employment upswing this year, recent reports reveal vacancies for IT graduates have tripled over the past year, as school leavers are shying away from a technology career.

University of Technology Sydney associate dean of Information Technology David Wilson reported a 50 per cent cumulative fall in enrolment applications from 2002 to 2004.

Applications for 2003 entry had dropped 25 per cent on 2002 and demand for 2004 entry had fallen another 24 per cent.

"While there is more positive news about IT employment, applications have still fallen another 12 to 15 per cent this year, which is going to put pressure on the industry because there are going to be fewer students in IT across the country," Professor Wilson said.

"It is quite likely we are entering another boom-bust cycle, so there is going to be high demand but relatively low numbers of graduates coming out of IT courses. This is going to create the kinds of problems we had in the mid-1990s and that is a major concern."

Professor Wilson said the decrease in applications was particularly obvious in specialised technology degrees.

"The most surprising is our scholarship program, which might be partly explained by the fact it is aimed purely at school leavers and there is a feeling their response is on a two-year lag," he said.

Although many universities had bolstered staff numbers to deal with the surge in demand in the 1990s, many IT departments were overstaffed and had reduced staff numbers this year.

Dean of Monash University's IT faculty Professor Ron Weber said the fall in applications for 2005 was not unexpected, but demand should follow the rise in jobs.

But he predicted the fall in student demand would begin to turn around in 2006.

"However, I think there are certainly concerns emerging that we are getting to a point where there will be shortages of qualified graduates," he said.

IT Skills Hub chief executive Brian Donovan said the recovery in the jobs market had been dampened by news of a drop-off in new recruits to the sector.

"It is cause for us to be concerned about the longer term picture that is only four or five years' away," he said.

The IT Skills Hub is proposing a marketing campaign targeting the youth market – particularly girls – driven by industry, government and the education sector.

Reported in The Australian IT
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Australia becomes popular with American students

2005-01-04T17:30:00.000+11:00

Although Doreen Strauss is a freshman, she is already planning to study abroad the fall semester of her junior year.

She said she is headed for blue skies, sandy beaches and rainless semesters down under in Australia.

"I've seen pictures and the country is beautiful," Strauss (freshman-communications) said. "I would love to study in a place like that."

According to a survey done by the Institute of International Education, the enrollment of U.S. students in Australian universities has increased by 13 percent this year.

Australia has now been placed among the top five most popular locations for American students who are studying abroad.

Number of American Students Studying Abroad
1. United Kingdom -- 31,706
2. Italy -- 18, 936
3. Spain -- 18,865
4. France -- 13,080
5. Australia -- 10,691

Education Abroad Director John Keller said Australia has gained popularity in the last 10 years because of a so-called Crocodile Dundee effect.

He said popular movies and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney have given Australia more widespread exposure to college students.

Penn State has about 10 partnerships with Australian universities to give students a wide selection, Keller said.

"I lived in Australia; it is an English-speaking country, great people and universities," he said.

Lindsey Alexander (senior-crime, law and justice) studied in Australia and is a peer adviser at Penn State's International Programs Office.

She said the best part of the semester was having heartfelt conversations with everyone she met and learning there is more to life than just a job.

Having spent so much time "down under," Alexander said she has one regret about her stay there -- buying roundtrip airfare.

"Buy a one-way ticket because you will want to stay longer than a semester," Alexander said.

She added that a one-way ticket would provide a chance for students to travel to other countries on the way back.

Some of the more popular majors studied in Australia are agriculture and fishery sciences since there is a wide expanse of untouched land, Alexander said.

She said Australia has now become a very competitive place for Penn State students to apply.

Jen Nielsen, marketing associate for Australian-based company IDP Education Australia, said students are interested in Australia because it is less expensive, culturally rich and a non-traditional location.

IDP works with Australian universities to find interest among U.S. students looking to study abroad or get a graduate degree in Australia.

"Australia has been really popular within the past 15 years ... and continues to be more popular every year," Nielsen said.

Lisa Leggett (senior-mechanical engineering) studied at the University of Melbourne while attending Penn State.

"I always wanted to study in Australia," she said.

"It seemed like a friendly, laid-back place with tons of stuff to do outdoors," Leggett added.

She added that her opinion is that Australia may have become popular for so many American students because English is so widely spoken.

Keller said that although Australia is a prime location for studying abroad, prices are increasing.

"One thing that is happening is Australia is becoming increasingly expensive, so it is making U.S. universities re-think partnerships," Keller said.

The application deadlines for the 2005-06 academic year was Dec. 1 for the fall 2005 semester.

The deadline is April 1 for the spring 2006 semester, Alexander said.

Reported in The Digital Collegian

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Universities lukewarm on changes

2005-01-04T17:26:00.000+11:00

AUSTRALIAN universities have poured cold water on the federal government's plan to seize control of them from the states, saying they are unconvinced they will be better off.

The federal government has released a discussion paper outlining the pros and cons of its plan, originally floated last month.

The paper says if the move goes ahead, it could stifle diversity and put at risk $200 million in funding universities receive from the states and territories.

However it also says the plan could slash bureaucratic red tape and make Australian universities more internationally competitive.

The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) said the paper raised more questions than it answered.

AVCC chief executive John Mullarvey said while the sector welcomed debate about its future, universities were yet to be convinced of any need for change.

"The AVCC is not convinced of the merits of a one size fits all approach to higher education," he said.

"We do not want uniformity; we want and need a diverse university system."

Mr Mullarvey said while universities would welcome any reduction in red tape, changes introduced in recent years by the federal government had increased it.

The Commonwealth currently provides 41 per cent of the $12.4 billion revenue received by 39 universities and higher education institutions across Australia.

The states provide about two per cent of total revenue, but actually have legal ownership of the institutions and are responsibility for their administration and course accreditation.

In turn, universities have to provide financial reports to both the federal and state governments.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson said while the system needed to change because it was too complex, the states would not be forced to give up their control over universities.

"If in the end the states and territories and the university sector believe that on balance they don't want to do it, well of course we can't, nor should we, force it," he told ABC radio.

"Although, the NSW government has already indicated that it thinks the long-term interests of higher education is served by doing it."

Dr Nelson said if the states agreed to the plan, the transfer of control could happen in the next two to three years.

But he played down the possibility of the states slicing the $200 million they currently contribute to universities if the transfer of control takes place.

"If, in the end, the states and territories and the university sector believe that on balance they don't want to do it, then of course we can't, nor should we force it, although the NSW government has already indicated that it thinks the long-term interests of higher education are served by doing it," Dr Nelson said.

Labor's acting leader and education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the federal government was overlooking the biggest problems facing universities.

"Brendan Nelson has failed to explain how his proposal for federal control of higher education will address the real problems faced by our universities – high fees, too few HECS places, and lack of indexation of university funding under the Howard government," she said.

"The Education Minister wants to distract attention from the fact that the Howard Government is forcing students and their families to make up for inadequate funding."

"The problem is that the Howard Government has forced up fees over the last eight years by on average 100 per cent and, of course, students are about to face another 25 per cent fee hike from next year.

"Students are voting with their feet, they are saying we can't afford those sort of fees." Democrats leader Lyn Allison said the proposal could result in further fee increases and unfettered funding cuts.

"Why should the states hand over control of universities to a federal government that has not only cut university funding by around $2.5 billion between 1996 and 2003, but will also make students pay an additional $1.2 billion in fees over the next four years to compensate?" Senator Allison said.

National Tertiary Education Union spokesman Andrew Nette said the union could see little benefit and a number of substantial risks in the plan.

"Taking the states and territories out of the picture altogether runs the risk of reducing diversity and distancing our universities from the regions and communities they serve," he said.

SOURCE - NEWS Network

DISCLAIMER : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Immigration Legislation Changes

2005-01-02T23:58:00.000+11:00

CHANGE 1]

From 1 April 2005 the passmark for Skilled – Independent Overseas Student (Subclass 880) visa applications will increase from 115 points to 120 points.

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone, announced this increase on 1 April 2004.

The 120 pass mark will apply to all Subclass 880 applications lodged from 1 April 2005 onwards, irrespective of whether a Graduate Skilled Temporary visa (Subclass 497) was lodged prior to 1 April 2005. There are no transitional provisions in place to allow Subclass 497 visa holders to be assessed against the pre-1 April 2005 pass mark from 1 April 2005.

CHANGE 2]

Hairdressers with a positive skills assessment from Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) will receive MODL points. They will not be required to demonstrate that they have at least 3 years relevant experience following completion of their hairdressing qualification in order to receive MODL points.

20 Points if you have a have a job offer as a hairdresser in Australia from an organisation that has employed at least 10 people on a full time basis in the 24 months immediately prior to the date you lodged your application.

15 Points If you do not have a job offer as a hairdresser in Australia.

Applicants with a suitable skills assessment in their nominated occupation of hairdresser will be eligible to receive 60 points plus the MODL points. This arrangement applies to applications made on or after 8 September 2004 .

SOURCE - DIMIA
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People in Australia affected by the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean

2005-01-01T01:03:00.000+11:00

Any person who usually lives in an area that has been directly affected by the tsunami who wishes to temporarily extend their stay in Australia should contact the department using the emergency hotline.
Phone: 1300 735 683

Each application will be considered on a case by case basis.

The Emergency Hotline is only available to people calling from within Australia.
Phone: 1300 735 683

Callers outside Australia should contact their nearest Australian Embassy or Government office.

Visa and citizenship services at the Australian Embassies and the High Commissions in countries affected by the tsunami are operating, with services currently restricted in Colombo and Bangkok.

SOURCE - DIMIA
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TIMES World's best IT, Engineering and Science University Rankings

2004-12-28T20:03:00.000+11:00

The TIMES HES has come out with World's Top 100 IT and Engineering University Rankings as well as the the World's Top 100 Science University Rankings.

The Australian Universities featuring in these rankings as well as the Career News can be found at by clicking here.

You would need to have a Yahoo User ID to access the above link.

Program to deliver extra training for GP nurses

2004-12-24T20:36:00.000+11:00

The University of Wollongong will be the first tertiary institute in New South Wales to introduce a postgraduate practice nursing course next year.

The 12-month program is expected to provide extra training for registered nurses who prefer work in general practices over hospitals.

Wollongong will be the main campus to host the course with an estimated 20 places on offer.

The university's Nursing Department lecturer, Yvonne White says graduates will be working closely with the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Divisions of General Practice.

Reported in ABC Regional
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Universities put in $7m for crisis-hit IDP

2004-12-24T20:33:00.000+11:00

UNIVERSITIES have mounted an eleventh-hour bid to save their global student recruitment company, pledging up to $7million to bail it out of its cash crisis.

IDP Education Australia approached 38 vice-chancellors this week seeking funds to keep it trading into the new year. Yesterday it announced the bid had succeeded, with the new money putting it in a "sound financial position" for next year.

Universities have mostly backed it through interest-free loans over two years.

But some institutions remain sceptical about whether the rescue bid will solve the company's problems.

One source said universities were over a barrel because if they had not backed IDP its collapse would have significantly damaged Australia's higher education reputation.

IDP is an independent, not-for-profit company owned by 38 universities and governed by a board comprising mostly vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors.

Its offices in 50 countries co-ordinate student recruitment, marketing of Australian universities, aid projects and English language testing facilities.

It is blaming its financial woes on a drop in demand from foreign students wanting to study in Australia - a revenue stream that brings about $4billion a year in fees - brought about by factors such as a high Australian dollar.

A fortnight ago the company announced it would close seven offices overseas and retrench about 60 staff.

One of the company's most lucrative contracts, with the Botswana Government, yesterday yielded $6million, further securing its cash flow into the new year.

The Weekend Australian understands some universities have promised to lend up to $500,000. A small number of others have refused to back it.

James Cook University vice-chancellor Bernard Moulden said he was not a strong supporter of IDP and it was not a good business model. "They seem to be in danger of over-extending themselves," Professor Moulden said.

IDP president and vice-chancellor of Curtin University of Technology Lance Twomey said the company had received "extraordinary expressions of support" from universities this week.

As reported in The Australian this week, the company was predicting a cash deficit at the end of this month of $3.6million.

Asked how close to the wind it had sailed, Professor Twomey said: "We certainly weren't insolvent."

But he said if the Botswana contract had not come through, IDP would have found it difficult to meet commitments.

Reported in The Australian
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Hirsute promotion to a professorship

2004-12-23T17:28:00.000+11:00

CLEAN-shaven, ambitious gentlemen of academe, throw away those razors, cast off all face-scraping paraphernalia and use the summer break to let facial follicles flourish.

It could pave the way to a prize professorship, or at least a promotion.

The academic beard is either the key to success or could be a fringe benefit of it, two British researchers have found.

Postgraduates Sarah Carter and Kristina Astrom, from the London School of Pharmacy, rated 1795 senior academic staff at 23 British universities, posing the question: Does the use of a beard promote academic progression?

It seems it does: they found that male professors "were significantly more likely to wear a beard than any other male academic personnel".

The UK study found that 21.4 per cent of professors sported a full beard. Readers (16.7 per cent), senior lecturers (13.6 per cent), lecturers (10.5 per cent) and research fellows (12.8 per cent) trailed in hirsutability.

Female staff are offered little comfort: the beard's association with higher status "highlights the influence of physical characteristics in job selection and may have implications for the promotion of women in academia".

University of NSW chemistry professor Brynn Hibbert, bearded since 1976, said facial hair got him his first job.

Arriving in Australia in 1987, Professor Hibbert found his whiskers gave confidence.

"Certainly having a beard gave a certain gravitas to a young academic batting above his station," he said.

University of Technology, Sydney, deputy vice-chancellor (international) David Goodman is not surprised by the study.

At age 11 he knew he was going to be a professor - and he knew he would have a beard.

Why? "There's no question about it: because professors have beards," he said.

UTS Institute for Information and Communication Technologies director John Hughes lost the shaving habit while on a trekking holiday in New Zealand three years ago.

But it was not a professional tactic: "It wasn't a conscious decision that this was going to improve my career prospects."

In this week's edition of The Pharmaceutical Journal, Carter and Astrom write: "When men reach the top of the academic ladder they grow a beard.

"This may be because they are too busy to shave, or they may need to stroke the beard as an aid to intellectual thought."

The researchers cite several studies that found beards were signals of aggression, masculinity and strength. But perhaps there is a glass ceiling for the bearded: they may attain many lofty posts, but few make it to the very top.

According to the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee 2004 yearbook, only one boss, James McWha of the University of Adelaide, is bearded.

Former University of NSW vice-chancellor Rory Hume wore a goatee.

Charles Sturt University VC Ian Goulter, Swinburne boss Ian Young and University of Technology, Sydney, chief Ross Milbourne sported moustaches for the almanac.

"The people who are clean shaven tend to be vice-chancellors or people who don't get to be professors, which is often the same thing," Professor Goodman said.

* The author is not bearded, but may well be by the weekend.

Reported in The Australian
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RMIT to cut jobs and subjects to turn loss into profit

2004-12-23T17:14:00.000+11:00

RMIT University can turn this year's perilous $28 million deficit into a $28.5 million operating profit within two years by cutting costs with a "magnitude and intensity that has never been seen", according to acting vice-chancellor Chris Whitaker.

Professor Whitaker anticipates at least 180 non-academic job losses next year, a 2005 deficit of $4million and some cuts to the university's 13,000 subjects as part of the financial restructure.

After a few premature claims of financial stability from the university, including the prediction of a $14.9 million surplus this year, Professor Whitaker said he understood there would be scepticism about the proposed turnaround of RMIT's fortunes.

But there was "no blue sky" involved in the projections, he said.

Professor Whitaker held a media briefing last Friday after The Australian reported the anticipated $28 million budget bungle.

At the time he said that RMIT had been careful not to set itself unrealistic financial targets as it had in the past, particularly with projected targets.

However, the HES understands that the finance and major initiatives committee was split four votes to five on the projected 2005 deficit of $3.8 million.

Four of the committee members wanted to set the deficit at $8.8million "to give the university more room to move if the unexpected happened, like it did with the downturn in international students", according to one source.

The papers given to council and seen by the HES say "the margin for error is narrow - little slippage in timing or dilution of dividends can be tolerated".

RMIT has had a financially fraught three years, beginning with the botched introduction of a $12 million computer system in 2001. The system eventually cost the university $47 million to repair.

It is understood that the gap between the predicted surplus and the final deficit for 2004 - the "blue sky" - was largely due to the miscalculation of the number of full-fee-paying students who would attend the university and how much each student was worth.

RMIT was also too optimistic in forecasting aggressive growth in the international student market, which has been progressively tightening.

The predicted 2004 surplus was based largely on the basis of an anticipated 15 per cent growth in international enrolments, but 2005 is expected to bring the institution no more than about 5per cent growth.

In the vice-chancellor's executive budget statement for 2005, seen by the HES, Professor Whitaker says the "core business of the university is not financially sustainable".

"It is also clear that, based on our current operation and financial performance, the university will not be financially sustainable in the future and so financial recovery strategies are planned to be implemented in 2005 as a matter of urgency."

He also says that the forecast income from fee-paying domestic and international students has been written down by $8million.

