The government has delivered strongly on its social inclusion benefit. Now it’s up to individual institutions to make sure the real work happens, says Trevor Gale. At one level, there were few surprises in last week’s federal budget commitment to ...

The government isn’t investing in research and innovation despite the downturn; it is investing in them because of it and beyond, writes Kim Carr. Labor came to office already knowing that Australia’s innovation system was in trouble. We lagged behind ...

Universities continue to battle it out for a market share, writes Joseph Gora. In an interview with The Age, famed biographer and scourge of bloated rhetoric Don Watson noted that an ugly “business model” had percolated into almost every aspect of ...

Public universities which place a strong emphasis on academic, business and corporate governance are afforded the best prospects of long-term success, says Garry Carnegie. Organisations of all types require the achievement and maintenance of good or effective governance. Indeed, organisations ...

Having built a profound asset in international education, universities now need to think even more creatively about the future, says Daryl Le Grew. Whichever way you look at it, the performance of Australian universities in international education is stellar. Creating ...

The English language competency of staff as well as students represents a significant challenge to universities, says Judy Nagy. The recently released good practice principles for English language proficiency for international students in Australian universities are an important contribution to ...

Other countries are increasing their investment in basic research capacity to attract inwards investment, as well as to capture the broader benefits that flow from university research. Ian Chubb argues there is the need for a new policy setting for ...

On a quirky US website called Wisegeek, the tortured ritual of the performance review/appraisal/work plan (let’s call it the PR) is seen as a continuation of an assessment culture that occurs in high schools. “These early experiences of being graded ...

Australian higher education and the world: has the Bradley report got it right, asks Simon Marginson. Are we optimising the global position of Australian higher education? International students are now 26 per cent of all Australian universities students, 20 per ...

We need more deeply understand the complexity of different student contexts and how they play out in modern, tertiary institutions, says Liz Harman. The government focus on students is welcome. In her speech at the Universities Australia Conference on 4 ...