Australian higher education policy

Sector cannot afford to keep ignoring the enormous opportunities in the world’s fastest-growing continent, international experts warn

Reforms to expand places and improve inclusivity will be hampered by ‘bureaucratic control’ and postgraduate ‘blind spot’, critics warn

If compliance becomes universities’ ‘organising principle’, ambition will give way to risk management, Sheehy warns

Maverick Australian politicians vow to deport dropouts and slash enrolments, as erstwhile fringe party claims the ascendancy

Both sides of politics eroding opportunities to meet neighbours’ needs and solve skill shortages back home, according to former Liberal power broker

‘Class size crisis’ hitting disadvantaged students hardest, claims Australian union which blames Jobs-ready Graduates reforms for ballooning recruitment

Innovative Research Universities becomes ‘2050 Alliance’, named after participation target outlined in Australian accord

Fears country is going ‘back to the old days’ as minister declines to explain why projects blocked, and researchers wait months longer for funding decisions

Tough talk on both sides of Australian politics ‘risks further pain’ for international students and the universities that depend on them

‘Independent assessor’ says Australian universities’ failure to embrace a definition of antisemitism has robbed him of a means of judging their efforts

Treasury also implements A$11 million levy to fund National Student Ombudsman, and ‘enhanced security’ of student visa applications

Strategy statement seen as another step towards harmonisation with VET, as Atec marks the ground for compact negotiations

Australian government declines to follow parliamentary recommendation that rural institutions’ city outposts be investigated

Notwithstanding other ‘unfinished business’ in international education, government maintains focus on integrity and numbers

Upper house amendments give Atec more independence and a research advisory role, but no power to intervene on student fees

A slew of proposed changes and interim measures around university entry is making student numbers and university incomes difficult to predict. As the legislation paving the way for the new regulator trundles through parliament, many administrators don’t know which way to turn. John Ross reports

Treasury reaps the rewards from high contribution rates which appear to be pushing disadvantaged students away from university, analysis finds

Business leaders might scoff but they benefit most from an educated populace, according to former opposition leader turned vice-chancellor

While soaring fees are blamed for turning people off university, programmes to forgive fees lure few graduates to the bush

Technical document, which cast doubt on methodology used in influential study, hit with legal take-down notice from Australian Human Rights Commission

While ‘doing an Albo’ and wiping proportion of student debt unlikely to make any difference to English graduates’ cost-of-living fears, evidence from Australia shows it was a vote-winner

Horse-trading looms, as opposition senators reject legislation outright and crossbenchers demand changes

The legislation must also ensure mission-based compacts protect equity, academic freedom and civic engagement, say Jesse Gardner-Russell and Richard Lee

Quid pro quo recognition of prior learning seen as a ‘game-changing opportunity’ for Australian students and universities

Leeser promises ‘consultation’ on international education while pruning the ‘thicket of regulation’ in speech to Universities Australia conference

Findings outline need for systemic whole-of-sector reforms, commissioner says

Proposed set-up will not delay Job-ready Graduates overhaul, stand-in boss tells Senate hearing

Researchers brace for renewed funding uncertainty as security checks prove ‘more time-consuming than imagined’

Joint statement declares support for ‘new form of stewardship’ as legislation faces rocky ride through Senate

Legislation to create Australia’s tertiary education steward has passed the lower house of federal parliament ahead of a looming Senate showdown

Institutional blind spots around part-time Australian students seen as making life unnecessarily difficult ‘for people on the breadline’

Government faces horse-trading in the Senate, as shadow minister flags outright rejection of bill to establish commission

Recommendations from strategic R&D review still unknown, but Australian representative groups want them funded anyway

Fund underspent even as its value rises, as government curbs payouts and grant success rates head south

Multiple calls to extend Atec’s remit, as the cost of arts degrees edges past A$54K

‘Do it properly or don’t bother,’ commission sceptic advises, as others argue for more chiefs

Former University Alliance head returns to UK to lead research universities group after more than a decade in Australia

Shadow minister calls for newly established Australian Royal Commission to scrutinise universities in wake of deadly Bondi beach attack

Interim leaders’ early departure the latest snag in controversial commission’s troubled birth

Serial reviewer and interim higher education steward to head governing body of sunshine state’s sandstone university

Australia’s new higher education steward may lack the power to overhaul widely opposed system of university fees and subsidies

Political battles over a planned New Zealand medical school illustrate how the subject of where doctors are trained excites public passions like no other in higher education, explains John Ross

Esteemed practitioner and defender of the humanities Graeme Turner dies months after seminal treatise on the state of the academy

New legislation creating Australian commission represents ‘the obliteration of the idea that universities have purposes independent of government’, critics say

As government finalises legislation for forthcoming commission, architect expands its to-do list

Even though minor downswing could be no more than ‘statistical noise’, governance inquisitor chides sector for ‘stunning’ lack of curiosity

People climbing down the qualification ladder shows that higher education has not gone to plan, study suggests

Legal restrictions prevented Australian universities from sharing financial documents despite completing merger, former deputy vice-chancellor reveals

Hands-off councils said to have contributed to ‘governance crisis’ that Australian sector ‘needed and in many respects deserved’

Government and business should pick up the tab for national priorities, says opposition leader turned university boss

Federal government must ‘take proper responsibility’ for a university sector ‘which in practice it controls’, MPs told

Macquarie insists due diligence on joint institute has been ‘comprehensive’, despite partner’s links with surveillance research

Governments leaning on agencies to convert autonomous institutions into ‘strategic national asset’ but face task like ‘herding cats’

‘Unjustified’ and ‘vague’ proposal would vest too much discretion in Australian ministers, critics say

Focus on educating locals, education minister says, as international enrolments creep over half on some campuses

Tertiary harmonisation agreement in Canberra sees students guaranteed direct university entry and up to a year’s credit if they want to progress

Antisemitism and Indigenous voice campaigner Julian Leeser appointed Liberal education spokesman

UK offers reassuring familiarity for Charles Darwin’s TNE ‘push’ but vice-chancellor says its MBA courses will be unlike anything already available

Lingering financial pressures mean country is ‘not out of the woods’ despite strong showing this year, expert warns

Atec needs to ensure that compacts genuinely strengthen social licence and drive meaningful change – not just compliance, says Zlatko Skrbis