Melbourne Update Vol. 6, No. 11
Monday 17 December 2007
Higher education challenges for 2008 and beyond
The higher education sector is now turning its attention to how the incoming government will tackle a range of challenges in higher education. Some indications of its likely direction can be drawn from a series of policy statements over the past two years.
Issues include student access, student funding, research, student amenity fees and differentiation of the system.
The decision to lower HECS repayments for some degrees, such as science and teaching, indicates a desire to attract more students into areas of workplace shortage. While evidence that HECS remission influences student preferences is modest, this approach uses incentives rather than regulation to achieve policy objectives.
The foreshadowed end to domestic fee-paying places raises an awkward question: why will public money continue to support private tertiary institutions through FEE-HELP, while the same subsidy for study is not available for those seeking domestic fee-paying places in the public system?
Universities such as Melbourne will lose considerable income – around $25 million a year – which is used to benefit all students, not just fee-paying. But claims for ‘compensation’ for the phase-out of full-fees are not the only issue here: also important is what happens to the places lost – around 14,000 – to the system and the introduction of an appropriate level of overall funding per Commonwealth-supported student.
The reality is that Australian universities must still make do with less funding per student in real terms than at the funding peak in the mid 1970s. We need to improve the quality of university education for all students, and that means more funding per student.
The new government has indicated that it will not implement the controversial Research Quality Framework in its current form. It has a chance to start again rather than impose an expensive and interventionist model on the sector. Measurement of research performance is highly-desirable and some form of metrics measurement would make a useful contribution to improving Australia’s global research performance and rankings – as would an improvement in research funding.
With a return to compulsory student unionism ruled out, the new government faces the immediate prospect of student organisations, services and sporting facilities closing in universities all over the nation.
A form of ‘compact’ – an agreement between the Commonwealth and individual universities – has been proposed to maximise local difference and encourage institutions to make choices about key priorities. Over time, this policy instrument should produce a more differentiated system.
Other key issues are improved access and equity for disadvantaged groups, restoration of student life to campuses, and the ability for Australia to reverse its current overall decline in international rankings of university performance.
The sector will be hoping all these issues find a place on the new government’s first term agenda.
Glyn Davis
Vice-Chancellor
PUBLIC POLICY
Health workforce shortages tackled
The University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland have launched the Australian Health Workforce Institute (AHWI) to address Australia’s drastic shortage of health workers. Interim Director of AHWI is Professor Peter Brooks, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Queensland.
The Institute’s aim is to deliver Australia health workforce sustainability by 2020. Its goals are ensuring availability and maintenance of health workforce data and statistics; mapping of future health systems; development of innovative and flexible education models for future health workforce; and development and implementation of health workforce policy.
Dean of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor James Angus, says it is fitting that world-leading health faculties within the Universities of Melbourne and Queensland are behind this initiative as they contribute to a strong health workforce and to the training of that workforce.
The Institute’s website includes a database of health workforce expertise and a forum featuring cutting-edge articles on health workforce issues.
www.ahwi.edu.au
ACCESS & EQUITY
2008 Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars
The University of Melbourne has selected 1400 new Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars – 700 entering Year 11 in 2008, and 700 completing VCE studies next year – from more than 2600 applicants.
Set to broaden student participation at Melbourne, the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program is an academic enrichment initiative designed to support high-achieving Victorian secondary school and select New South Wales and South Australian Year 11 and 12 border school students. The program offers numerous opportunities for students to interact with the University and each other, with substantial benefits for students who subsequently enrol at Melbourne.
In 2008, the Year 11 participants will enjoy exclusive access to study skill sessions, a career-focused activity, and tailored on-campus events including academic, social, cultural and sporting activities as well as dedicated functions during key events such as Open Day. Young Scholars will also receive an “Approved Borrower” library student card, enabling access to the University library.
QUALITY LEADERSHIP
Martin Institute Board appointed
Professor John Hay, Vice-Chancellor, University of Queensland, will chair the Advisory Board for the L H Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management.
The Advisory Board of independent and eminent members has been appointed to guide the Institute’s work, and to represent its interests.
Other Board members are Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne; Professor Elizabeth Harman, Vice-Chancellor, Victoria University; Professor Allan Pettigrew, Vice-Chancellor, University of New England (representing regional universities); Ms Lisa Paul, Secretary, Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations; Ms Marie Persson, Deputy Director General (TAFE and Community Education), NSW Department of Education and Training (representing a State TAFE authority); Mr Tim Smith, National Executive Officer, Australian Council for Private Education and Training; Mr Michael Gallagher, Executive Director, Go8 universities; Professor Ian O’Connor, Vice-Chancellor, Griffith University (Innovative Research Universities Australia); Professor Margaret Gardner, Vice-Chancellor, RMIT University (Australian Technology Network); Professor Field Rickards, Dean, University of Melbourne Faculty of Education; and Professor Allan Fels, Dean, Australia and New Zealand School of Government.
Professor Frans van Vugh, Policy Adviser to the President of the European Commission, President of the European Center for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU), and Former President of the University of Twente, the Netherlands, is the first of two international experts to be appointed.
www.mihelm.unimelb.edu.au/
QUALITY LEADERSHIP
MGSM/Faculty board appointed
The inaugural Advisory Board has been appointed for the Faculty of Economics and Commerce and its Melbourne Graduate School of Management.
Chaired by prominent business leader and director of Peony Capital, Mr Peter Yates, the Board includes former Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane, Committee for Melbourne CEO Sally Capp, Seek founder Paul Bassat, former Western Mining CEO Hugh Morgan and Public Company Director Patricia Cross. Other members are Terrence Campbell AO, Professor Bruce Grundy, Peter Gunn, Chris Leptos AM, and Kevin Wong. Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce is also a member of the Board.