Professor Whitaker said last week that $15 million of this year's deficit was due to the deferral of a federal government payment that was due in December but will not arrive until January.

He said $8 million was down to "restructuring costs" that had not been budgeted for last year, including the redundancy of about 50 non-academic staff late this year and early next year - and another 180 for next year.

The rest, he said, was because of the "shortfall in meeting targets for full-fee-paying students, including the international market".

He said he hoped the cost-cutting measures would see RMIT with a $40 million surplus by the end of 2007.

The university's financial troubles have already seen the resignation of former vice-chancellor Ruth Dunkin, who oversaw the disastrous computer program, and head of finance, Cameron Moroney.

Reported in The Australian.
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University of Tasmania to play a major role in NASA's Saturn mission

2004-12-19T05:06:00.000+11:00

Tasmania is set to play a major role in the global mission to find life on Saturn's largest moon early next year.

On Christmas Day the Huygens probe will be launched from the spacecraft Cassini, from where it will head towards Titan.

It is expected to parachute through Titan's atmosphere on January 14 and will hopefully land on the surface.

Once landed the probe will help determine the contentious question of whether Titan has a liquid ocean, the temperature of the interior and whether life exists there.

The University of Tasmania will use its two radio-telescopes, in Hobart and South Australia, to help track the motion of the probe as it parachutes through Titan's atmosphere.

The telescopes will join up to another dozen in China, Japan and the US to monitor how the wind affects the probe's landing.

University head of physics Prof. John Dickey said that the 26m telescope at Cambridge, just east of Hobart, would play a crucial part.

"We're much further south than any of the others so we have a particularly important role to play," Prof. Dickey said.

He said that the mission aimed to combine all the telescope signals to give a precise measure of the spacecraft's movement as it passed through the atmosphere.

"If those winds catch the spacecraft and drive it very fast it may not survive the landing," he said.

"The critical part we play is in monitoring the health and condition of the spacecraft as it parachutes in."

Another advantage Tasmania would have, Prof. Dickey said, was the ability to see the spacecraft during the whole time it fell through the atmosphere.

But this vantage point also comes with a heavy responsibility, and the two teams will be preparing for the journey days before the probe is launched.

"When NASA does this kind of thing they spend millions of dollars," Prof. Dickey said.

"As a university facility we can't afford that, so we only have one of anything and it's got to work."

He said that a test drive last month had proved successful but there would still be a lot of pressure on the day to gather the data.

"Here we have just a six-hour window when the spacecraft transmits, and then it's over and we won't have another chance in our lifetimes," he said.

"So we really don't want to stuff up."

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - Tasmanian Examiner
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Racist group spreads tentacles in Sydney

2004-12-19T03:48:00.000+11:00

Reported in the Sun-Herald. Disclaimer : Media releases are provided as is by the source mentioned and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the source of the article itself.

Police are investigating a white supremacist group following complaints about a race-based hate campaign.

More than 140 Patriotic Youth League posters and stickers have been placed on telegraph poles, road signs and signal boxes targeting Asian-owned businesses and homes in Sydney's north-west.

They bear slogans such as "End all immigration before it ends Australia", "Australian - an identity defined by ethnicity, not paperwork", and "Mass immigration = water restriction".

According to the group's website, it is hoping to recruit high school and university students and has distributed material at Carlingford High School and Marist College.

Superintendent Geoff Beresford from Eastwood Police said the material being distributed was of concern, and that police had launched an investigation into the group.

"Anything of a racist nature or any sort of racial vilification is obviously a concern," he said.

Residents have taken to the streets to remove the material.

The clean-up was organised by Eastwood resident, Mat Henderson-Hau, who first noticed stickers around the Epping area a few months ago.

Initially, he covered the racist material with his own pro-multicultural stickers, then organised Wednesday's community action. "I feel very strongly that multiculturalism does work around here, and I don't like the idea of someone in the area trying to muck with it," he said.

Ryde Councillor Tom McKosker, who also attended the clean-up, has taken up the issue with council.

He raised an emergency motion authorising the general manager to investigate the racist material, with a view to taking Patriotic Youth League to the Anti-Discrimination Board.

"This sort of group is not the sort of organisation we want anywhere in Ryde, and particularly in the Eastwood/Epping area because it is a melting pot of cultures," he said.

Councillor McKosker said Ryde Council would remove any new material postered "immediately". Mr Henderson-Hau is seeking a similar commitment from Parramatta and Hornsby councils.

The league's 23-year-old president, Stuart McBeth, declined to speak to The Sun-Herald. The Sydney branch is believed to have a total membership of 20.

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE : This is the same racist group responsible for attacks on Asian and African students studying at the University of Newcastle and which has now opened a centre at the University of Queensland. Please refer to the following news articles which were published on our weblog in August and September 2004.

August 2004 - Racist attacks on University of Newcastle students

September 2004 - Racist group opens branch at University of Queensland

South Australian Universities face retirement bulge

2004-12-18T04:45:00.000+11:00

UNIVERSITIES could face a "sudden crisis" in replacing their ageing academics, according to a leading demographer.

Federal Government figures show a marked increase in the percentage of university staff aged over 50.

Nearly 40 per cent of South Australian academics are in this age group, creating fears of a lack of quality tutors on their retirement within the next 15 years.

"If nothing is done, the universities will have trouble recruiting and staffing our universities with high quality academics," University of Adelaide geography professor Graeme Hugo said yesterday.

"It's like all workforce planning. It must be done over a period of time, rather than being left to a sudden crisis situation."

Between 1991 and 2003, the number of SA university academics aged over 50 has increased by nearly 10 per cent. Both Flinders University and the University of South Australia reported greater increases.

"In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a massive increase of younger staff who were baby boomers coming into the system," Professor Hugo explained. "Now there is a bulge of those people in the system and they will all retire at about the same time."

Professor Hugo said the universities had to perform the "three Rs" in order to prepare for the exodus.

"They must recruit, retain and have (graduates) return," he said.

Education Adelaide chief executive Patrick Markwick-Smith said planning was crucial in solving the problem. "But I would look upon it positively because, in 10 years' time, it's going to open up a lot of opportunities for young academics," he said.

University of South Australia professor of psychology Tony Winefield, 67, said he was proud of his age.

"I think people of my age still have a lot to offer in bringing all their skills acquired from the workplace," he said. "I don't think there will be a problem in the future because academics can retire when they like and can still work part-time if they are still performing."

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - NEWS Network
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Mining graduates strike gold

2004-12-17T02:47:00.000+11:00

DEMAND for mining engineers is so great that recent graduate Sarah Hepworth could have donned her miner's helmet before wearing her graduate's mortar board.

Lured to the profession by an interest in big trucks and blowing things up, Ms Hepworth spent yesterday at the beach celebrating her graduation on Monday.

But unlike many recent graduates, Ms Hepworth doesn't need to begin looking for a job because she has already been recruited by BHP Billiton to work in the Cannington mine in outback northwest Queensland, near Mt Isa.

Graduate mining engineers have one of the highest recruitment rates behind doctors, vets and dentists.

"I like working with big equipment and blowing things up, which is basically what mining engineers do," Ms Hepworth, 21, said.

Ms Hepworth was one of seven men and about 23 women to graduate as mining engineers from the University of Queensland. Most of Ms Hepworth's class are now employed.

"They were having trouble getting people because we were in pretty short supply," she said.

"Some people had their jobs by February, about half the class had their jobs lined up by June and I had the job by the September uni holidays."

Ms Hepworth gave her resume to Cannington recruiters at a careers day, but was also considered for positions at the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley and at the Endeavor Mine in Cobar, NSW.

Some Queensland-based mining companies are paying a "golden hello" of $20,000 on top of starting salaries of about $70,000.

And Ms Hepworth said one member of her graduating class was starting on a salary of $120,000.

To earn her $70,000, including superannuation, in her first year, Ms Hepworth will fly from Townsville to Cannington, south of Mt Isa, where she will work underground as part of a crew that works two weeks on, one week off.

"Cannington had the career development and training that I wanted," Ms Hepworth said.

"I didn't apply for many jobs because I knew that I didn't need to -- there are lots of jobs out there for us."

Friends who had graduated in other disciplines, such as electrical and mechanical engineers, had struggled to find jobs.

"I had a friend who did food technology and it took him six months to find a job," Ms Hepworth said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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NTEU takes University of Western Sydney to court

2004-12-17T02:44:00.000+11:00

THE National Tertiary Education Union is taking the University of Western Sydney to court over its snap decision to scrap for two years, possibly indefinitely, its intake to osteopathy and podiatry degree courses.

NTEU industrial officer Chris Holley said the matter was listed for hearing next Monday in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

"They made that decision without going through the consultancy process required under the enterprise agreement," Mr Holley said.

"Management told us 'we've made the decision so do your worst', so we're off to the industrial commission to ask the AIRC to order them not to implement [the intake cuts] until they have done what they're required to do under the enterprise agreement."

The union last week called for the university's senior executive to be removed and for auditors to be called in. Mr Holley described the situation at UWS, which is restructuring its schools and colleges and its undergraduate courses, as chaotic.

"They are going through this apparently unco-ordinated series of restructures, they have over 20 formal change proposals and people don't know what campus they're going to be on next year, what they're going to be teaching," he said.

"It is a very chaotic position and the financial position is not very good."

Mr Holley said UWS had a deficit of $13million this year and that "it was looking much worse next year".

Cost-cutting had led to the reduction of tutorials in favour of mass lectures, he said.

After five years of "continuous restructure" morale was "pretty close to rock bottom".

Many academic staff were expected to look for jobs elsewhere.

The cuts to osteopathy and podiatry would cost a number of casual academic jobs, Mr Holley said.

A UWS spokesman said the reforms were designed to "further improve teaching and research, boost student support services, renew older courses, enable the university to develop new courses in high demand areas and reduce costs".

There will be an extra 1000 HECS places at UWS for new students in 2005.

Deputy vice-chancellor (academic and services) Robert Coombes said the university had "a mission to offer students contemporary degrees needed for tomorrow's job market".

"Federal funding arrangements have made it even more important for the university to streamline its academic program," Professor Coombes said.

The HES understands UWS wants to reduce its four colleges to three and its 21 schools to 16.

The four existing colleges are arts, education and social sciences; law and business; science, technology and environment; and social and health sciences.

It is understood that social and health sciences and science, technology and engineering are to be amalgamated.

NTEU branch president Robyn Moroney said the changes reflected a "shoot from the hip" mentality.

"We're over it. We're sick of it. We have no confidence. I'm absolutely gutted ... heartsick about what's happening."

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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Ancient artefacts stolen from ANU

2004-12-17T02:31:00.000+11:00

ACT police yesterday released a photofit image of a man they want to question about the disappearance of an estimated $300,000 worth of ancient artefacts from the Australian National University.

They said the man, possibly seen at the western entrance of the arts faculty museum shortly before closing time last Wednesday, was wearing a light coloured hat, a baggy orange T-shirt and loose pants.

He was described as Caucasian, in his early 30s, of medium height and build, and with long brown hair.

The Australian Federal Police, Interpol, Customs, domestic antique dealers and international auction houses were on alert for the items, all Roman artefacts from the first century BC to the third century AD. Arts dean Adam Shoemaker described the theft as regrettable.

Missing are a 2000-year-old bronze portrait head, "an actual reproduction of a visage of a person", believed to be that of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus, or his sister Octavia.

"It is beautiful to the extent that it has delicately filigreed hair; it's a real loss," Professor Shoemaker said. "We used it for teaching what the real world looked like at that time, what people did and the role of women."

The other four items appeared to have a common, female, theme, Professor Shoemaker said.

They are a gold ring with a portrait head engraved on it with an inset cornelian stone, from the second century AD; a 31.5cm gold necklace from the first or second century AD; gold earrings from the third century AD, "ornate and unusually crafted for that period"; and a vase with twisted handles and a frieze of an erotic male and female design under an arbour.

Professor Shoemaker said one theory was that the thief was working for a collector who possibly had ordered "an assembly of five things".

A cleaner discovered the theft at 5am last Wednesday. It is thought the thief entered the museum shortly before closing time on Tuesday and stayed overnight, leaving through a fire door.

The theft had upset the 40-year-old museum's balance between access and safety, Professor Shoemaker said.

"These are things which you wouldn't want to nail to the floor because they are used by people," he said. "We thought we had the balance right but we're reviewing that at the moment."

There was no evidence the items had been taken out of Australia, but if they had left the country it was most likely they would be bound for Japan or the US, which do not outlaw the keeping of antiquities in private homes.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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Tasmania short of dentists, 100 more needed

2004-12-16T20:00:00.000+11:00

Tasmania is suffering from a severe shortage of dentists, with 100 more needed to bring the State in line with the national average, Australian Dental Association Tasmanian federal councillor Wayne Ottaway said yesterday.

"We have 130 dentists in the State and we need another 100 just to get us up to the national average," he said.

"In many places in Australia, there is one dentist to about every 2000 people but in Northern Tasmania, we have one dentist for about 4500."

The State Government announced this week that an extra public dentist would start work in Launceston next month as part of the Government's goal to reduce dental waiting lists.

Dr Ottaway said that there were 3772 people awaiting general dental work in Northern Tasmania in September, 3583 in the North-West and 2380 in the South.

The situation was almost as grim in the private sector.

"The situation has become progressively worse over the years as another dentist dies or retires or moves and is not replaced," he said.

"One dentist is a significant loss when there are only 130 Statewide."

He said that large communities like George Town and St Helens had no dentists and he predicted that the situation was only going to get worse with a number of Launceston dentists about to reach retirement age.

"The next five years or so are of great concern," Dr Ottaway said.

He said that various strategies had been tried to attract dentists to Tasmania and keep them here.

"You can't train to be a dentist here, which probably puts a lot of people off actually taking up the profession.

"For those who go from Tasmania to study it's a five-year course so they might meet someone over there and not come back."

The Tasmanian branch of the Australian Dental Association had run an advertising campaign extolling the virtues of life as a dentist practising in the State with the theme Practice In Paradise, but with little success.

It has also encouraged the State Government to have dentistry cadetships where student dentists were sponsored for at least part of their training.

A scheme has also been developed between the State and the University of Adelaide for some fifth-year students to have practical training sessions in the Tasmanian dental services public sector.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Examiner
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Monash University staff lift work bans

2004-12-15T20:30:00.000+11:00

Bans on the delivery of second semester exam results have been lifted by staff at Victoria's Monash University.

Employees agreed to lift the bans, which have been in place since last month, after voting to accept management's improved enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) offer.

More than 10,000 students' results had been affected by the bans.

The new agreement will deliver salary rises of 24.5 per cent by March, 2008.

The National Tertiary Education Union's Victorian secretary, Matthew McGowan, said the EBA also included a number of improvements in employment conditions, namely parental leave.

"At this stage this is the best outcome that has been gained for staff compared to any of the other leading Australian universities, and goes some way towards recognising the integral role that staff play in establishing Monash's status," Mr McGowan said.

"We call on the rest of Victoria's universities who are still bargaining to now follow Monash's lead and finalise new agreements that provide similar recognition."

He said the full details of the agreement were yet to be finalised.

But he said a number of provisions had been finalised including improving maternity leave provisions to 36 weeks paid leave, regulation of academic workloads, restrictions on casual employment, and improved classification processes for general staff.

Mr McGowan also said it was vital the agreement was as far-reaching as possible.

"Having an expiry date of March 2008 will provide the best possible protection to staff whose employment conditions are threatened by changes that the Howard Government has foreshadowed since the federal election," he said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - National Nine News
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Foreign students shunning Australia

2004-12-15T20:23:00.000+11:00

The number of foreign students coming to Australia to study at university is reportedly declining after a decade of growth.

The slowdown had been so dramatic that IDP Education Australia, an organisation that recruits overseas students to study here, was considering shutting overseas offices and cutting staff, The Australian newspaper said.

More than 200,000 foreign students are enrolled in Australian universities, injecting $1.4 billion in fees, according to the report.

IDP offices considered at most risk of closure were those in South Africa, London, Sweden, Mexico and Brazil.

One of IDP's longest-serving executives, Dorothy Davis, resigned this week, the report said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - Sydney Morning Herald
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Ailing IDP to shut offices

2004-12-15T20:19:00.000+11:00

FOREIGN demand for places at Australian universities has slowed so much that the body recruiting students to study here is considering shutting overseas offices and cutting staff.

IDP Education Australia is likely to embark on a stringent round of cost cutting as demand from overseas students wanting to study here slows after a decade of massive expansion.

More than 200,000 foreign students are enrolled in Australian universities, injecting $1.4 billion in fees, or 13 per cent of total university revenue.

But for the first time, this year the mushrooming industry has slowed, alarming institutions which look to foreign students as their biggest source of private income.

A special meeting of the board of IDP was held late yesterday ahead of a scheduled board meeting next week.

Members were expected to consider a new company structure being drawn up by consultants Deloitte.

IDP, which is owned by 38 universities, is blaming the downturn in students for a blowout in its debt which is expected to be more than $2million this year.

As part of attempts to rein in costs it is likely to announce later this week that it will close a number of its 90 overseas offices and also shed staff in Australia.

While IDP will not confirm which offices will close, it is understood the most vulnerable are in South Africa, London, Sweden, Mexico and Brazil.

