Category: News
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Go8 Media Release: Commitment to R&D welcome but where’s the money coming from?
A commitment to increase spending on research and development by the Federal Opposition is welcomed but must be backed up by detail says Australia’s leading research universities. The Group of Eight also welcomed Opposition plans to boost the skills of 25,000 current primary and secondary teachers train 25,000 new teachers…
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Go8 May 2015 Newsletter
Please click the link below to view or download –
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In the media: Budget Special: Pyne buys time
Campus Morning Mail, 13 May 2015 By Stephen Matchett A budget with an intensely political purpose Supporters of the status quo in higher education got what they wanted in last night’s budget – no structural change to the student funding system. But they paid a price for peace with carefully…
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Go8 Statement – Hidden behind all the hyperbole – Cutting research funds is a step too far
It may be cleverly hidden behind words like “adjustment” but the Budget has made a targeted cut to University research block grants. $262 million over three years has been ripped away to fund the essential National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). “While the Go8 absolutely welcomes the NCRIS funding,” said…
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In the media: Science research spared the axe
The Australian, 7 May 2015 By Sarah Martin Science research infrastructure that was threatened by the government’s controversial higher education reforms will receive a $300 million lifeline in next week’s budget. The Australian can reveal that funding for the National Collaborative and Research Infrastructure Strategy will be given a two-year…
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In the media: Pyne’s punishment most certainly does not fit crime
The Australian, 6 May 2015 By Vicki Thomson Whatever the budget does, the fundamental problems remain. If ever there were to be a sequel to Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, this looming federal budget for the university sector could prove to be it. Not to put too fine a point on…
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In the media: Agents ‘cut uni student quality’
The Australian, 1 May 2015 By Natasha Bita Universities that pay agents to recruit “lower-quality” foreign students are undermining tuition standards for Australians, the Productivity Commission has warned. Recruitment agents are on commissions of between 11 per cent and 17 per cent of tuition fees to sign up students offshore, the…
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Go8 Statement – International Education
Productivity Commission research released today rightly highlights the complexities the university sector faces in ensuring the sustainability of international education in Australia. It is vital we can do so, as international education is Australia’s third largest export industry, contributing $17 billion to the Australian economy in 2014. Currently one third…
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In the media: Ranking on income ‘a dud measure’
The Australian, 29 Apr 2015 By Andrew Trounson A proposal to measure research engagement by ranking universities on income from end users risks being meaningless unless backed up by peer review assessment, the Innovative Research Universities network has warned. At the centre of what is potentially a high-stakes fight over…
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In the media: Pyne reflects on Senate ‘difficulties for good policymaking’
The Australian, 29 Apr 2015 By Julie Hare An enduring lesson from Robert Menzies is that good processes in public policymaking are essential if parliament is to work as well as possible, Education Minister Christopher Pyne will tell a gathering in Melbourne tonight. And despite troubles getting his higher education…
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In the media: Go8 propels Aussie unis up international ladder
The Australian, 29 Apr 2015 By Julie Hare Dispelling a year of gloomy predictions of poorer international competitiveness, Australia’s higher education system has come third on a ranking based on performance across 36 disciplines, behind only the US and Britain and equal to Germany. Australian universities also came in third…
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Go8 Media Release: Rankings highlight need to invest for global success
The Group of Eight (Go8) has yet again cemented itself as a globally-recognised premier group of Universities in the “QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015” listings released today. Go8 universities do consistently well in the rankings across institutions and fields. More than 80% of fields across the Go8 are…
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In the media: Unis cannot afford to fail them
News.com.au 22 April 2015 A NURSE who accidentally gave a 79-year-old hospital patient dishwashing liquid instead of his usual medication could not read the label on the bottle, despite being awarded a degree at an Australian university. University academics have told Four Cornersof pressure on university lecturers to pass underperforming…
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In the media: Industry backs Group of Eight call for university reform pause
The Australian, 15 April 2015 By Rosie Lewis Australian industry has backed the Group of Eight universities’ call for a pause in higher education reform, urging a “stepped” approach rather than rushing out legislation. Last month the Go8 said its support for fee deregulation was not unconditional and suggested a…
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Go8 Media Release: Go8 delivers a first for Australia’s universities
The Group of Eight (Go8) is to sign an MOU with the globally prestigious China Scholarship Council (CSC). The CSC offers a series of scholarship programs open to “outstanding” International undergraduate and post graduate students to study at designated Chinese universities. Chief Executive of the Go8 Vicki Thomson says “the…
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In the media: VC in pre-emptive strike to head off Pyne on levy
The Australian, 08 Apr 2015 by Andrew Trounson University of Melbourne vicechancellor Glyn Davis appears to have made a pre-emptive move to head off any plan by Education Minster Christopher Pyne to adopt a progressive tax on high fees as a way to allay concerns among crossbench senators that fee deregulation…
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In the media: Pyne push “is chronically unfair”
The Australian, 08 Apr 2015 By Julie Hare Political desperation to do a deal on university fee deregulation combined with systemically flawed funding arrangements would result in a chronically unfair situation of some students massively subsidising others, leading vice-chancellors say. Those students would also be saddled with subsidising the country’s chronically…
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In the media: Back to drawing board on fees
The Australian, 08 Apr 2015 By Glyn Davis The Senate has rejected for a second time the government’s higher education package. Labor, Greens and crossbench senators objected to the principle of deregulation. They were not swayed by last-minute proposals designed to make markets more palatable. The temptation to do a…
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In the media: Pyne sticks to uni plan
The West Australian, 01 Apr 2015 By Andrew Tillett Education Minister Christopher Pyne has rebuffed calls from Australia’s most prestigious universities to abandon his controversial higher education reforms because they had been watered down so much to become meaningless. The Group of Eight Universities, which includes the University of WA, has…
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In the media: Reform bid needs reset: UQ
The Courier Mail, 01 Apr 2015 By Jessica Marszalek Uni students the real victims of Senate wrangling THE crossbench senators blocking university reform will actually harm students, who will get less for their dollar at research institutions such as the University of Queensland, its vice-chancellor says. As the impasse between the…
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In the media: University deregulation: Top-tier institutions call for end to political process, resetting of debate fearing more changes
ABC News, 31 March 2015 By Emma Griffiths Video and audio link: Australia’s leading research universities have called for a “depoliticised process” to reset the higher education debate, fearing talks with the split Senate crossbench will result in too many changes. The Coalition’s proposal to deregulate university course fees, which…
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In the media: Universities call for re-think of reforms
Sky News, 31 March 2015 Video link: Australian universities are calling for a re-think on the government’s proposed changes to the higher education. The Group of Eight leading universities have raised their concerns the watered down university fee deregulation package will not keep the sector sustainable. Chief Executive Vicki Thomson…
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Go8 Media Release: Higher Education Funding: Statement from Go8
For the past three years, the Go8 has consistently stated that the current funding model for Australian Universities is “broken”. It is for this reason that we have just as consistently supported the proposal for the deregulation of higher education fees as the only long term sustainable solution on offer.…
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Go8 March 2015 Newsletter
Please click the link below to view or download –