The Board will advise the Faculty on the development of the newly-established Melbourne Graduate School of Management and the implementation of the new generation Bachelor of Commerce degree.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
New KT magazine
‘Knowledge Transfer ‘Connecting Melbourne’, a new magazine showcasing successful knowledge transfer projects, has been launched by the University
The magazine shows how the University works closely with the wider community to generate important outcomes from initiatives of local, national and/or global significance, and how these ventures inform the ongoing work of all involved parties.
Melbourne is the first and only University in the world to adopt a strategy that adds knowledge transfer centrally to its learning and teaching and research nexus.
Copies of ‘Knowledge Transfer ‘Connecting Melbourne’ are available at: angelajh@unimelb.edu.au
www.knowledgetransfer.unimelb.edu.au
MEANJIN
Review maps the future
The University of Melbourne’s literary journal, Meanjin, will be organizationally transferred to Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) on the advice of a recent independent review of its role and sustainability. The review was commissioned in September 2007 by University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis.
The expert panel was chaired by Ms Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, CEO and State Librarian of the State Library of Victoria, with members Professor Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, and Mr Michael Webster, Senior Lecturer, Publishing Studies, RMIT University.
The panel recommended that, like other literary magazines, Meanjin had a responsibility to renew itself, while remaining true to its traditions of high-quality literary and cultural comment. A charter of editorial independence will be drawn up by the Meanjin Board prior to the winding up of the Meanjin Company.
A new editor for Meanjin will be appointed following an open advertising process which has commenced. An editorial advisory committee will assist the new editor in matters of content and literary quality. The University will continue its annual funding to Meanjin to provide stability over the period of renewal.
QUALITY STUDENTS
Second Rhodes Scholar for Melbourne
University of Melbourne student Kate Robson has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship after being selected as an Australia At Large Scholar at the Victorian Rhodes Scholarship finals last month.
A Medicine/Surgery and Arts graduate, Ms Robson is the second Melbourne student to be awarded a 2008 Rhodes Scholarship. Last month John Feddersen, a University of Melbourne Commerce/Science student, was named the Victorian Rhodes Scholar.
During her studies, Ms Robson has taken part in countless musical performances – from the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony to being a member of the Australian Doctors’ Orchestra.
QUALITY PROGRAMS
New Wine Technology Masters launched
A new Master’s program in Wine Technology and Viticulture has been launched at the University of Melbourne, in response to the changing needs of the Australian and international wine technology and viticulture industries.
The graduate program, based in the University’s Faculty of Land and Food Resources, is designed for those currently working in the industry and those passionate about viticulture and oenology.
The flexibly-delivered program will use the established vineyard and winery facilities of the University’s Dookie campus and online classes to facilitate students’ access, regardless of location.
www.wine.unimelb.edu.au/
QUALITY PEOPLE
University honours Geoffrey Blainey
An eminent Australian historian whose scholarship has often challenged conventional views of history has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne.
He is Professor Geoffrey Blainey who was a professor in the University of Melbourne for 20 years – first in Economic History and then as the Ernest Scott Professor of History. He is also a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
In conferring the honorary degree on Professor Blainey, the University acknowledges his great contribution to telling the story of Australia, and to generating public debate on issues in Australian society.
QUALITY PEOPLE
Rosamund llling to be Head of Voice
One of Australia’s most distinguished and acclaimed sopranos, Miss Rosamund Illing, will be Head of Voice in the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Music.
Miss Illing’s career spans the breadth of the repertoire for lyric soprano in opera, symphony and song, performing to critical acclaim in Australia and overseas. Her operatic repertoire embraces almost the entire spectrum of great soprano roles from the baroque to verismo.
INDIGENOUS ARTS AWARD
RAKA applications
Applications for the prestigious $25,000 Kate Challis RAKA Award for Indigenous arts – administered by the University’s Australian Centre – close on Monday 3 March 2008.
The award is offered in a five-year cycle with a different art form rewarded each year. The 2008 award will be for visual arts in any of the fields of painting (on canvas, paper, fabric, bark), three dimensional work (sculpture, ceramics, glass, fibre art), works on paper (painting, prints, photography) or other new media.
Artists may submit up to 10 images. The prize is non-acquisitive and the artist must have had a solo exhibition or been part of a group exhibition over the past five years – between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007.
www.australian.unimelb.edu.au/public/awards/raka.html
QUALITY RESEARCH
Engineering Research Institute launched
The new Melbourne Engineering Research Institute (MERIT) – a dedicated institute for engineering research – will bring together world-leading research in the Melbourne School of Engineering to address four critical areas – bioengineering, information and communications, materials and sustainability.
Incoming Director of MERIT, Professor Rod Tucker, said the Institute will increase opportunities for researchers to work together on a large scale and to increase partnerships with industry. It offers a single point of contact for industry to link with specific research areas.
www.merit.unimelb.edu.au/
QUALITY RESEARCH
ADHD breakthrough
Researchers from the University of Melbourne’s Department of Paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Howard Florey Institute have discovered a biological cause why children with ADHD are not able to handle stressful environments.
Their discovery – recently reported as the feature article of the prestigious journal Molecular Psychiatry – reveals that dysfunction in a region of the brain, the right parietal lobe, which underpins our abilities to develop coping strategies, is linked to behaviour in ADHD children.
The discovery has the real potential to improve treatment strategies for ADHD, to enable these children to better manage the demands of their family and school relationships
QUALITY FACILITIES
New labs for environment research
Cutting-edge laboratories have been opened for the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research (CESAR), based at the University’s Bio21 Institute in Parkville. CESAR studies the genetics and genomics of insects, particularly the vinegar fly, as they adapt to climate change.
CESAR is instrumental in developing biodiversity-based markers of pollutants and environmental health.
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