The company's problems have been exacerbated by a high turnover of senior management in the past 18 months, amid low staff morale.

And this week one of its longest-serving senior executives, Dorothy Davis, resigned, bringing to eight the number of general managers who have left this year.

Vice-chancellors are divided on how to overhaul the not-for-profit company that has been operating for 34 years.

Some universities believe it can only survive by putting it on a commercial footing in an industry where it is facing tough competition from other countries vying for fee-paying students.

A high Australian dollar, a rise in living costs and an increase in university course fees are contributing to the difficult climate.

And many countries that have been traditional recruiting markets for Australia are building up their own education systems, making it more attractive for students to study at home.

Last month chief executive Lindy Hyam told The Australian that at no point in the company's history had all these factors converged.

"Everything's changed. We can't operate the way we have in the past," she said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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Monash and CDU students left in the limbo due to strikes

2004-12-14T02:14:00.000+11:00

THOUSANDS of university students in Victoria and the Northern Territory have been left in limbo as striking staff at Monash and Charles Darwin universities withhold their exam results.

Monash University has taken the National Tertiary Education Union to court over the strikes, while Charles Darwin has failed to convince the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to prevent staff from withholding results.

Bitter and protracted pay disputes have led to the strike action.

Both the universities' management and students have complained it is inappropriate that students are caught in the "pointy end" of industrial disputes.

Students at both universities had the opportunity to apply for exemptions from the bans before they began.

At least 70 per cent of students at Monash - including honours students and final-year education, medical and nursing students - have received their marks but that has still left nearly 20,000 students unable to access their results at the university.

About 15,000 students at Charles Darwin have also been affected. Management and students at the university have attacked the local branch of the NTEU as "immoral and unethical" after it started withholding results on Monday.

Union organiser Mark Wheeler said the decision to hold back results was made as a last resort after long-running negotiations with management failed.

But while students could apply to receive their results under special circumstances where the information was necessary, he admitted that the move would disadvantage students.

While the pay dispute is ongoing at Charles Darwin, an end may be in sight at Monash. Staff at two campuses met yesterday to discuss the strikes and the remaining campuses will meet today.

It was recommended to staff members at yesterday's meeting that they accept the latest offer from the university and cease the action.

The Monash case was adjourned in the AIRC yesterday and a spokesman for the Victorian branch of the NTEU said no final decision would be made on the strikes until today's meetings.

Charles Darwin's student union president Kent Rowe said most students were angry they could not get the results they needed for further education or employment. "The general feeling is it's a bit disappointing for students because we have worked hard all year for our degrees and now it's got to the crunch time and we are not getting our results," Mr Rowe said.

"We put a lot of time and effort into our degrees and we expect to get our results."

Scott Snyder, executive director of corporate services at Charles Darwin, said in a message to staff last week that the decision was unfortunate.

"[Although] the university recognises the right of staff who are union members to participate in protected industrial action, I find actions that [affect] parties outside of the university, especially students and their families, to be immoral and unethical," Dr Snyder said.

He said the university hoped there would soon be a fresh approach to bargaining as long as it was understood "all the goodwill in the world will not miraculously expand the university's income".

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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First Ever Rankings of All Australian Universities

2004-12-13T22:15:00.000+11:00

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The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (owned by the University of Melbourne) has come out with the 'First Ever' Rankings of All Australian Universities. These Rankings stress upon the International reputation, prestige and research of universities. The Melbourne Institute's International Standings of Australian Universities can be downloaded by Clicking Here

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UNE students win trip to Germany

2004-12-13T15:52:00.000+11:00

Two students studying German at the University of New England have won scholarships to study in Germany early next year.

UNE's Chris O'Neill and Elizabeth Brazier are among students from Australian, New Zealand and Brazilian universities who will travel to Germany for the six-week intensive language and culture course starting on January 3.

Chris, from Winmalee in NSW, who is studying (on campus) for a Bachelor of Languages degree, will do the course at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, in the south of Germany.

Elizabeth, from Faulconbridge in NSW, is studying by distance education for a Bachelor of Arts degree, and will travel to the University of Leipzig in Germany's east.

A Senior Lecturer in German at UNE Dr Linda Hess-Liechti said "both universities have excellent reputations and have a special relationship with UNE, as quite a few of our recent prac teachers have come from Freiburg and Leipzig."

The scholarships, awarded each year by the German Academic Exchange Service, are worth more than $3,000 each.

Several UNE students have received them over the past decade.

Chris hopes to improve his reading, writing and speaking skills as much as possible, and is looking forward to learning more about German culture, visiting historic cities and monuments, and experiencing the German winter.

His dream is to live and work in Germany at some time in the future.

For Elizabeth "experiencing the art and music of famous cities such as Leipzig, Potsdam and Dresden will definitely be a high point."

"I hope to improve my German skills significantly, while increasing my awareness of German culture," she said.

"Although I am majoring in Classical Languages, I have continued with German throughout my degree because I found it so challenging and so much fun.

"I have also discovered how important a knowledge of German is in the field of Classics because there is an abundance of scholarly material in that language."

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SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Armidale Express
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Dispute over Victoria University board

2004-12-13T15:46:00.000+11:00

Critics of a plan by Victoria University to replace its academic board say the university's academics could be gagged and the quality of courses could be damaged.

The university's governing council will tonight decide whether to merge the academic boards of its higher education and TAFE arms, and form a reduced 35-member education board.

Academic boards are seen as the representative voice of academic staff in Australian universities regulating the quality of courses, academic standards and advising the council on policy issues.

The president of the Victoria University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, Paul Adams, said the merged board would remove the academic voice from the running of the university.

He said revelations of an alleged $30 million fraud by a network of nine staff members and contractors at the university highlighted the need to keep the university accountable.

Dr Adams, a member of the current academic board, said the changes seem "to be laying the grounds for a future disaster".

He also said academics needed representative institutions within the university to maintain intellectual freedom.

In council documents seen by The Age, Victoria University vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman said the academic board was central to good governance but there was evidence of weak standards.

Professor Harman gave the recent example of errors in the midwifery course that led to a formal inquiry by the Nurses Board.

"It is time to encourage a fresh and more effective approach," she wrote. "This should focus particularly on its central role as custodian of academic standards and quality assurance."

The issue is shaping as a stoush between the university and the tertiary union.

In the document, Professor Harman said while the union had a legitimate place in industrial matters, it should not have a role in the academic board's oversight of academic standards.

The proposed new board would reduce the number of elected academic staff from the previous majority to less than one-third of the merged body's 35 members. The proposal is one of several to be considered at the council meeting.

Last month the academic board voted against the board merger. Three of four faculties have voted against the changes.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Age
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Artist puts up collection for scholarship

2004-12-13T05:12:00.000+11:00

A Tasmanian artist's personal collection is to be sold to raise money for an arts scholarship.

Seventy-nine-year-old abstract artist Marie Edwards has donated 40 of her paintings and hundreds of drawings to the University of Tasmania.

They will be sold as part of an exhibition of her work this week at the School of Art's Plimsoll Gallery.

Amanda Wojtowicz from the University of Tasmania Foundation says she is confident the art work will sell.

"Were expecting quite a deal of interest, we have a large number of people already expressing interest, indeed some people we are already hoping will buy," she said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - ABC News Online
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Why is DIMIA so cruel ?

2004-12-13T03:43:00.000+11:00

Flick to the December page of the 2005 calendar marking the International Day of People with a Disability and you will find a picture of a smiling Rophin Morris lying on a couch.

But while the calendar was produced by the Federal Government to celebrate the abilities of disabled people, the 12-year-old Indian-born child and his family are not welcome to stay in Australia because he is autistic. His parents, Daisy and Jude Morris, are calling on Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to exercise her power to overturn an Immigration Department decision to reject their application for permanent residency.

"Disability is nobody's fault," Mrs Morris said. "It is not our fault, it is not his fault.

"I feel like we are being punished for something that is beyond our control, as a mother I'm feeling that. If we had a normal child, we probably could have walked into the country because we are both skilled."

Rophin has lived with his parents in Canberra since they arrived in Australia 10 years ago from India, when he was almost two.

It was only when he was four that he was diagnosed with autism. Today he attends a regular school in Canberra but in a special autism unit.

"He can play on the computer, he's learning to swim," Mrs Morris said. "He's very much like a regular boy except that he cannot talk and understand a lot of stuff that normal kids could understand."

Mr and Mrs Morris work as counsellors in areas such as suicide prevention, domestic violence, the homeless and young offenders.

In 2002, after eight years in Australia on temporary student and business visas, their employer, the Queanbeyan Baptist Church, offered to sponsor their application for permanent residency.

Earlier this year, the family learnt their application had been unsuccessful because of their son's health. They have lodged an application seeking ministerial intervention and are waiting to hear from Senator Vanstone, hoping for a reprieve.

This week immigration officials visited them. They cancelled their temporary visas and issued them with bridging visas.

Senator Vanstone yesterday said the officials visited the Morris family because their migration agent had failed to lodge an application for a bridging visa, necessary while an ministerial intervention is being considered. She denied the Government was trying to deport the family.

While Mrs Morris is concerned the controversy has "marred the spirit of the calender", she said it was beyond her control and urged Senator Vanstone to help her family.

The calendar was produced by the Department of Family and Community Services department to coincide with yesterday's International Day of People with a Disability.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Age
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New golf institute to open at Griffith University

2004-12-13T02:07:00.000+11:00

The PGA will open an International Golf Institute at Griffith University's Nathan campus on the Gold Coast next year.

The Institute, which will offer degree and post-graduate courses in golf course business and management, has received $471,000 in government funding.

The joint venture between the PGA and Griffith University will provide opportunities for students from grade 10 to professional golfers who could chose a business path rather than be lost to golf.

It is anticipated enrolments will pass 400 by 2007 with an estimated return of $17 million for the local community.

The idea is to pitch the Institute to the Asian market, offering an elite business and management program.

Announcing the funding, Queensland Minister for State Development and Innovation, Tony McGrady, said the government wanted a bigger slice of golf which was a big business in Queensland.

"In Asia many business deals are made on the golfing green and business students and executives see the game as part of business life," said Mr McGrady.

"Our International Golf Institute will be able to provide the business management and specific golf course management training that the Chinese and other Asian nations are looking for."

PGA of Australia Executive Officer Max Garske said the IGI would provide opportunities and training for those currently in the golfing industry as well as an avenue for players who may not want to continue on as professionals who would otherwise be lost to golf.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - AAP
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La Trobe questions campus poll

2004-12-12T16:43:00.000+11:00

La Trobe University says a Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre (VTAC) poll showing fewer students are intending to apply for the Bendigo campus next year is misleading.

The poll, based on VTAC preferences one to three, indicates an 8 per cent fall at Bendigo compared with last year.

Pro-vice chancellor Peter Sullivan says the figures relate to the number of students applying for its three most popular courses - nursing, teaching and business.

He says there will be no reduction in the number of places in Bendigo.

"In terms of the campus overall there's no reduction, in fact we've actually had some really delightful increases, in fact increased placings that we'll be able to offer in the sciences area," he said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - ABC Regional
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VCs threaten more fee rises

2004-12-12T16:34:00.000+11:00

VICE-CHANCELLORS have signalled they will be forced to seek a further round of student fee increases unless the Howard Government offers to index taxpayer-funded university grants to wage growth.

The admission came as new a study of household debt revealed HECS debts in Australia now outstrip the money owed on credit cards.

The AMP NATSEM report on household debt found the total HECS debt is $9.1 billion, compared with the $7.3 billion owed on credit cards.

Men are more likely than women to owe $20,000 or more.

For the first time, university chiefs have confirmed the round of 25 per cent increases to HECS fees will be swiftly eroded as wage claims increase running costs.

In a review of ALP policy, Labor also confirmed yesterday it would dump its pledge to reverse the HECS increases, but left the door open to fee relief.

Most universities have agreed to increase student fees by 25 per cent from

2005, securing the freedom to set their own fee regime with the passage of the Nelson reforms last year.

In their submission to the 2005 federal budget, however, universities have warned they will have to push for another round of fee hikes to ensure quality.

"Without change, universities will have to seek further increases in the real level of student contributions to ensure effective quality education continues," the submission states.

"This has been borne out by rising levels of student to teacher ratios, which have risen from 16 in 1996 to 21 in 2003, larger class sizes, reduced access to staff, greater use of casual staff and restrictions on access to libraries and resources."

The threat coincides with federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson's confirmation to key stakeholders that the long-awaited inquiry into indexation will be conducted by the Department of Finance and the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Universities argue the existing funding mechanism is not realistic, in that it indexes funding and student contributions to a mixture of inflation and the Safety Net adjustment for wages. Because the wage adjustment used falls far below the real increases in salaries at universities, vice-chancellors argue they are losing up to $568 million a year compared with what they call a more appropriate indexation arrangement.

Dr Nelson's long delay in announcing an inquiry has angered vice-chancellors, who also were surprised to learn the investigation will be conducted in-house.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said yesterday the ALP policy review had agreed to the key principles of increasing the number of university places, ensuring affordability and abolishing full-fee places for Australian undergraduates.

However, with most universities introducing HECS fee increases of 25 per cent from next year, the ALP will not go back to the drawing board over the detail of the policy.

"Our commitment was to reverse this 25 per cent HECS increase before January and clearly we won't be able to do that," Ms Macklin told the HES. "Today's decision does however commit the ALP to ensuring university education is affordable and that universities are properly funded."

The National Tertiary Education Union has backed vice-chancellors' concerns that there can be "no confidence in a review that is undertaken only within the confines of the Department of Education, Science and Training".

"Our major concern is that by making it an in-house affair, the Education Minister is setting the stage for a review that will only tell the Government what it wants to hear, that the present indexation arrangements are satisfactory, whereas the complete opposite is true," NTEU president Carolyn Allport said.

"The funding crunch facing our universities was highlighted by the Productivity Commission's recently released report Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia, which showed that between 1995 and 2001 real funding per publicly subsidised university student fell from $10,030 to $8133 - a decline of approximately 26per cent."

The Productivity Commission found that every year since the mid-1990s, government funding for universities has declined in real terms by between 8.8 per cent and 3.4per cent a year.

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Monash bid to lift ban on students' results

2004-12-12T16:18:00.000+11:00

Monash University will take its academic union to court today to try to lift a ban on the release of students' end-of-year results.

The ban was put in place by the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union in late October over stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations.

But for the bans, the university's 40,000 students would have received their results today. However, exemptions by the union will allow 70 per cent of students to receive them.

The university will activate an application this morning with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to have the bans lifted. A Monash spokesman said they would be lifted next week if this was successful.

The university lodged the application with the commission last Friday and has since been in conciliation with the union.

Carol Williams, president of the Monash branch of the Tertiary Union, said the court action was "sabre rattling" as the university had little rationale to support its action.

Dr Williams said the university did not value its staff, who were bearing impossible workloads. "Monash management cannot see its way free to demonstrate how it values its staff by paying it a salary which is commensurate with its estimation of its own standing," she said. "While it likes to consider itself one of Australia's leading universities, it simply is not in terms of how it pays its staff."

The Tertiary Union represents academic and general staff.

Dr Williams said the bans were not penalising students as the industrial action was aimed at protecting the quality of their education. She said most students who applied for an exemption from the bans - to go for a job, scholarship or to apply to graduate - were granted one immediately.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Age
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UNSW inks quantum computing pact

2004-12-11T17:20:00.000+11:00

In an effort to foster knowledge sharing and reduce research costs for a new generation of computing, the University of New South Wales' Centre for Quantum Computer Technology has entered into a joint study agreement with IBM's Thomas J Watson research centre.

Dr Richard Sharp, COO of the quantum computing centre - in which eight Australian universities cooperate - said partnering with a large industry player, like IBM, will benefit the commercial applications of the technology, in addition to research collaboration.

Sharp said in the past quantum computing was put in the realm of science fiction but, because it has been successfully demonstrated, this is no longer the case.

Examples of where quantum computing will shine include searches of large databases, engineering modelling, and sorting through genomics data, Sharp said.

The centre's researchers have a path of some 15 years towards devices that ought to be useful with the first milestone slated for within three years when the centre hopes to create a fundamental building block - a quantum computing chip.

"Full-scale quantum computing may be may be 15 to 20 years away but we are doing work that is useful in the nearer term," he said. "For example, we can manipulate individual atoms [providing] the industry with the ability to design novel transistors."

IBM Australia's corporate affairs executive John Harvey said there are some technologies from which the centre can extract economic rent, but the goal is to be a significant player in quantum physics in 10 years time.

"Twenty years ago I think we would not have entered into an agreement with the UNSW centre for quantum physics because we would have tried to do it all our self," Harvey said. "We are doing an open innovation model where we are taking work from outside and combining it with our own for a better and lower-cost solution."

Harvey said innovation is the only way Australia can compete and be cost-competitive globally.

University of California Berkeley's centre for open innovation executive director and author of Open Innovation, Professor Henry Chesbrough, said that, because the quantum computing centre is a cooperative of eight universities, a variety of perspectives will be seen.

"In a long-term technology that's exactly what you want," Chesbrough said. "There are too many unknowns and you can't really judge what the right path is, technically. By using this approach IBM is gaining access to not just one point of view but eight - plus the multiple points of view that are inside IBM."

