Vice-chancellor of James Cook University Professor Simon Biggs has been appointed as the new chair of Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group, to serve a two year term to 2025. He succeeds the former chair, University of Canberra vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon, ...
More »Innovative Research Universities outlines 20 ways it’s battling COVID-19, but more funding is needed
The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group has outlined how its members are tackling COVID-19 in Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region while calling on the government for more research funding. The IRU group (comprising seven universities) is focusing on three ...
More »What do final school results really tell tertiary institutions? Opinion
With the recent release of VCE results, parents across Victoria have been eagerly hoping to find out what their children have achieved at school during the past two years. Isn’t it strange, then, that VCE results provide so little insight ...
More »Contract cheating draft legislation too heavy-handed: unis, students
A student helping out a struggling classmate might be worried they’re incriminating themselves should draft legislation to prohibit academic cheating services move ahead unchanged. That’s one of the potential problems with the scope of the bill's details spelled out by ...
More »VET review: Professor urges schools to ditch VET/uni dichotomy
A Murdoch University professor has criticised schools for encouraging students to choose between a VET or university pathway. Barry Down, a VET and student engagement specialist, says this dichotomy has become unrealistic. "The reality is that society requires smart workers and citizens with ...
More »Vote down student loan levy: IRU’s message to senators
The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) wants senators to quash a proposed charge on administering student loans. The group said the cost recovery measure will put Australian universities out of pocket $10 million a year. Should the Higher Education Support (Charges) Bill ...
More »Fare thee well, campus? Not for these universities
The world's oldest universities weren't just sites of learning. They were also civic, religious and social institutions. Without Oxford, Bologna and Al-Karueein we wouldn't have modern-day ethics, or defences against bygone empires or the omniscient power of the medieval church. Universities were ...
More »IRU says current funding model stifles innovation, calls for greater research autonomy
The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group wants universities to have more say in how they spend their funding dollars. They say that universities only get to fully determine how a fifth of their endowment is spent. Raising the issue yesterday at the House of Representatives Inquiry ...
More »HECS legislation passes through Lower House
The federal government has scrapped plans to place a "lifetime cap" on student loans, but has been granted support from the lower house to reduce the repayment threshold. Legislation to lower the repayment threshold from $55,000 to $45,000 has been ...
More »Universities “not rolling in gold”: IRU
Conor King, executive director of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU), wants the government to know that universities aren't as cashed up as many assume. Also, he contends, the government's other presumptions on which university funding plans are based are false. For example, although ...
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