The Bertalli Foundation donated $2.5 million over five years to La Trobe University to help establish literacy clinics for children struggling with reading and writing.

The donation will also help fund research into how rural and regional children are taught during the first three years of school.

“We know that children who are confident readers are more engaged with their learning have fewer behavioural and emotional problems, are more likely to complete Year 12, and are less likely to have contact with the youth justice system,” La Trobe's education faculty head Professor Joanna Barbousas said.

“Despite increasing awareness of the science of learning approach, many schools are teaching children to read using methods for which the empirical evidence base is weak or non-existent – leaving too many children behind.”

In 2020, the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training issued a report which identified overall lower education attainment rates in Australians from regional and remote areas.

The release of the 2022 NAPLAN data also revealed students in regional and rural areas had lower averages in literacy and numeracy than those in metropolitan areas.

Philanthropist Neville Bertalli said he first saw the 'incredible difference' evidence-based reading and writing programs made while working with Victorian schools.

"Not only did the children enjoy school more, their NAPLAN results improved," he said.

“We were so excited by these outcomes we wanted to multiply our efforts – and recognised that La Trobe is a leader in this space and has academics with the passion and deep expertise to bring our vision to life."

This is not the first gift the Bertalli Foundation has made to a university.

In 2011, the Bertalli Foundation donated scholarship financial assistance to Melbourne university to assist high-performing students that completed school in rural or isolated areas.

The gift continued to support students in undergraduate commerce degrees with many who have gone on to forge careers at global organisations.

Part of Bertalli's donation to La Trobe will also fund the creation of a Science of Learning Schools (SoLS) program.

As part of the initative, pre-service teachers studying in Victoria will be able to enter a handful of 'exemplary schools' to gain practical teaching experience.

Researchers from the South Australian Academy for Gender Equity in STEM (SAAGES) hosted a series of think tanks, speaking with 75 women currently working and studying in STEM fields.

Their report found that despite a significant increase in the number of women studying maths and science, only a small minority pursued postgraduate study and industry-related careers.

"The reasons for this are too complex to reduce to numbers," the report's lead author Dr Deborah Devis told Campus Review.

"Instead, it was important to understand the experiences and stories of real South Australians to better understand the nuances of what they face."

Study participants came from a range of different cultural backgrounds, genders and STEM industries such as engineering, IT space and research.

The think tanks also included people adjacent to STEM, such as teachers and students, who had a desire to work in STEM industries.

"During the event, everyone was asked questions relating to their experience of gender equity and what they believed were the causes and solutions," Dr Devis said.

"No matter where somebody was in their career, their opinion was valued, so we didn’t want people to feel they couldn’t speak in front of people who may have been more senior in the industry."

According to the report, one participant said “STEM isn’t nerdy or unpopular anymore - pursuing STEM is normal but staying in STEM is hard for girls.”

Another participant reported, “a more open [and] honest work means that men can now take time off the spend time with kids.”

It was clear early on in the think tank sessions that the impact of culture on gender equity remained a dominant theme, according to Dr Devis.

Last year, women made up 36 per cent of enrolments in university STEM courses and 16 per cent in vocational STEM courses, according to a government report.

The report, which collated national data on girls and women in STEM, also found that 27 per cent of women were working in STEM industries in 2022, a one per cent drop from the year prior.

"We suggest that funding is allocated based on gender-disaggregated data, which means using data that looks at how the funding impacts men, women and non-binary people separately," Dr Devis said.

“We can also support this initiative by being conscious of what is happening around us and participating in the change instead of leaving the burden of change on women and gender-diverse people, who are already fighting an uphill battle."

On Wednesday, staff from the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Deakin University will walk off their jobs with protests expected to form at the Victorian Trades Hall in Melbourne around 12pm.

Other university staff from ANU, UNSW, University of Queensland, James Cook University, Federation University and Newcastle University will also take industrial action later this week.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) president Alison Barnes told media that Australia's university workers were at “breaking point.”

“Workers across the sector are really furious and are at their wit’s end around what has happened across our sector," she said.

This week's strikes follow ongoing industrial action from multiple universities across the country.

In March, hundreds of full-time and casual staff from Sydney University went on strike after negotiations stalled between the NTEU and university management.

A union wage theft report published in February showed instances of wage theft across 22 Australian universities, with the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney and RMIT the main culprits for underpaying staff.

Charles Sturt University researchers, in collaboration with NSW Department of Primary Industries and the Narrandera Fisheries Centre, found the highly infected fish with the invasive parasite Eustrongylides excisus.

“Unfortunately, this parasite can also infect humans if they eat undercooked and infected fish,” Professor Shokoofeh Shamsi said.

Professor Shamsi, who led the research, said the parasites are not native to Australia.

“This is not the first time that our team has provided evidence of the presence of an invasive species in Australia which suggests biosecurity gaps in current biosecurity protocols," Professor Shamsi said.

The team also found that Native Australian birds had been infected with the parasite.

“The worm burrowed into the stomach of these birds, creating a hole, which resulted in death. This is similar to what happens inside humans when we get infected from this parasite, the worm burrows into our gut and tissue."

According to the Food and Waterborne Parasitology report, with the increasing demand for fish, and consumption of raw or undercooked fish, the discovery is concerning.

Professor Shamsi said cooking fish infected with the parasite can minimise the risk.

"It's really important they are cooked properly. If you eat it raw, it's very, very risky, especially with freshwater fish."

Professor Shamsi said there is an increased need for risk assessment studies to include parasitologists and urges for more university funding.

“We need to find out what the source of infection is for fish and what the distribution of this parasite is in Australia."

The research team is "urgently calling" for investment into research and capacity building in the field of parasitology.

"We've applied for a grant several times to look at what kind of parasites impact the health of freshwater fish wildlife," Professor Shamsi said.

"We have all the facilities here to check the impact of infection with parasites in fish, monitor them, use fish tanks and cameras, and we have veterinary diagnostic lab to do the diagnostic techniques, but all these things cost."

Last year, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi introduced new legislation to freeze student debt in a bid to address rising costs of living.

A Senate inquiry advised against the bill on Monday, meaning university graduates may face a debt hike of up to 7 per cent in June.

Senator Faruqi firmly rejected the Committee's decision and said the government was “out of touch with the reality of millions struggling with student debt.”

“An education system that traps graduates in a debt spiral and forces them to repay student loans when they are barely earning above the minimum wage is unsustainable and broken,” she said. 

If successful, the Senate Inquiry found the proposed law could have cost the government $9bn.

University student debt in Australia has more than doubled over the past decade, with the number of HECS-HELP loans rising to nearly 830,000 in 2019. 

The current inflation rate in Australia is 7.8 per cent.

Indexation is applied to debt to keep its real value but also keep it in line with changes in cost of living.

The new proposed indexation rate would mean a potential rise of up to 3.1 per cent since last year's figure.

An estimated three million students will be impacted by the new indexation rates from June.

Amid the anticipated rise, students and alumni have called for indexation to be paused.

University graduate Gemma McWhirter started a petition to stop HECS-HELP indexation which has gathered nearly 5,000 signatures.

Gemma confessed her struggles to pay off her previous HECS debt under the current indexation scheme.

“When I graduated, little did I know that I would not pay off my HECS debt until I was 52," she wrote on social media.

“That is largely because of HECS debt indexation, which doubled my debt while I spent time out of the workforce raising my family.”

According to the ATO, indexation rates for study and training loans apply to accumulated study that has remained unpaid for more than 11 months.

The exact figure for the new indexation rate will be revealed in June.