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - Computer World
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Union rails at closure of courses at University of Western Sydney

2004-12-11T17:17:00.000+11:00

THE National Tertiary Education Union has passed a motion of no confidence in the executive of the University of Western Sydney after it closed the intake for osteopathy and podiatry for two years without consulting the professions, students or applicants.

There will be no intake for osteopathy and podiatry for next year and 2006. Staff, students and the professions' national peak bodies say they were not consulted.

UWS deputy vice-chancellor (academic and services) Robert Coombes said the university regretted any inconvenience but it had to review the courses and couldn't have made the decision any sooner. The courses had been suspended because the university wanted "to take stock of ... the viability, the quality of outcomes, and also our ability to attract full-time senior staff".

The review was part of a wider analysis. "We need to review so we can look at the courses where we have strength," Professor Coombes said.

UWS would spend the two years "liaising with professional bodies, getting feedback from graduates, talking with students and seeing if there are better ways of attracting staff". The osteopathy profession had been contacted in October about a review, Professor Coombes said.

Applicants, who have until January6 in NSW to change their preferences, will be informed of the suspension in writing this week.

Australian Osteopathy Association president Stephen Robbins told the HES: "There was no consultation. It was just a snap decision." He said the association was concerned with the timing of the closures. "It's been made late in the year when students have finished their HSC [NSW Year 12 finals] and a lot of them have put in applications [for places in osteopathy]." Mr Robbins feared some mature-age students might have quit their jobs to attend summer school as a precursor to studying osteopathy.

Osteopathy at UWS took in between 50 and 80 first-year students each year. They were required to finish a three-year degree course and a two-year clinical masters. Student Sam McCarthy said he feared the course would be dropped altogether to make way for a medical school at UWS, which was due to open in 2007. Student Osteopathic Medical Association president Alexis Bahar called on UWS to commit to osteopathy beyond that year.

Professor Coombes said resurrection of the courses depended on the review. "If all of the things we have concerns about are addressed adequately, then we may have an intake in 2007," he said. He denied the move was designed to clear the decks for the medical school.

Podiatry Council of Australasia chief executive John Price said the decision to cut the field's intake for two years would worsen a nationwide shortage in the profession, reducing the number of podiatry graduates by 40percent.

The decision at UWS reflects a rationalisation in health sciences: Curtin University also shut down its podiatry intake this year.

The NTEU's UWS branch yesterday said it would "lodge a dispute regarding the university's failure to adequately consult over proposed changes to college and school structures". It also vowed to publicise what it called "the university executive's arbitrary unilateral actions and financial incompetence".

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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Monash cuts IT jobs as IT students flee

2004-12-11T17:06:00.000+11:00

For almost a decade it was the university's boom faculty, a magnet for thousands of young students who dreamed of high-paid jobs in the world's fastest growing industry.

Now, after the end of the information technology boom, the IT faculty at Monash University has also fallen on harder times. With the contraction in IT job prospects, student numbers have plunged by almost a third in two years, and the university is looking at cutting up to 100 staff from its IT faculty.

Faculty head Ron Weber yesterday confirmed that a faculty review and restructure could result in up to 70 academic and 30 administration jobs being lost.

In a memorandum to faculty staff, seen by The Age, Professor Weber said full-time IT student numbers had been in "marked decline" since 2002 when 5800 students were enrolled. Next year the faculty expects fewer than 4000 full-time students, below the numbers it initially predicted. "We ignore these dramatic changes to our circumstances at our peril," he wrote.

As a result of a strategic review, the number of undergraduate courses will be halved, from eight to four, and the number of schools reduced from seven to five.

IT faculty staff contacted by The Age were frustrated by confusion about how the review would be implemented. Several staff expressed bitterness that the university had treated IT like a "cash cow".

"The IT faculty has literally poured millions into the university over the last 10 years, and been the leading IT school in Australia," one staff member said. "Many staff feel very much they've been hit in the neck."

Professor Weber said the number of job losses was difficult to predict as the transition process to the new faculty structure would not be known until at least March. "We're not just going to go through a situation where there's an immediate termination of jobs. This will be a careful process," he said.

Professor Weber said the downturn in the IT market was being felt across all Australian universities as well as internationally, following the dot-com bust. "Whenever you get into a difficult situation you have to reflect and from that we've got a much stronger degree structure," he said.

President of the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, Carol Williams, said the university was taking a short-term view and could afford to cross-subside the faculty.

Dr Williams said Monash was prepared to take advantage in exploding IT growth from 1994 to 2002 but "cut you off dead" when times were bad. "Of course in three years time they'll find they need to hire staff again," she said.

She would not rule out industrial action, but said any such action would be directed at the university, not the faculty.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - Sydney Morning Herald
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Asian students in Adelaide addicted to gambling

2004-12-11T01:49:00.000+11:00

A 17-YEAR-OLD school student from China lost more than $40,000 in five months at an Adelaide casino, exposing widespread but hidden gambling addictions among Asian students studying in Australia.

Underage Year 10 student "Brian", who cannot be identified, said he used fake Hong Kong identification to enter the Skycity Adelaide Casino along with other overseas secondary school students, losing two years' tuition and up to $20,000 in one week.

His distraught mother, Min, who flew in this week from Guangdong province, tearfully explained that she and her husband had borrowed from parents and siblings to send their only son to Australia for a decent education.

The incident had implications for Australia and for Adelaide as a safe destination for Chinese students, according to Robin Fan, a gambling counsellor with the Overseas Chinese Association.

Mr Fan said young, isolated and underage students were required by immigration officials to keep large sums of money in local bank accounts, Mr Fan said.

"They are lured to the gambling table," he said.

"I hear from the classmates and friends of many about the problem gamblers ... and some of them are very young. One university student lost around $200,000."

He said Brian's loss was the largest and most serious he had heard about among Chinese secondary school students, who comprise half of Adelaide's overseas student population.

He has dealt with 500 cases of gambling addiction in the overseas Chinese community since 1997, and says most students are deported or quietly brought home to China by mortified parents.

Education Adelaide, a state government body that promotes Adelaide as a destination for overseas students, described Brian's case as a "wake-up call".

"This highlights the need that there are young people here who are more vulnerable and we should do all we can to ensure that they understand how to management their money," said Education Adelaide CEO Patrick Markwick-Smith.

A spokeswoman for the casino said it was "a bit premature" to consider returning the money if there was no proof that it had been gambled illegally by an underage student.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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50 staff to go at crisis-hit RMIT

2004-12-10T06:09:00.000+11:00

About 50 staff at RMIT may lose their jobs by the end of the year as the financially troubled university and TAFE struggles to break even against a $30 million budgetary shortfall.

The acting vice-chancellor, Chris Whitaker, has told staff and the governing council this week that about 50 non-academic positions have been identified as redundant. The first five letters were sent out this week, with affected staff being given five days to come up with options to save their jobs.

The National Tertiary Education Union has lodged dispute notices, accusing RMIT of failing to consult as required. The union's RMIT branch president, Jeanette Pierce, said most affected staff are still busy, but their letters, seen by The Sunday Age, suggest their jobs are disappearing because the university is outsourcing their work or intends to do so. "It weakens the lines of accountability, and it is not cheaper," she said. "It might be more convenient, but the university has failed to show that it will save money."

More jobs may be on the line as departments look for savings. In an email to staff last Tuesday, the Property Services head, Chris White, proposed a restructure in which some divisions would be closed and their work assigned to consultants and contractors on a project basis instead.

Professor Whitaker said there were situations where outsourcing was cheaper, but the practice is contentious at RMIT. Expenditure on management consultants, contractors and casuals ballooned in 2001 and 2002, adding to financial instability.

Many consultants were employed to advise on restructuring and "major change initiatives" under former vice-chancellor Dr Ruth Dunkin, who resigned in August. Staff sources say there is little to show in terms of streamlined processes or reduced administrative costs. More jobs may be on the line as departments look for savings.

Professor Whitaker is trying to get RMIT back on its financial feet before a new vice-chancellor is appointed, probably in March. The position was advertised Australia-wide yesterday and a selection panel has been appointed. The panel includes two governing council members from outside the university and a council staff representative, but the Student Union lost a motion to add a student representative.

Members of RMIT's governing council last week also expressed concern about the proposed staff redundancies when many consultants and contractors were still on the books. Ross Hepburn, chairman of the council's Finance and Major Initiatives Committee, said they had asked for a report explaining what jobs these people were doing and whether they were still necessary.

The 50 redundancies are the first in a wave of measures aimed at getting RMIT back on its feet over three years, following the collapse of a computerised student administration system in 2002 and sluggish international student enrolments this year.

The computer collapse in 2002 left RMIT with a $17.7 million operating deficit, but a subsequent Auditor-General's report revealed an underlying financial instability caused by ballooning overheads and inaccurate budget forecasting in 2001 and 2002.

After a State Government ultimatum to get its house in order, RMIT projected a $14.9 million operating surplus for 2004. The surplus was based largely on projected 15 per cent growth in international enrolments, but instead, numbers barely increased, leaving RMIT with a $30 million revenue shortfall as of September.

Dr Whitaker said RMIT had until the end of the year to rein in expenditure.

Many senior academic staff are bitter about the situation. They told The Sunday Age that school heads warned executive management last year that 15 per cent international growth was unrealistic and unachievable, but the target was imposed nonetheless to achieve a paper surplus to satisfy the State Government.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Age
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Surge in British, skilled migrants

2004-12-09T22:35:00.000+11:00

FOR the first time since the Howard Government came to power, migrants from Britain and Ireland have outstripped those from Southeast Asia.

Settlers from English-speaking nations accounted for almost half the 111,000 new migrants in Australia last year, compared with just 37 per cent when the Howard Government took office in March 1996.

New Immigration Department figures reveal an extraordinary spike in the total number of migrants from Britain and Ireland settling in Australia in the past two years, with the numbers jumping from 8749 in 2001-02 to 18,272 in 2003-04. The total has grown 90 per cent compared with the Howard Government's first year.

This compared with 16,799 migrants arriving last year from Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Victoria and Western Australia are absorbing the growth in Australia's permanent settler intake. NSW's share of new settlers has dropped from 45 to 35 per cent in the past eight years.

NSW Premier Bob Carr has often complained that Australia's immigration rate is too high. But NSW still takes more migrants than its 25 per cent share of the Australian population.

Victoria's share has risen from 20 to 25 per cent over the past eight years, while Western Australia, the favoured destination for British migrants, has raised its share from 10 to 14 per cent.

The number of English-speaking skilled migrants has surged as a result of the Howard Government's immigration policies, new research by the Australian National University shows.

Another positive outcome of the Government's policies, according to demographer Deborah Cobb-Clark's research, has been the dramatic cut in the unemployment rate among newly arrived migrants.

The total number of new migrants has soared by 30 per cent in the past eight years, with English-speaking migrants accounting for almost all that growth. Migrant skill levels have also increased dramatically.

Dr Cobb-Clark's research showed more than 42 per cent had university degrees compared with 32 per cent before the balance was changed in 1999.

The changes, implemented under Philip Ruddock's period as immigration minister, reduced the quota for family reunions and refugees, and increased points for skills.

Dr Cobb-Clark said the changes achieved their aim.

"More people are coming in through the skills filtering process, and the filtering process has itself become more effective," she said.

The research conducted by Dr Cobb-Clark showed that since changes were implemented only 9.9 per cent of new immigrants remained unemployed 18 months after arriving. The unemployment rate was 22.3 per cent before the changes.

Economist and immigration specialist Glenn Withers said skills and connection with Australia were being used to select who came to Australia under the refugee program, with barely 10 per cent of refugees coming as a result of recommendation from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Department of Immigration's annual review of where permanent settlers come from and where they go shows immigration from the main English-speaking countries rising by two-thirds over the past eight years. The number of Indians permanently settling in Australia has tripled to 8135, while the number of South Africans and Zimbabweans has doubled to 7469.

Professor Withers said people coming to Australia from Commonwealth countries found it easier to get their professional qualifications recognised.

The number of New Zealanders settling in Australia is modestly higher than eight years ago, at 14,418, but sharply down from the peak of 25,165 reached in 2000-01 before rules were tightened to make it harder for New Zealanders to claim Australian welfare benefits.

Most of the migrant growth has come from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Professor Withers said Chinese immigration would rise as the number of Chinese students in Australia increased.

Australia's refugee program is continuing to respond to emergencies, with the crisis in Sudan supplanting the war in the former Yugoslavian states.

The biggest intake of refugees to Australia last year came from Sudan, with 4600 settlers. There has been no flow of refugees from other African war zones, such as Ivory Coast or Congo.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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DIMIA catches 37 illegal workers in Sydney

2004-12-09T20:03:00.000+11:00

NEARLY 40 people have been detained after an immigration operation targeting homes and businesses in Sydney.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone today said the operation targeted 34 premises, including manufacturing, retail and sex industry businesses.

"Of the 620 people questioned, 15 were in Australia unlawfully and 29 had their visas cancelled for working in breach of their visa conditions," she said in a statement.

"Of the people located, there were 29 men and 15 women.

"There were 10 people located from Indonesia, seven from India, seven from China, six from South Korea, three from Malaysia, two from the United Kingdom, Pakistan and Fiji.

"One person was from Bangladesh, one from Canada, one from Afghanistan, one from the Philippines and one from Israel.

"As a result of these locations, 37 people are now detained in Immigration detention where arrangements will be made for their removal from Australia as required by law."

The remaining seven people were granted bridging visas to make arrangements to leave the country, Ms Vanstone said.

The premises targeted were in suburbs across Sydney, including Haymarket, Glebe and Marrickville.

NSW police, Centrelink and the Ministry of Transport helped in the operation.

Three women were found working in the sex industry, she said.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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Gold Coast to get a new medical school

2004-12-09T01:12:00.000+11:00

IN a few months, biomedical sciences student Andrew McLucas hopes to be immersed in a world of medicine, having grabbed one of 65 places at Bond University's new medical school.

The 23-year-old Gold Coast-based student is vying with more than 700 applicants for a place at Australia's first private university medical school.

If he succeeds he will have to pay $45,000 up front for his first year of study, then $15,000 a semester for the remainder of the $225,000, five-year undergraduate course. But Mr McLucas thinks it will be worth it.

He said the private university offered smaller class sizes and more input from students into teaching arrangements.

"I also think it is a really exciting field with the new technology that is coming through, especially in biotechnology. We are going to be able to diagnose and treat people much better in the future," Mr McLucas said.

Bond was announced yesterday as one of three universities accredited by the Australian Medical Council to open a medical school next year. In the largest single expansion of university medical training, new schools will also be opened at Griffith University on the Gold Coast and at the Catholic University of Notre Dame in Fremantle.

The new schools - offering 65 undergraduate, 80 graduate and 80 graduate places, respectively - mean that by 2010 an extra 225 doctors will be graduating each year.

The Government will provide HECS-funded places at Griffith and Notre Dame, which will equate to fees of $24,000 a year at Notre Dame.

The new students will join about 1200 others enrolled each year at the five established Australian and one New Zealand medical school.

AMC president Joanna Flynn said the accreditation process reflected a change in medical education, with a greater focus on student-directed learning, increased breadth of clinical experience beginning from the first year, and more emphasis on communication skills training.

Australian Medical Association president Bill Glasson said the extra places would be significant in the longer term in helping address workforce shortages.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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DIMIA catches 27 illegal workers

2004-12-08T15:54:00.000+11:00

Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone, said today a joint operation in the northern region of Victoria by officers from her Department and Victorian Police had resulted in the location of 27 people who were either working illegally or had overstayed their visa.

‘Community information led to the location of these people at various residential addresses in the northern towns of Beverford, Lake Boga, Robinvale and Red Cliffs near Mildura,’ the Minister said.

‘The operation highlights the on-going effectiveness of my department’s compliance operations in detaining people who are unlawfully in Australia or who breach their visa conditions.’

The Minister reminded people working in Australia without permission that if they were here illegally, it is not a matter of if, but when they would be caught.

Of the 27 non-citizens located, there were 16 men and 11 women. Ten were in Australia unlawfully and 17 had their visas cancelled for breaching no work conditions.

Twenty-six were detained and transferred to immigration detention, where arrangements will be made for their removal from Australia, as required by law.

One person was released on a Bridging Visa to give them time to make their own arrangements to depart the country.

The people located were from Malaysia (18), The People’s Republic of China (3), Fiji (3) and one each from South Korea, Vietnam and Nepal.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - DIMIA Website
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Students lose out in RMIT admin bungle

2004-12-08T06:04:00.000+11:00

The 'corporatisation' of RMIT's administration system has created a bureaucratic nightmare. Claire Miller reports.

It used to be so easy. When RMIT students had a problem with enrolments or personal records, they went to administrative staff at the school where they were enrolled. Changes and corrections were done on the spot, effective immediately, and the students were satisfied.

Not any more. RMIT's determination to introduce a computerised student administration system has done more than just damage the financial bottom line. The centralised system, and the university's efforts to patch it up over the last 18 months, have created a bureaucratic nightmare.

Interviews with students, general staff and academics have revealed a dysfunctional internal structure characterised by long delays, misplaced records, poor lines of accountability and masses of paperwork. International students are at risk, as inaccurate personal, academic and financial records can endanger their visas.

The Student Union's students' rights officer, Liz Thompson, said delays in something as simple as changing address details had led to students missing important letters, such as for academic review hearings. A no-show meant automatically notifying the Immigration Department.

Delays in processing enrolment variations have led to students being billed for subjects they weren't doing, and being denied access to online learning materials. Students then became stressed about falling behind when visas depended on academic performance.

The administrative problems are compounding student angst over rising class sizes, rising fees and fewer student-teacher contact hours planned for next year as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Daryl D'Souza, a senior lecturer in the school of computer science and IT, said tutorial sizes will rise from a maximum 25 to 34, and some laboratory sessions will be reduced from weekly to fortnightly, as RMIT struggles to balance its books. The institution has a $30 million budgetary shortfall caused by international enrolments falling short of projections.

At the same time, academic staff are sinking under an increased workload. Academic numbers at RMIT have risen slightly from 993 full-time equivalents in 1997, to 1077 in 2003. A staff freeze means proportionately more are also casual teachers who aren't available outside class.

In the same period, RMIT's students have shot up from 27,591 to 38,200, with onshore international students almost doubling from 3675 to 7073. A survey by the National Tertiary Education Union's RMIT branch in May found permanent staff were working an average 9.8 hours a week unpaid overtime.

Branch president Jeanette Pierce said the survey was part of a campaign to force RMIT management to accept excessive workloads were widespread.

"Increasingly, they are bringing in people in financial roles without any experience in the education sector... It is all very well to deliver corporate-style financial management, but it comes unstuck because they don't understand the enterprise of delivering teaching and learning. People have been working their butts off for this organisation, and it is not still strong because the management has been so terrific."

The associate professor at the school of education, Heather Fehring, said she was working 60 hours and more, including 10 to 12 hours on administrative tasks. School support staff previously did these tasks, and problems were resolved quickly because they knew the academics and their programs.

"Now my administrative tasks have increased because I type up my own student class lists and maintain my own student records because I do not have direct access to the AMS system even as a program manager responsible for two degrees," Professor Fehring said.

"I could just say no, but when I say no, it is the students who are punished, who don't get the education they deserve. We have gone from one extreme to the other".

Mr D'Souza said staff had more students, more marking, more demands to publish. They also had more paperwork in teaching, research and administration, to comply with quality assurance reporting to federal and state governments.

Quality assurance included student services such as exam reviews where students can see their papers and question staff about the results. Expanding into international campuses means staff having to write up to five different exam papers for the same subject for exams at different times in different locations.

"All these are good initiatives to have on board," Mr D'Souza said. "But they haven't addressed the impact on workloads."

He said workload allocations did not take into account activities such as reviewing new textbooks to improve subjects, more stringent exam preparation and review requirements, subject reporting and delivery improvements. "The university has useful forums for teaching and learning, but academic staff just do not have the time to attend such forums."

The situation is undermining RMIT's claims to being student-centred and student-friendly, but there is also consensus the institution is not alone. The pressures stem from tertiary deregulation and falling federal funding.

All universities are under enormous pressure to attract fee-paying students, research grants and sponsorship, and exploit the often limited opportunities for commercialising research. Corporate-style management means increased outsourcing and casualisation.

It is just that RMIT's troubles became public when a new computerised student administration system collapsed in 2002, creating a $17.7 million budgetary shortfall and a cost blowout in contractors, consultants and casuals hired to try to fix the problems. The fiasco exposed underlying financial instability through poor budget forecasting and rising general overheads.

The vice-chancellor, Professor Chris Whitaker, acknowledges RMIT has many challenges. "A decade ago, RMIT got over 80 per cent of its funding from the federal and state governments, which was reliable, it was good - comfortable," he said. "Last year, it was 37 per cent. The other 63 per cent we have to go out and get. All universities are in the same position, and it is getting very competitive."

Professor Whitaker said RMIT has to be more flexible and adaptable in its cost structures, so that it could adjust to lean times, yet had the capability to respond when the good times returned. "We have built complexity into our working systems that are not adding value, so we have to simplify the way we do things around here, and I have not met anyone in the university who disagrees with that."

The vice-chancellor said it was a smart move to make it easier for students to interact with the university through measures such as online enrolments, as well as rationalising subjects to avoid duplication across schools. He said online services would reduce costs and generate significant cash for teaching and learning.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Age
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University of Wollongong medical school fails accrediation tests

2004-12-08T05:55:00.000+11:00

WOLLONGONG University's medical school, slated to open in 2006, has been sent back to the waiting room for a year after it failed to pass stage one accreditation tests.

But organisers couldn't be happier.

Foundation dean John Hogg said the response was one of relief because building work for the new faculty was due to finish just two weeks before the first intake arrived in February 2006.

Now the university has an extra year to accommodate delays and to finetune its curriculum.

"The building was a huge logistic issue for us, particularly if there were delays. So we're quite relieved," Professor Hogg said. "It's going to give us more time to get things in place and not run the risk of anything being not completed at the first intake."

The university planned a cohort of 80 students who would learn from practitioners from the NSW south coast city. It would accommodate 288 places in the first four years.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson announced in August a grant of $10million for the school.

Australian Medical College executive director Ian Frank said the application still "needed clarification and amplification. We've asked the university to have a look at a series of issues, details around the curriculum and the programs, how they will interact with the hospitals, before they resubmit."

Accreditation was a two-stage process. Stage one detailed the broad outline of the program and resources available, stage two will require finer details.

Professor Hogg had received so many telephone inquiries from prospective students that the university admissions centre had been called in.

Hundreds of expression of interest forms mailed to doctors had been returned and unsolicited applications were received from practitioners across NSW, interstate and New Zealand wanting to work with the school.

Applicants cited the proposed model - which draws on the knowledge of medical schools across the world, has a strong online component and allows students to be placed with practitioners for experience - as an attraction.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE - The Australian
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UTS plans for a data mining centre

2004-12-06T05:16:00.000+11:00

THE University of Technology Sydney is trying to establish a $38 million data mining centre of excellence to involve universities, industry and government.

The centre would investigate and solve critical problems in deep data mining and business processes, research that could dramatically improve decision making in such areas as marketing, finance and health.

An application has been made to the Australian Research Council to secure $12.8 million over five years to support the programs.

Seven university partners would contribute a total of $4.65 million and industry and government $1.75 million.

The project has attracted $19.26 million of in-kind support, including personnel, space and facilities, software and hardware.

The university's dean of the Information Technology faculty Professor Tharam Dillon said the centre would help business and government to better understand and apply knowledge discovery and data mining to enhance productivity, prosperity and international competitiveness.

"At the moment, there is a disconnection between technology people and those doing data mining and this will help to bring them together and ensure there is a flow of information, techniques and concepts," he said.

Collaborating on the project are UTS, the University of NSW, Monash University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, Flinders University in SA and Curtin University in WA.

Those supporting the project from industry and government include the Australian Taxation Office, NSW Government, West Australian Department of Education, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, the Australian Institute of Sport, Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific and Teradata.

Many of the organisations are providing databases to help research and training on the project.

The availability of the datasets would give the centre an unprecedented ability to conduct multi-database mining on large multimedia datasets.

Data mining experts from around the world will contribute to the centre.

Professor Dillon said a decision was expected next year on federal Government funding.

He said the centre would target business modelling and mining, including customer behaviour analysis, modelling market processes and learning in a market environment.

SOURCE - Australian IT
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Another blow to the troubled RMIT : Finance Head sacked

2004-12-06T02:17:00.000+11:00

IN the wake of a $30 million budget blunder, RMIT's finance man Cameron Moroney has been shown the door by management at the troubled university.

The decision was made public barely a day after a Thursday afternoon finance and major initiatives committee meeting confirmed that because of the $30million shortfall in budget projections, the university would again be in deficit next year by $5million to $10 million.

The university issued a curt statement on Friday afternoon saying that Mr Moroney - pro vice-chancellor for finance and business services - would "be leaving the university today".

RMIT interim vice-chancellor Chris Whitaker said Mr Moroney's departure was "part of a series of strategies to reposition the university in a rapidly changing environment".

The statement thanks Mr Moroney for his contributions and states there would be "no further comments on the matter over the weekend".

When Professor Whitaker was contacted by the HES yesterday, he declined to comment.

Sources have told the HES that former vice-chancellor Ruth Dunkin, who resigned in August, was unhappy with Mr Moroney's management of the university's financial troubles, but was stopped from sacking him by members of the university council. But by Thursday afternoon Mr Moroney had lost the support of the university council and university committees, and had cleared his desk out by Friday.

The enormous budget shortfall was revealed earlier this year after RMIT predicted a 15 per cent growth in overseas student enrolments, but the university is likely to achieve less than 5 per cent. It is understood the university also overestimated the amount that the students would be worth to them.

The result of the botch is a possible $10 million deficit in 2004 - when RMIT was supposed to be back in the black and after the university had trumpeted an expected $14.9 million surplus.

As Professor Whitaker tries to get RMIT back on its feet before a new vice-chancellor takes over in March, cutbacks including redundancies and big increases in class sizes are expected.

RMIT has lurched from one financial crisis to another during the past two years after the botched introduction of a $12million computer system in 2001 left the university with a $17.7 million operating deficit.

The system failure was promptly followed by two damning annual financial reports, one of which showed the forecast operating surplus of $28 million for 2001 had drained away to just $3 million. Early last year, Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky called in the Auditor-General.

Mr Moroney came to the job in early 2003 after extensive experience in business management with BHP and Ericsson, but was often criticised for his personal style at the university.

"He's the crash-through type and he didn't know much about the tertiary sector," a university source said.

Up to 50 possible redundancies of non-academic staff at RMIT were flagged by Professor Whitaker in October.

SOURCE OF ARTICLE- The Australian
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University of Tasmania to host Artificial Intelligence conference

2004-12-06T01:43:00.000+11:00

Ways of better predicting the future through the use of artificial intelligence are being discussed at a three-day conference in Hobart.

One of the speakers, Cam Potter, says artificial intelligence is everywhere, with dish washers and washing machines some everyday examples.

Mr Potter says the conference is examining some of the bigger projects that are being worked on.

"Biomedical-type areas, so trying to have artificial intelligence in very small chips which can be put throughout people's bodies," he said.

"There are large systems used for military purposes, there are systems used for basically being able to better interact with the Internet."

Around 50 people are attending the three-day conference at the University of Tasmania, the theme of which is 'The Future Is Fuzzy'.

Mr Potter says while researchers cannot predict the future they are able to get closer by using technology.

He says one such example is the use of high computing technology to predict winds.

"It models the human brain both in the lower and higher functions, so you've got your higher functions of being able to understand rules and say if it's blowing harder at the moment it's likely to keep on blowing hard," he said.

"But it's also got lower functions where it can actually learn so while the systems operating it's possible to learn new characteristics."

SOURCE - ABC Regional
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Auto industry gets new degree course

2004-12-05T01:56:00.000+11:00

An emerging skill shortage in Australia's automotive industry has prompted Adelaide University to introduce an automotive engineering degree.

South Australian Industry Minister Paul Holloway said new vehicle programs by all four of Australia's car manufacturers and escalating demand for new vehicles locally and overseas had resulted in a skill shortage.

"As a result, it was clear that automotive engineering skills development needed to be recognised and addressed by the South Australian community," he said.

The new degree was officially launched on Thursday, and will be offered for the first time next year. It is aimed at giving students the skills needed for a career in the automotive industry.

"(The) industry wants graduates who are up to date with the latest developments in the field and who can come in and make an impact straight away, and this is what our degree will offer them," said degree coordinator and senior lecturer Colin Kestell.

"Automotive engineering is so far removed from most people's stereotype of a mechanic getting covered in oil and grease in a dark and dingy workshop.

"It is actually the leading pioneer for new technology and hi-tech engineering.

"Automotive engineers design state-of-the-art products and manufacturing systems and lead the way for others to follow."

Mr Holloway said the automotive industry remained South Australia's largest manufacturing industry, directly employing more than 15,000 people.

"Of the 350,000 cars made every year in Australia, about half are manufactured here in Adelaide," he said.

SOURCE - NineMSN
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Rethinking normal - Monash Malaysia

2004-12-05T01:48:00.000+11:00

EVER wondered what the word “norm” means? Well, Monash University Malaysia (MUM) communications lecturer Dr Andrew Ng has clear ideas on that score. He believes that cultural and ideological influences shape public perceptions on what is considered “normal” in society, so much so that those who do not conform to society's accepted structures and systems are often labelled “monsters”.

This concept of monstrosity forms the basis of Ng's literary study and is contained in his recently published academic monograph Dimensions of Monstrosity in Contemporary Narrative: Theory, Psychoanalysis, Postmodernism.

The study draws upon the analyses of contemporary narratives by writers such as Peter Ackroyd, Bret Easton Ellis and Angela Carter whose portrayals of evil, sexual perversions, death and terror suggest that monstrosity can take various forms including those of the serial killer, the disfigured body or individuals who commit aberrant actions.

“People are what society or culture makes them out to be,” says Dr Ng.

“A lot of what is considered normal by a community may be considered taboo or sinful by another. This study attempts to examine the concept of normalcy and how it affects, and is affected by, public perceptions,” he adds.

Dr Andrew Ng
According to Dr Ng, monstrous figures in traditional and contemporary Gothic literature are often metaphors that signify the cultural crises afflicting society at a period in time. For example, in the 1980's, vampires took on a new cultural metaphor to signify the AIDS crisis because, just like vampires, AIDS carriers are reminiscent of the walking dead who potentially contaminate others.

However, monsters in 21st century narratives tend to be more sinister and less easily detected and defeated. They are also more likely to get away with evil, reflecting the ambivalent society we live in where certainty and closures are not always possible.

Dr Ng said that understanding monstrosity is important in cultural studies as it helps communities comprehend and manage social problems.

In the post-modern era, elements like the family institution, legal and educational systems and even language, can sometimes take on monstrous dimensions as they constrict individuals through their dicta, he elaborates.

New appointment - Meanwhile, MUM has appointed eminent endocrinologist and renowned academic Prof Datuk Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir as its professor of medicine.

Prof Khalid, previously Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) medical faculty’s dean and professor of medicine, said he was looking forward to contributing to the development of the new medical school and will try to ensure that the programme lives up to the standards set by MUM.

“My priority is to ensure that the medical school is staffed with highly qualified doctors who are well trained in their respective medical specialties and motivated to teach the curriculum,” he said.

In Monash's medical programme, students are taught based on case studies which integrate the various aspects of medical training, from ethics and moral issues to patient-doctor relationships as well as the clinical sciences so essential in diagnosis and patient management.

This, he said, occurs early in their studies instead of later in the programme as practised in the traditional curriculum.

His other priority is to ensure that the research profile of the medical school is maintained through collaborative work with Monash University in Australia, so that it continues to play its role as a leading research medical school in the country.

Prof Khalid has been involved in the medical programme at UKM for the last 22 years. He was instrumental in attracting clinical research activities and international funding to the university during his tenure as faculty dean and subsequently, director of the university's teaching hospital, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

The grants were mainly for multi-centre and multinational clinical trials involving pharmaceutical products and community-based interventions.

Prof Datuk Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir
The professor did both his MBBS and PhD (Medicine) at Monash University in Melbourne.

He is a prolific writer. His PhD thesis on steroid hormone actions has spawned new research in related fields, with findings published in 23 journals and publications. His research has also been presented in over 270 publications including five books.

Prof Khalid has also won awards for his service in advancing medical education such as the National Science Award of Malaysia, the Asia Pacific Clinical Nutrition Society Award as well as the Young Investigator's Award and Tun Abdul Razak Research Award.

SOURCE - Malysia Star
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University of Adelaide research shows that Aussies are fatter than Americans

2004-12-05T01:17:00.000+11:00

THE average Australian woman is a size 16 and weighs 8kg heavier than her American counterpart, according to authoritive new international research.

Australian men are also 3kg heavier than American males, the joint study by the University of Adelaide and US researchers shows.

The findings were recently presented at the American Standards and Testing Materials Conference and obtained exclusively by The Sunday Telegraph.

They contradict the widely held view that the United States is the world's most overweight country and they have led the Australian Medical Association to warn: "We are eating ourselves to death."

Women are now two dress sizes larger than they were in the 1960s, the National Size and Shape survey of 60 body dimensions of 1400 Australians, showed.

AMA vice president Dr Bill Glasson said the report highlighted the growing obesity problem.

"The average Australian thinks that Americans are bigger but our country faces a huge problem," Dr Glasson said.

"We are not getting enough exercise.

"People don't have to be skinny but obesity and the cost of subsequent diseases to our health system is huge."

Australian women are 5cm bigger around the bust, 8cm larger around the waist and 4cm wider on the hips than American women.

Australian men are 3kg heavier than their American counterparts, with a chest circumference that is 6cm larger and a waist circumference 2cm wider.

Fashion analyst Daisy Veitch said the findings reveal a flaw in the clothing industry.

About 50 per cent of Australian women do not fit into the clothes sold in mainstream stores.

"Women in Australia have difficulty finding clothes that fit properly," she said.

"The new Australian figure is pear-shaped and less slimlined than it was 20 to 80 years ago.

"Manufacturers are basing their clothes on old standards, not on today's women's curvy shape."

Lucy Dunwell from Frenchs Forest is a size 16: the shape of the new average Australian female.

But the 19-year-old model for the Biggals agency said she had trouble buying clothes that fit her figure.

"Often there are not many clothes in my size; most stop at size 14," Dunwell said.

"Shopping can get frustrating, especially when there are dresses I like that only come in smaller sizes."

The Australian survey was conducted over a six-month period in 2002.

The anatomical science team at the University of Adelaide then spent two years analysing and collating the body dimension data.

The same method of measuring body dimensions was used in the American study of 4000 people.

The results will be published in the international scientific journal, Journal of Human Ecology.

University of Adelaide head of anatomical science, Professor Maciej Henneberg said the survey results showed Australia was a nation of "healthy, cheerful, size 16 women".

"Australian women are heavier than American women by a few kilos, but it's not a major concern," Prof Henneberg said.

"I think the reason is there is a socio-economic difference. On average Australians are more affluent than Americans.

"The survey showed one third of women are obese and there is concern over this. However, size 16 women are happy and healthy."

SOURCE - The Mercury
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La Trobe University evicts NTEU

2004-12-05T01:14:00.000+11:00

La Trobe University has served an eviction notice on the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), demanding that it vacate its office on campus by December 31. Campus unionists believe this is just the first salvo in a campaign by universities and the federal government to drive all unions — staff and student — out of tertiary education institutions.

Karen Fletcher, an NTEU national councillor and a member of the union’s branch executive at La Trobe University, told Green Left Weekly that the branch had already received tremendous support from students and workers, including those on other campuses, to fight the eviction.

“I believe that, with the support of students and other campus unionists, we can win the right to keep our office at La Trobe”, Fletcher said. “It would be an important victory because this is really about the right of workers and students to organise on campus. We need to fight [federal education minister Brendan] Nelson’s anti-union agenda for universities wherever it rears its ugly head.”

SOURCE - Green Left Weekly
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University of Tasmania to open a $ 40 million Medical Education & Research Complex

2004-12-04T21:57:00.000+11:00

Premier Paul Lennon today announced the State Government would contribute $12 million towards a Medical Education and Research Complex in Hobart. Mr Lennon and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania, Professor Daryl Le Grew, today announced that a $40 million complex is being developed for the Wapping 4 site, at the corner of Collins and Campbell streets (next to the Theatre Royal).

Mr Lennon said the State Government was proud to be able to secure the future viability of both the Tasmanian School of Medicine and the Menzies Research Institute by supporting the project. “This Medical Education and Research Complex will strengthen our health system in Tasmania, while at the same time securing the future viability of both the Tasmanian School of Medicine and the Menzies Research Institute,” Mr Lennon said. “It will also provide a boost to the teaching capacity of the Royal Hobart Hospital, act as a beacon to attract high-quality professionals to the State and provide more opportunities for employment and professional development for medical professionals.”

Professor Le Grew said the new development would provide an integrated complex that would bring together the facilities of the Tasmanian School of Medicine and the Menzies Research Institute.

“This will be a unique complex that will deliver new and modern ways of teaching medicine in Tasmania, as well as providing a state-of-the-art facility for health research,” Professor Le Grew said. “The collocation project will also include refurbishment of the University’s current medical education facilities.” Mr Lennon said the benefits the development would bring to Tasmania could not be overstated. “The continuing presence of a high-quality medical school is critical to the long-term future of Tasmania’s health system,” he said. “At the same time, increasing the scientific profile of the Menzies Research Institute, a Tasmanian Icon, is important to the Government’s strategic vision for this State.”

Professor Le Grew said the collocation proposal had broader significance to the State and to the University of Tasmania than simply consolidating the research work of the Menzies Institute. “It is also an indication to the Tasmanian community that UTAS has an ongoing commitment to providing a vibrant, world-class medical school for generations to come,” he said. “We are currently exploring new ways of creating synergies and increasing levels of engagement between UTAS medical education and research and the Tasmanian medical community. “These new facilities will provide for the continuing growth of UTAS medical education as we head towards a new era and a new medical curriculum.”

The Menzies Research Institute has also secured $7.5 million in funding for the collocation project from The Atlantic Philanthropies, a international foundation, and the Federal Government has also committed $12 million towards the project. The Complex is scheduled for completion in 2006.

SOURCE - Tasmanian Govt Media Release
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The DARK side of studying in New Zealand - Report by NZ Herald

2004-12-03T20:50:00.000+11:00

Janice Lu saved for six years to pay for a New Zealand education and a fresh start in life. Forty-eight weeks later she returned to China having failed her exams, her dream in tatters.

Her English language school says she simply did not make the grade. Lu tells a different story. Her fulltime course was just four hours a day, her pleas for help were ignored and her request to transfer to another college was flatly refused.

As the 31-year-old returns to Harbin at the northern tip of China, Lu will have nothing but bad memories of New Zealand. She is not alone.

Chinese students are deserting New Zealand in droves in favour of education elsewhere. They are rejecting our English language colleges, universities and schools, putting further pressure on the finances of already struggling institutions.

The export education sector, firmly backed by the Government, is fighting to win them back. But Lu says her experiences, and those of others like her, will destroy New Zealand's reputation in the lucrative foreign student market.

According to Chinese students who agreed to talk to theWeekend Herald, some anonymously and some on the record, the problem is not unscrupulous rip-off immigration agents or overt racist attacks. It is simpler than that, but probably far harder to fix.

The problem, says Lu, is the difference between what Chinese students are led to believe they will get for their money and what New Zealand is offering.

While students head here for a high-calibre education and immersion in a new way of life, they find they are plagued by a combination of poor-quality schooling, bureaucratic wrangling and a position firmly on the margin of Kiwi society.

Another student, Tiffany Zhang, says she was stunned to find her promised fulltime English language course was only four hours a day. That standard meets New Zealand Qualifications Authority regulations, but Zhang says it is not enough to learn the language sufficiently to progress to tertiary education.

In addition, she says, classes often started late and finished early, and the breaks frequently extended well beyond the planned 15 minutes.

Both Lu and Zhang tried to change colleges but were rebuffed by a system that rules they lose their money if they transfer after an eight-day grace period.

After Zhang complained to the NZQA, a tutor at her college called her homestay family and told them she was a troublemaker. She was promptly kicked out and left to find a new place to live. NZQA, meanwhile, rejected her complaint.

Sarah Xie had a similar experience when she asked her school for a transfer. While it was eventually granted, management called her agent, who in turn called her mother in China, saying she had a boyfriend and was not studying.

"Yes, I had a boyfriend, but I am a 20-year-old woman and can have friends and still study," says Xie.

Lu, who left the country last week, says she and many of her peers suffered a plethora of minor problems that eventually made their lives unbearable.

"New Zealand is a beautiful country. It is all the little things that happen to us that have caused all the problems," Lu says. "But it is those little things that are so important in helping us."

Dr Robert Sanders, from the University of Auckland's school of Asian studies, says Chinese students lament the social experience they have in New Zealand.

They are lumped together with other countries and other cultures as "Asians" - much the same as assuming Kiwis are just like Australians.

"It is the problem of always being treated as 'the other', which naturally has a psychological effect," he says. "Most have had at least one or two negative experiences, while it is very difficult for Chinese to see themselves and Asians as monolithic."

Another student says that after almost six months here he could count the conversations he had had with New Zealanders on one hand. While he agrees Chinese and other foreign students do not always mix, he feels the fault lies more with the New Zealand people.

"People don't make us welcome, they make us unwelcome and there is a difference," he says.

The gulf between perception and experience has been highlighted at this week's inaugural Asian health and well-being conference in Auckland. A study released at the conference revealed that thousands of students were arriving in New Zealand and failing to make friends with their classmates. Asian students were also more likely than other international students to suffer from symptoms of depression.

The falling number of foreign students is a bitter pill to swallow for the industry after an unprecedented boom in export education, which two years ago elevated it to a billion-dollar business.

The first cracks appeared with the high-profile collapse of English Language schools such as Carich a little over a year ago, but since then there has been little evidence of a recovery.

Perversely, part of the problem was the explosive growth. With little regulation or monitoring, students were often treated as commodities, rather than people hunting for a good education and a fulfilling life experience.

Unsurprisingly, the Government has stepped in. Relations with China are extremely important to the economy - China is our fourth-largest trading partner with total trade of about $4 billion.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard has been to Beijing three times in the past 2 1/2 years, and earlier this year the first education counsellor appointed by New Zealand in China was installed to help both countries to better understand each other's education systems.

The structure of pastoral care has been strengthened and a code of practice has been established. The Ministry of Education has also published a Mandarin language guide to living in studying in New Zealand.

A $40 million Budget package was ploughed into export education for marketing, scholarships and innovation, with the emphasis firmly on quality.

But while it will undoubtedly help an ailing industry, there are some in the sector who say it is just not enough.

Robert Stevens, chief executive of Education New Zealand, believes the problem is simply fighting against the opposition.

"We were an early entrant into the Chinese market but now the competition has hotted up significantly," he says.

"There's our traditional rivals, Australia, Canada, the US and the UK, but there's also emerging competitors in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. There's also a shift in attitudes in mainland China - where once a foreign education was coveted, it is now common and no guarantee of a good job."

The key is marketing, Stevens says. Perceptions need to be rebuilt after bad publicity in the Chinese press.

The organisation this week sent representatives to education fairs in China, splashing out on better stalls, resources and materials to create a professional image.

It's about creating a high-quality look and feel, he says.

Schools and universities are also heading to China to tempt a share of students, and their money, to one institution or another.

But Patrick Ibbertson, chairman of the Association of Private Providers of English Language, argues that the Government is leading the sector in the wrong direction.

He is outspoken about what he describes as a catastrophic collapse, not experienced by any other industry in the country.

Thousands of Chinese students have come here and had a good experience, says Ibbertson, and the quality of education is not an issue.

"It's as good as anywhere else in the world, and the assumption that the downturn is due to quality factors is a false analysis."

The appreciation of the dollar has played a part, he says, but largely it's caused by policy changes in other countries, which are attracting international students ahead of New Zealand.

"Our competitors have reduced regulation and made it easier and more attractive to study there. But we have gone the other way.

"Two years ago students did not come rushing here because it was the best in the world; it's because we made it easier than anywhere else. Now that's changed and there's no surprise we are suffering.

"We need to untangle the bureaucracy and start maximising New Zealand's true strengths."

A review of immigration policy is planned for next year, which, among other issues, will look at the rules surrounding transfer to a different college.

That will help, says Ibbertson, but the Government is moving sluggishly.

Certainly the changes are too slow for Janice Lu. She says if she had been able to transfer to a different college, she would still be in New Zealand.

A friend of hers changed from one language school to another within the allowed eight days and will start at AUT next year, studying early childhood education.

"That could have been me," Lu says. "I don't know what I am going to do now. It will have to be different from my plans. I just don't want other students to waste time and money like I did."

SOURCE - NZ Herald
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ANU and the National University of Singapore offer joint degree program

2004-12-03T20:45:00.000+11:00

Some of Asia’s leading science students will be offered the opportunity to undertake one of the world’s leading undergraduate science programs in a new Joint Degree Program (Honours) offered by The Australian National University (ANU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

This four-year joint program between ANU Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) and NUS’s Bachelor of Science (Honours) will be offered in three fields of concentration: Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. Students will spend three semesters at each university followed by the honours year in their home university.

About 25-30 per cent of the curriculum time will be spent on research and project work. Upon graduation, students will receive a degree scroll certifying the completion of the joint degree program and awarding one of the degrees.

The Program will only admit students of the highest quality. NUS candidates will be required to have been accepted into the University Scholars Program (USP) and the NUS Faculty of Science. Preliminary selection will be based on academic merit (such as A-level results), performance at an interview and other relevant qualifications such as International Olympiads. The final selection will take into account their performance in the first three semesters of study at NUS.

ANU candidates will be required to have been accepted into the Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) program (achieving in the top one per cent of Australia’s students or equivalent, such as performance at International Olympiads), and selection will be based on detailed consideration of academic record and school recommendations.

NUS Associate Professor Peter Pang, Director, University Scholars Program, said: “The Joint Degree Program will offer opportunities for the best students at ANU and NUS to maximise their talent and passion. As Australia’s foremost research university, ANU is an excellent partner. The Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) is Australia’s most prestigious (undergraduate) science degree – so named because many graduates are expected to go on to PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) research. Reciprocally, NUS has much to offer, including the strong multidisciplinary curriculum of the University Scholars Program. Students in the joint program will spend substantial time together at both universities. This interaction between the best talents of Singapore and Australia will no doubt contribute greatly to scientific and technological advancement of both countries.”

The Dean of the ANU Science Faculty, Professor Tim Brown said: “This is an excellent opportunity for some of the region’s brightest young science students to receive the best of two worlds — benefiting from exposure to different teaching methods, different teachers and a common commitment to excellence.

“ANU is delighted to partner with NUS in this way, especially since NUS is recognised as a leading university in the region. Further, NUS is the national university for Singapore, a country which is renowned for its outstanding economic and intellectual success. This partnership with NUS is an exciting development which will open up a whole new range of opportunities to some outstanding students.”

The agreement for this Joint Degree Program was sealed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today, signed by NUS President Professor Shih Choon Fong and ANU President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb. This MOU followed a strategic partnership sealed earlier this year in April which saw the establishment of joint degree programs for Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours in Actuarial Studies and Economics), Master of Arts (Southeast Asian Studies) and Doctor of Philosophy in Physics.

Intake of Students
There will be an annual intake of students of six from each university. Selection of ANU students will be conducted by ANU during January/February each year. Preliminary selection of NUS students will be conducted by NUS during May/June preceding the students’ matriculation in NUS. About 10 students will be shortlisted from the preliminary selection. Final selection will be conducted at the end of the third semester of study.

NUS and ANU will waive the tuition fees of students they will be hosting under the Joint Degree Program. These students will only pay fees to their respective home institution even while they are undertaking courses at the host institution.

SOURCE - ANU website
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Monash forges medical links with China

2004-12-02T22:32:00.000+11:00

MONASH University is riding out a crest of concern over China's health system by teaming with the country's top medical university to set up a joint research centre and a master of business administration in health services management in Shanghai.

China's health system has made "huge progress in a very short time" since Richard Larkins taught a month-long postgraduate course in endocrinology in Shandong province in 1985, the Monash University vice-chancellor said in Shanghai on Monday.

But it still has a long way to go to meet the standards of a developed country, as the Chinese hosts noted at a signing ceremony for a co-operation agreement between Monash and the Shanghai Second Medical University.

Monash and SSMU are establishing a Sino-Australian centre for health services management, education, research and training at SSMU as a focus for their initial collaboration. Students at the SSMU school of public health will be given advanced standing for six units into the Monash MBA in health services management at Monash in Melbourne.

The next plank of the plan is to offer the Monash MBA in Shanghai. For that, central government approval is needed.

The Australian consul-general in Shanghai Sam Gerovich said the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic had "highlighted the need for health administrators to be equipped with the necessary skills to manage these issues and the importance of international co-operation in fighting such epidemics".

He welcomed the opening of "a new area of medical science" in the bilateral relationship between Australia and China. With 45,000 Chinese students studying in Australia, Mr Gerovich said education was the "backbone of long-term linkages".

Although Monash has signed several memoranda of understanding in China, Professor Larkins said the agreement signed on Monday was the most substantial to date. "This is . . . not just a memorandum of understanding but a very detailed program," he said.

On Kit Tam, China specialist and associate dean, international, of Monash's business and economics faculty, said the university's China strategy was to create a network of prominent partner institutions to enhance the international links and research capacity of both parties.

SSMU president Shen Xiaoming said the university would seek co-operation with Monash in many more fields.

One obvious area of potential collaboration was in stem cell research, a "very hot point currently in this country".

"SSMU has one of the most active stem cell research programs in China," Professor Shen said. "[But] sometimes we feel it a little difficult to deal with some difficulties without involving international experts."

SSMU, the product of a 1952 merger of US, French and German hospitals with roots going back to 1911, is linked with 20 teaching hospitals in and around Shanghai. Six university hospitals in Shanghai with 6000 beds between them see 120,000 in-patients and 7 million emergency room patients a year, Professor Shen said.

A recent World Health Organisation study ranked China fourth last among 191 countries in the proportion of government budgets spent on public health.

SOURCE - The Australian
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Sex predator posing as policeman assaults Monash's overseas students

2004-12-02T22:26:00.000+11:00

A SEX predator masquerading as a police officer is targeting overseas students living near Monash University in Melbourne's south-east, police said today.

Police have received four reports of a man posing as a police officer or other official entering homes in Clayton and Springvale South between October 25 and November 16.

"(He) has managed to coerce his way inside under the guise of checking the occupants in the house for either drugs, or for their passports or for possible prostitution offences," acting Detective Senior Sergeant Alex Stewart said on ABC radio.

"Each of the residences contains a person that's an overseas student. One of the victims wasn't a student but a student did live there."

On Monday, the man, aged in his 40s or 50s, sexually assaulted two young women in the same house, Sgt Stewart said.

The other three times he went inside students' homes and briefly spoke with the victims.

The man produced a document, possibly a letter, with the Victoria Police logo on it on three occasions, and a card in the fourth incident.

Police in uniform or plain clothes would generally work in pairs and would always produce an identification certificate, in a small, leather wallet with a silver Victoria Police badge, Sgt Stewart said.

He appealed for the public to come forward with any information that would help catch the man.

The offender was described as caucasian, 180 cm tall and obese, with bald or receding dark hair and possibly a beard or moustache.

He was wearing a business shirt and trousers.

SOURCE - The Australian
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Top 20 Research Intensive Australian Universities (rankings based on ARC research grants)

2004-12-01T03:22:00.000+11:00

The Australian Research Council (ARC) plays a key role in the Australian Government’s investment in the future prosperity and well-being of the Australian community. The ARC’s mission is to advance Australia’s capacity to undertake quality research that brings economic, social and cultural benefit to the Australian community. Established as an independent body under the Australian Research Council Act 2001, the ARC reports to the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP

The ARC fosters excellence, partnerships and the highest ethical standards in research and research training in all fields of science, social sciences and the humanities. Discovery programs are under the umbrella of the National Competitive Grants Program. Discovery recognises the importance of fundamental research to the national innovation system.

The following are the Top 20 Universities based on the 2004 ARC Discovery Research Grants. These rankings highlight the research intensive universities in Australia. The figures in brackets indicate the number of ARC Discovery Research Grants won by that university.

Rank 1 - Australian National University [115]

Rank 2 - University of Sydney [100]

Rank 3 - University of Melbourne [89]

Rank 4 - University of New South Wales [80]

Rank 5 - University of Queensland [74]

Rank 6 - Monash University [58]

Rank 7 - Macquarie University [36]

Rank 8 - University of Western Australia [31]

Rank 9 - University of Tasmania [26]

Rank 9 - University of Adelaide [26]

Rank 11 - University of Newcastle [25]

Rank 12 - University of Wollongong [24]

Rank 13 - Griffith University [23]

Rank 14 - University of Technology Sydney [18]

Rank 15 - La Trobe University [17]

Rank 15 - Queensland University of Technology [17]

Rank 17 - Deakin University [13]

Rank 18 - RMIT University [12]

Rank 18 - University of South Australia [12]

Rank 20 - Flinders University [11]

Source - The Australian & ARC
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Struggling IDP feels the pinch

2004-11-21T02:14:00.000+11:00

IDP EDUCATION Australia chief executive Lindy Hyam has foreshadowed further cost cutting at the international marketing and recruitment arm for universities.

As IDP struggles with a sharp downturn in demand for international students, Ms Hyam warned that more change is inevitable if the not-for-profit company is to ride out the toughest period in its 34-year history.

She said IDP has already shed staff through natural attrition in the past 18 months. "There will probably have to be some others. But I think most of what we can do has been done," she said.

Seven general managers have left their posts this year along with a number of other senior staff - a trend Ms Hyam attributes to the high mobility of 25 to 35-year-olds in the corporate sector.

Financial controller Darren Heathcote resigned his full-time post last week but Ms Hyam said he would be retained on a part-time basis. This follows the resignations of general managers Denis Meares and Mel Dunn, as reported in the HES last week.

In an interview with the HES yesterday, Ms Hyam pointed to a series of events that had converged in an unprecedented way to create a difficult climate for the group. They included a high Australian dollar, a rise in living costs, an increase in course fees at universities, the expansion of competing countries into Australia's markets and changes in domestic policy.

"We've never had all of these things at the same time," Ms Hyam said. "Everything's changed. We can't operate the way we have in the past."

IDP had moved out of a cottage industry to one with high expectations, high complexity and one that demanded higher skills.

Ms Hyam said consultants Deloitte were working on a new structure for the company. That proposal would go to the December board meeting.

IDP, which is owned by 38 universities and whose board mostly comprises vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors, has about 90 offices in 50 countries around the world.

President Lance Twomey confirmed last week that more of the country offices would close as part an overhaul of the company's operations. The HES understands the board is split on how the company should handle the current crisis and that some members are concerned about the high staff turnover.

Ms Hyam has been under strong pressure from the board to lift the company's performance as it faces a debt of more than $2million this year.

But vice-chancellors are yet to agree on whether they want to transform it into a for-profit company - an issue that will be taken up at the first plenary of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee next year.

Yesterday Ms Hyam said she had never been under pressure to resign and that she was there for the long haul.

"I remain as committed as I always have," she said. "It's been a tough few months, but it's the very time where you need to draw on your inner strengths."

She confirmed that while the board had agreed to renew her contract at its May meeting, it was not signed off on until the end of October. Her contract will run for another three years, with an option for a further two years.

One of IDP's former longest-serving general managers, Dorothy Davis, returns on November 22 from a European secondment.

Ms Hyam said it was not certain yet what position Ms Davis would assume on her return as she had asked to do something else within the company.

SOURCE - The Australian
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Call for cull of agriculture courses

2004-11-21T02:06:00.000+11:00

AGRICULTURAL education is under pressure. Despite being redefined during the past decade to appeal to the growing environmental focus of urban students, the discipline is struggling to attract the numbers universities need to keep the courses viable.

Earlier this month a financial administrator was appointed to Queensland's Dalby Agricultural College.

Also under way is a review into Queensland's Emerald, Longreach and Burdekin agricultural colleges. The review is addressing "issues relating to poor performance with regard to corporate governance, financial management and training outcomes". Options include combining them into a single college with several campuses.

In the face of a looming $3million operating deficit for 2005, the University of Melbourne's faculty of land and food resources was considering cutting back its full-time rural education courses to one of its five country campuses. The rural sector vigorously objected and the plan was dropped last week.

The former Hawkesbury Agricultural College, now part of the University of Western Sydney, last month sold its 220-cow dairy herd and this month called for more staff redundancies.

It is not just the where and how of agricultural education that is under scrutiny. Earlier this month a group from the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science met officials from the University of Adelaide to raise concerns about its agricultural degree. One of those representing the institute at the meeting was Jim McColl, who previously chaired a commission of inquiry into agricultural education in the tertiary sector in 1990.

"Agricultural science seems to have lost its way," McColl says. "The world has changed a lot and is changing rapidly. When I say it has lost its way, it has lost its way in the sense of being the good, flexible, general training that is used to be."

His specific complaint about the University of Adelaide's course is that it is getting very focused on molecular biology and biotechnology.

"We are worried about the move away from the training that the top farmers need," he says. "That is where a real gap is starting to occur."

It was McColl who recommended the consolidation of agriculture and related education in 1990. He says the movement of regional former colleges of advanced education into the university sector resulted in too many "two-bit agricultural courses".

"The thrust was to rationalise and try [to] consolidate the resources rather than have them scattered all over the place," he says. "It is starting to happen and it is being driven by the trends that to some extent we identified back then."

University of Western Australia vice-chancellor Alan Robson was a member of the review panel. "We recommended six faculties of agriculture in Australia and we have more now than when we recommended that," Robson says.

Across Australia, 16 universities offer degrees in agriculture and related areas. A further seven offer environmental science courses, while agricultural colleges in Queensland, NSW and WA offer vocational and educational training courses.

Robson says Australia's largely urban population sees agriculture - incorrectly - as a mud-on-the-boots sunset industry.

"The lack of connection of most of our young people to agriculture means they don't see agricultural science as leading to a worthwhile career, yet all the data says people who do agricultural science as degrees end up having very enjoyable careers and there are lots of career opportunities for them," he says.

Agriculture is still a significant industry and employer. The gross value of agriculture peaked at $21 billion in 2001-02, with agricultural exports accounting for more than 20 per cent of Australia's goods and services exports. In 2003-04, the sector employed 377,000 people directly, and another 183,000 in food and fibre manufacturing.

The bottom line, according to Robson, is lack of demand for tertiary agriculture courses and the resulting lack of critical mass.

McColl's review identified two main streams of agricultural education: natural resources and agribusiness. He suggests universities specialise in either stream. "To some extent those things have happened but many of them have tried to do both," he says.

One of the changes since then is there are now few stand-alone agriculture schools and faculties as most have merged with related disciplines.

Robson says UWA now has a faculty of agriculture and natural sciences, bringing together the botanists, zoologists, geologists and geographers with agricultural scientists.

"A lot of the challenges facing sustainable use of agricultural land are going to require a broad skills base and you can't afford to have duplication within the university of plant scientists sitting in a pure sense in botany and a practical sense in agriculture," he says.

University of Western Sydney's school of environment and agriculture head Robert Mulley argues that the "new agriculture" is much more aligned with environmental issues than before.

"So that by its very nature the diverse areas that agriculture spans means that many of us have had to re-brand," he says.

Mulley, like McColl, feels the importance of agriculture is often overlooked. He says modern agriculture is "very hi-tech", using gene science, biotechnology and precision agriculture.

"On the other hand, the value of production agriculture to the country and to the world can't be understated and the whole area of agribusiness is absolutely crucial," he says.

But running agriculture courses is an expensive business. The Hawkesbury campus covers 1600ha on the edge of Sydney.

"We do have quite an extensive outdoor laboratory," Mulley says. "We did have a commercial dairy until recently. We closed that down because it was uneconomic. We have a herd of beef cattle and a flock of cross-bred ewes. We have an equine studies unit. We have a deer unit. We have quite good laboratories, we do agronomy and glasshouse work here."

Mulley thinks there is growing pressure for resource sharing between universities, but says he can't imagine how that is going to be achieved in any equitable way.

"I think, really, it needs a government inquiry on how agricultural training - which is crucial to the future of the country and stewardship of huge areas of the Australian land mass - is undertaken at the individual university level," he says.

"And yes, it probably will mean some sort of rationalisation in the future. But the importance can't be denied and we really need to act now to preserve good facilities to produce good outcomes."

SOURCE - The Australian
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TCE exams to commence in Tasmania

2004-11-20T14:02:00.000+11:00

MORE than 6500 students in Tasmania will tomorrow begin their Tasmanian certificate of education (TCE) exams.

Accounting and environmental science are the first of the 48 subjects to be sat, starting at 9am.

During the next two weeks they will be followed by exams in the traditional subjects of physics, mathematics, geography, Australian history, chemistry and biology.

The exam timetable also includes some more contemporary subjects such as housing and design, advanced electronics, audio design and science of natural resources.

Manager of assessment services at the Tasmanian Qualifications Authority Phillip Geeves said there would be 17,500 written exams to be marked at the end of the two weeks.

The 480 examiners -- mostly teachers and some university academics -- have a week to mark the exams.

As many as 200 exam supervisors will collect papers from 25 venues in Tasmania as well as interstate and overseas.

Two Tasmanian students on exchange in Japan and Germany and 10 students in China, who have been studying Tasmania's Year 12 curriculum this year, will be among those sitting formal exams.

"This is the first time we will have students from our Chinese and Tasmanian International School sitting TCE exams," Mr Geeves said.

"The Chinese students hope their studies will assist them to move to Tasmania to study at the University of Tasmania next year."

Mr Geeves said students would sit an average of three exams during the next two weeks, with some students completing as many as seven.

Between three and eight exams are run each day during a morning and afternoon session. Each exam lasts two or three hours.

Mr Geeves said 1600 students would sit the english communications exam -- the largest number of students to sit a single test. The smallest enrolment of students in a subject is in Chinese as a second language, where six will sit the exam.

Results will be posted on Monday, December 20, and are expected to arrive in mail boxes the next day. Results are available on the Monday by e-mail through pre-arrangement with TQA for $5.

Mr Geeves said the authority also planned to send Tasmanian tertiary entrance scores together with the final subject results on the same day. In previous years TE scores were posted a couple of days later.

Between 2500 and 2700 Year 12 students will be eligible for a TE score. They will also receive a tertiary entrance rank, which is used by all Australian universities to rank them against interstate students applying to courses.

Year 10 students will receive their results on Tuesday, December 14.

SOURCE - The Mercury
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University of Adelaide wins $11 m grant

2004-11-19T21:17:00.000+11:00

THE University of Adelaide's medical, dental and biomedical research has received a major boost with the announcement of more than $11 million in funding.

Deputy vice-chancellor of research Professor Neville Marsh said yesterday the projects that attracted funding included molecular bioscience, pregnancy, dental health and methadone treatment.

"We are extremely pleased to see that the University of Adelaide has again performed well in attracting funding for research which has the potential to make a real impact on the health and wellbeing of the community," he said.

The university's science faculty also received a $2.7 million grant.

The grants were provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council, confirming South Australia's national leadership in biomedical research, executive dean of the faculty Professor Peter Rathjen said.

"I am particularly pleased to see large grants awarded to some of our new recruits," he said.

Also, senior lecturer in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology Professor Caroline Crowther received almost $1 million for a five-year project on vaginal and caesarean births.

Dr Maria Makrides, based at the Women's and Children's Hospital, received a $1.6 million grant for her studies into postnatal depression and neurodevelopment in children.

SOURCE - NEWS Network
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University Student Associations - Students in charge of millions

2004-11-19T20:56:00.000+11:00

THEY have an average age of 22, often live at home with mum and dad, and hold the purse strings of multi-million-dollar enterprises. There's nothing pretend about student politics these days.

Student unions are big business, and their 20-something presidents, with little or no business acumen, wield considerable power and sizeable budgets.

When the Victorian Supreme Court put the $14million Melbourne University Student Union Inc into liquidation earlier this year, and sacked its then 20-year-old president, the pitfalls of young, inexperienced people managing such a business were laid bare.

It was wound up after a liquidator's report recommended police investigate the union over awarding of contracts and alleged falsification of records, election rigging and travel rorts. The case is back in the Victorian Supreme Court for a liquidator's examination.

This adds fuel to the fire started by federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson recently when he indicated the Government would push again for nationwide voluntary student unionism. Earlier this week, The Australian revealed that to placate the Government the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee had devised a model to ban student unions from using fees to fund political campaigns.

Each of Australia's universities have student unions that charge annual fees of between $100 and $300 to provide student representation and subsidise services such as counselling, dental treatment and student newspapers. Some operate social and sporting clubs, cafes, bars and bookshops.

The acting president of what is left of MUSU Inc, 22-year-old Rohan D'Souza, believes the financial side of unions should be run by the university executive, with students on organisational committees. "It's extremely dangerous to have young people with no experience running a business like a union," he said. "The biggest problems for student unions is that the politics colours the business decisions."

But Susie Byers, the 22-year-old president of the University of Western Australia student guild, disagreed. "Regardless of age, people can be responsible or irresponsible," she said. "It's ridiculous to argue that young people are going to immediately get it wrong by virtue of their age. You hear all sorts of stories about grown men and women working within corporations who fall for the Nigerian bank account scam and losing everybody's money."

Tasmania University Union president John Moore, a 23-year-old law student, presides over a $1.7million budget. He admits he is no financial whiz, but insists there are checks and balances on how the money is spent.

"The Tasmania University Union has two tiers of control. We have students who are on the committee and controlling things, but we also have a management team ... who provide a knowledge base," Mr Moore said.

There is little uniformity in the financial activity or accountability of student unions in Australia.

Most in Victoria and NSW divide the politics from the provision of amenities and the operation of services. Others, like those in Western Australia, have the purse strings and politics under one roof.

Some universities require the union budget to be passed through the university council or senate.

Most do come under university statutes that identify the areas money must be spent on. In theory this means the university can step in, as Melbourne did when it received an auditors' report showing MUSU was on the verge of bankruptcy.

SOURCE - The Australian
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Nortel to launch wireless mesh network at Edith Cowan University

2004-11-19T20:47:00.000+11:00

Edith Cowan University plans to roll out Australia's first wireless mesh network before the end of 2004 using wireless mesh and local area network (LAN) solutions from Nortel Networks Corp. This new network will give staff and students seamless wireless access to university applications and resources from any campus location, indoors and outdoors.

The Nortel wireless mesh network solution and Nortel wireless LAN technology are expected to make it possible for the university to improve the human experience through communications that provide secure and reliable, low-cost, campus-wide access with the capability of easily expanding to meet future demand for services. The mesh network will cover 132.35 hectares across four campuses, including 168 buildings.

"We've been looking for ways to extend the wireless network coverage on our campuses while keeping costs to a minimum," said Jeff Murray, information technology manager, Edith Cowan University. "The network had to be powerful enough to provide coverage both inside and outside the campus buildings, scalable enough to meet current and future bandwidth demands, and flexible enough to accommodate future technology such as converged voice, video and data communications. Also, due to the university's geographical spread, it had to be hardy enough to service both metropolitan and rural environments."

"We've determined that up to 70 per cent of mobile calls are from a campus base station to a campus phone," Mr. Murray said. "Future capabilities of the wireless mesh network can make this service available to all students and staff and can save $300,000 (Australian), which means the new network will basically pay for itself."

Following a public tender process and evaluation of 10 proposals from alternative suppliers, Nortel was assessed as providing the most innovative technology and best value-for-money solution for the university's requirements.

With almost 23,000 students including 3,000 international enrolments, Edith Cowan University is a leading education centre for the Australian services industry and the second-largest university in Western Australia. The university has metropolitan campuses in Churchlands, Mount Lawley and Joondalup and a regional campus in Bunbury, a city 200 kilometres south of Perth. It also offers selected programs at regional centres in Broome, Geraldton and Margaret River designed to meet the special and local needs of these areas.

"Wiring large numbers of access points can be a huge challenge and the costs can be prohibitive," said Steve Wood, president, Australia and New Zealand, Nortel. "With our wireless mesh network solution, Nortel has leveraged its global experience and expertise in wireless communications and networking infrastructure to deliver a cost-effective, highly-secure, fault-tolerant and reliable network that easily scales up from tens to thousands of users to deliver the full scope of our converged communications services to mobile users."

Including Nortel Wireless Access Point 7220 and Nortel Wireless Gateway 7250, the Nortel wireless mesh network solution significantly reduces the cost of transporting high-speed wireless data from Wi-Fi networks to broadband networks. The Nortel wireless mesh network solution uses IEEE 802.11 standards, allowing users with Wi-Fi-enabled laptop computers or hand-held computing devices to access the network without new hardware or software.

Looking ahead, Mr. Murray said that the university will trial Nortel Multimedia Communications Server (MCS) 5100 in the next 12 months with a view to enabling converged multimedia (voice, video and data streaming) services over the wireless mesh network.

Mr. Murray attended a live demo of a Nortel wireless mesh network solution at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in Boston in February, 2004. Even at that early testing stage, Mr. Murray said that he was impressed by the stability and functionality of the solution and felt the technology could meet Edith Cowan's requirements.

"I'm confident that we will be leading the way for other universities and learning centres across Australia in the use of this genuinely liberating and cost-effective wireless network technology," Mr. Murray said.

The wireless mesh network portfolio complements the award-winning Nortel WLAN 2200 series, introduced in March, 2003. The WLAN 2200 series provides a complete, end-to-end wireless networking solution for enterprise campus environments, serving as an extension of the wired communications infrastructure.

SOURCE - StockWatch
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Monash opposes Howard Govt's new university reforms

2004-11-18T15:52:00.000+11:00

Monash University has opposed the extension of individual work contracts at Australian universities, which is part of the Howard Government's plan for workplace relations changes at universities.

Monash vice-chancellor Richard Larkins said that extending individual contracts would create an unnecessary level of government intervention in university operations.

Professor Larkins said universities were already moving towards individual contracts at a "reasonable rate" and with relative industrial peace.

"Extending the rate of individual agreements negotiated with staff as opposed to collective agreements . . . would undoubtedly lead to much greater compliance requirements," he said.

Earlier this week, federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson told a meeting of Australia's university heads that the Government would compel universities to offer individual work contracts. These Australian Workplace Agreements would override collective agreements negotiated by unions.

But Professor Larkins said he supported Dr Nelson's plans to legislate against industrial action that affected "innocent third parties", such as tertiary unions withholding student results.

Unions at Monash and Ballarat universities have bans on releasing student results. Similar bans start at RMIT next week.

The secretary of the Victorian branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, Matthew McGowan, said bans on releasing student results were a "softer option" than forms of industrial action that disrupted teaching.

Dr Nelson yesterday defended the Government against criticism that its proposed workplace changes were not raised during the recent election, saying the issues were clearly on the agenda.

Speaking on ABC radio, he also indicated the Government could soften its long-held opposition to compulsory student unionism. Dr Nelson said he would consider some form of compulsory student association fees to support essential student services, but not political or quasi-social organisations.

Chief executive of the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee, John Mullarvey, said universities still supported a compulsory student fee to ensure the delivery of essential services.

Asked whether he believed fees should support political activities on campus, Mr Mullarvey said: "The decisions that are made on what the money should be spent on is a matter for individual universities to decide."

Ballarat University vice-chancellor Professor Kerry Cox said the Government's proposed university workplace relations changes would provide better "policy, transparency, accountability".

He said that present collective bargaining agreements did not always meet the university's requirements.

SOURCE - The Age
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Has Curtin lost the plot locally?

2004-11-18T15:49:00.000+11:00

by Doug Daws

THERE'S been quite some agitation this week over the announcement by the Federal Minister for Education Brendan Nelson that he would like to have the 'Feds' take over control of universities - Australia-wide. Seems reasonable given almost all of the funding for universities comes from the Commonwealth and not the States. Perhaps predictably, some state ministers for education agree, and others don't - that's how it is in a democracy.

But it seems to me there is precious little concern for democracy - or what it is supposed to deliver - at the Kalgoorlie Campus of Curtin University.

It was revealed this week that the coup initiated when Curtin took over Kalgoorlie College is just about complete and there is little left for local students unless you're into mining or are a high school student.

For those that don't know, Kalgoorlie College was a fully functional independent college. I was Chairman of the Interim College Council for a while and that famous champion of Kalgoorlie, Mr Ray Finlayson, followed me. We shared a vision. A vision for broadly based and available tertiary education for all of those living here and that wished to complete or extend their personal educational goals.

Kalgoorlie College worked. Student numbers were high and the range and flexibility of courses was something other regional campuses in Australia aspired to. Students seeking trade training were especially well catered for and our workshops were the envy of equivalent metropolitan colleges. So much so that some were moved to complain at the range and quality of the equipment we were able to provide.

We worked to a plan to acquire nearby property intended to provide the areas needed to allow expansion of the campus. To provide breathing space for a carefully developed strategy to make Kalgoorlie-Boulder a unique regional community that could not only provide training to the people already here but attract students from other parts of the State and Australia. We were looking to education as another industry for this community rather than just a service provider.

Sadly, it is now none of this. The loyal trainers and lecturers have been eliminated - some without so much as a letter of thanks after 10 years service. Nepotism is alive and well within the campus ranks and many couples working there enjoy substantial combined salaries doing less and less as the student numbers are decimated. I hear the nearby properties have or are being sold off and the funds obtained put to other uses within Curtin.

The latest effort this week sees all classes in the once proud and productive arts sector eliminated with perhaps the exception of one textile course. Gone is dressmaking, garment construction, ceramics, hairdressing, life drawing, water colour courses, etc. etc. In their place are upper secondary school students who no doubt enjoy and probably benefit from the significant campus that was created for another perhaps more beneficial purpose.

None of this criticism is aimed at the Kalgoorlie School of Mines that rightly continues to capture funding and support from Curtin. After all, they need to make sure it survives until they are able to arrange the final act of their long-term strategy which is the transfer of the whole lot to Perth where they believe it belongs. In fact it would already be there were it not for the strength of argument and commitment of the likes of Julian Grill, John Bowler, Ray Finlayson, Graeme Campbell and SOM graduates.

Thanks to Barry Haase, Brendan Nelson came to Kalgoorlie-Boulder during the recent election campaign who, having heard the argument, immediately threw his weight behind the plea for support for the residential bursary scheme. I can't help but wonder what he would think, and do, if he was made aware of the destruction of all of the other course programs at Kalgoorlie Campus.

I cannot help but think that his proposed intervention into the way universities collect and then waste our money might be a better way forward. We couldn't do any worse than the appaling performance we have suffered at the hands of Curtin in everything other than the School of Mines.

That's my opinion. What do you think?

dcdaws@bigpond.com

SOURCE - The Golden Mail
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International students number decline at US universities

2004-11-17T16:16:00.000+11:00

CHICAGO -- International students are not attending college in the United States in the numbers they historically have because of a combination of fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, high costs, rising anti-Americanism, tighter screening and tougher visa requirements.

The Institute of International Education's "Open Doors 2004" survey released Wednesday found international student enrollment fell 2.4 percent in the 2003-04 academic year. There were 572,509 foreign students compared to 586,323 in 2002-03 -- the first drop in foreign enrollment since 1971-1972.

"The decrease in number of international students this year is explained by a wide variety of factors affecting students differently in different countries, and includes a wider range of educational opportunities at home, stiff competition from other host countries, rising U.S. tuition costs, and the complex adjustment to tighter screening of visa applicants," said Allan Goodman, president and chief executive officer of the IIE, a non-profit group that annually surveys 2,700 colleges and universities.

International enrollment was lower at 13 of the nation's 25 leading universities.

The number of foreign students attending private and public colleges in California, the state with the most international students, fell by 3,301 to 77,186 between 2002 and 2003, and the number of foreigners attending college in New York dropped 1 percent.

Where are talented foreign students matriculating? Many are choosing universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand rather than deal with the increasingly frustrating process of trying to enter a security-conscious post-Sept. 11 America to study.

Fully half of graduate students in science and engineering at U.S. schools are from foreign countries. The CIA and the FBI must check international students planning to study scientific and technical fields when they apply for an educational visa, and many undergo interviews at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas.

The background checks are understandable since Hani Hanjour, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers who crashed a jetliner into the Pentagon, and one terrorist blamed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, were in the country on student visas. Still, it's intimidating for young students who want to study in a foreign land.

Getting an F-1 student visa, once fairly routine, has turned into a bureaucratic exercise that makes many feel unwelcome. The Department of Homeland Security said the new student-visa rules deter terrorists from using college as a cover.

Universities have been responsible for tracking the movements and status of more than 700,000 foreign students and reporting immigration violations to a government database called the Student Exchange Visitor Information System via the Internet since August 2003. Foreign students pay a $100 fee to cover expenses of the tracking system.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have access to the SEVIS data at ports of entry.

"The perception in many countries is still that we are not as welcoming as we used to be," Ivor Emmanuel, director of services for international students and scholars at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Oakland Tribune.

Foreign enrollment was steady or slightly higher at Harvard University, Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but slightly lower at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and sharply lower at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

UC-Berkeley foreign enrollment fell from 491 students in 2002 to 369 in 2004.

Ohio University received nearly 1,000 fewer international graduate applications but enrolled only 50 fewer foreign students. Foreign enrollment was down 11 percent at Ohio State. International enrollment fell 12 percent to 2,564 at Rutgers, New Jersey's largest university.

Foreign enrollment increased by less than 1 percent at the University of Pittsburgh.

"The creation of more, not less global awareness is necessary," said Mark Shay, chief executive officer of StudyAbroad.com, an Internet site of Philadelphia-based Educational Directories Unlimited Inc. "Knowledge and experience are vital in gaining and promoting international understanding. Studying aboard introduces a new environment through which knowledge can be gained in a real-time setting. These experiences prepare individuals to thrive in a global community."

American students think so.

Applications from U.S. students to study abroad jumped 42 percent after Sept. 11, while admissions of international graduate students steadily declined, falling 18 percent in 2003 and 6 percent this fall.

Overall, enrollment of both undergraduate and graduate foreign students rose 0.6 percent in 2002 before three straight years of decline.

The number of students from the Middle East dropped 9 percent, Chinese enrollments fell 4.6 percent, and there were 5 percent fewer students from Europe, 2.5 percent fewer from Asia and 1.2 percent fewer from Africa.

India is an exception. The 79,736 Indian students in the United States represent a 6.9-percent increase over 2002-03 and comprise 14 percent of all foreign students, the largest group for four consecutive years.

"The number of Indian students in the U.S. has increased sharply over last year, jumping by 7 percent over last year," U.S. deputy chief of mission in New Delhi Robert Blake told the Hindustan Times. "This is in contrast to stories in local papers that somehow the U.S. has lost its historical edge in attracting India's top students."

The number of Pakistani students fell 10 percent to 7,325.

South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Canada were the other leading countries for foreign students attending American institutions. Nearly 57 percent of international students are from Asian countries.

U.S. universities don't know if the trend is long term but are beginning to feel an economic pinch with 70 percent of 400 graduate schools surveyed by the Council of Graduate Schools reporting a decline in first-time enrollment of foreign students.

Educating foreign students, many in graduate science and advanced engineering programs, brings $13 billion a year to U.S. higher education.

A survey released by the council last week found the number of Chinese and Indian students applying for graduate school this fall at U.S. schools fell 45 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

SOURCE - World Peace Herald
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University of Melbourne postpones merger of regional campuses

2004-11-16T16:13:00.000+11:00

PLANS by the University of Melbourne to merge its five regional campuses into one next year were shelved after a consultancy report advised them the overhaul could not be completed in time.

The university council voted on Monday night to delay for at least 12 months any final decisions on the fate of the four campuses and the agriculture courses they offer, after intense political and community pressure.

In a council document obtained by the HES, education consultancy group Phillips KPA advises the university that "even if it wished to proceed with its foreshadowed proposal in 2005, the university could not do so because LFR [the faculty of land and food resources] does not have the capacity within the time available to offer the program proposed to relocate at Dookie".

When the university flagged its plans to either hand over full-time courses to other institutions or relocate them to the Dookie campus, near Shepparton, it cited huge financial losses at the campuses and dwindling student numbers. The LFR faculty has lost $15million over the past five years and projects a $3million loss next year, but the Phillips KPA report found it was not just the regional campuses contributing to the dire financial situation.

"While most of the focus of the university's initial consideration of the LFR budget deficit issue has been on the regional campuses, the Parkville [city] campus appears also to be contributing substantially to the adverse budget position."

The report to council, co-authored by outgoing vice-chancellor Kwong Lee Dow, says the university would find it difficult to secure growth funds for the campuses because of "suspicion of the university's bona fides and long-term commitment to regional delivery of VET and higher education programs".

"Continuing community suspicion of the university likewise may make it difficult for LFR even to attract sufficient demand for its programs to justify increased places and funding."

Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky had threatened Melbourne University with the withdrawal of up to $8 million in vocational education and training funding if it went ahead with the cutbacks.

Ms Kosky said the council decision made sense and should have been made a lot earlier.

Last week the state National and Liberal parties called for, but failed to get, a parliamentary inquiry into the provision of education in regional Victoria, particularly agriculture courses.

In a statement issued after the decision the university said "the council recognised that the university has a responsibility to continue delivering these courses on their regional sites in 2005 and beyond, unless or until other suitable providers can be arranged".

Professor Lee Dow said the university was trying to act in the best interests of agricultural education and training.

"The university should concentrate on its strengths in supporting the agriculture and related education programs vital to Victoria's agricultural economy," he said.

"While some VET programs offered by the university are core to LFR, some could, with advantage, be delivered by providers in the region who interact with the local community and rural industry.

"But until we negotiate suitable arrangements with other providers, the university will continue to deliver those programs. The university has had useful discussions with a number of interested TAFE providers."

The leaked council report indicated that at least three TAFE institutions had showed an interest in taking over some of the courses.

SOURCE - The Australian
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VCs worried about ailing IDP

2004-11-16T16:09:00.000+11:00

VICE-CHANCELLORS will look at ways to turn a profit from their troubled international marketing and recruitment arm, IDP Education Australia, under plans for a radical overhaul of the not-for-profit company.

As the lucrative and highly competitive overseas student market slows, the university-owned company is being forced to look at its core business.

Two more senior staff resigned last week, bringing to seven the number of general managers who have left their posts this year.

The move comes as the company faces a debt this year of more than $2 million and prepares to cut staff in Australia and overseas. A number of its 100 overseas offices will also close.

While Australia's international student market has mushroomed in the past decade, a 10 per cent drop in demand growth this year has alarmed a sector highly dependent on overseas student fees for private revenue.

Denis Meares, IDP's general manager of global strategy, and Mel Dunn, general manager of the global development services group, are the latest senior staff to resign.

President of the IDP board and vice-chancellor of Curtin University of Technology, Lance Twomey, said they were acting in their positions.

Professor Twomey would not comment on possible reasons for the latest departures but said IDP's chief executive officer Lindy Hyam had the full confidence of the board.

The HES understands that low morale at IDP has contributed to the high staff turnover in the past 12 months.

The future of the company was under the spotlight yesterday during the plenary meeting of all vice-chancellors in Sydney.

One of the options being discussed is to have IDP become a global recruiter of international students, which would see it recruiting students for some of Australia's competing countries.

A number of Irish universities have already approached IDP about recruiting students for them.

But it is a move that will be resisted by some vice-chancellors, who see a conflict in their main recruitment agent working for competing interests. It would also leave Australian universities more exposed in an aggressive open market.

After the AVCC meeting yesterday Professor Twomey told the HES that a restructure of the company was not set in concrete and that a proposal would go to all vice-chancellors next year.

As reported in the HES in August, IDP was expecting to post a $1.6 million loss this year instead of the forecast $2.5 million profit, but this loss is now expected to be higher.

PriceWaterhouse Coopers is currently conducting its annual audit of the company and is expected to report before the next board meeting in December.

As part of cost-cutting IDP has already closed its office in the US and Professor Twomey confirmed yesterday it would be closing "a couple of others".

The company has been under pressure for some time to shed its not-for-profit status and either create a commercial arm or commercialise fully.

"What we have at the moment is a company which is owned by 38 universities and at the same time each university is a shareholder, a client and a competitor," Professor Twomey said.

"I think one of the issues that we've had to face is to get our minds around the fact that we've got to take a somewhat different approach to the way in which we've worked with IDP in the past."

He said until now it had been relatively easy to bring international students to Australia. But a rising Australian dollar and competition from other countries made it a much tougher prospect.

He did not favour selling off the company but said one option was to bring in other shareholders and put it on a commercial footing.

SOURCE - The Australian
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