Saturday November 3, 2007
Catholic uni sets up chair of Islam
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THE Australian Catholic University has broken free of its conservative beginnings and appointed a chair devoted to the study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations.
Friday November 2, 2007
Uni students dropping sport
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | UNIVERSITY students are turning away from sport, social clubs and cultural activities because they have become more expensive and less well-resourced since universities were prohibited from collecting the compulsory fees that used to fund them, a study has found.
Tuesday October 30, 2007
Academics say Nelson vetoes were censorship
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THREE academics at the Australian National University have evidence that the former education minister Brendan Nelson stopped their research projects from being funded even after their grant proposals had been approved by the Australian Research Council.
Monday October 29, 2007
Costs up, staff contact down at universities
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | STUDENTS are paying double what they contributed towards their degrees a decade ago as class sizes have blown out, according to the Group of Eight large universities.
Sunday October 28, 2007
Please, may I have some more, asks junior bookworm
SARAH PRICE, EDUCATION REPORTER | JAMES OFOSU-ASAMOAH, 7, is such a keen reader he has already devoured more than 10 times the required number of books for the Premier's Reading Challenge for pupils in K-2.
Thursday October 25, 2007
Private school funding review
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | THE State Government is reviewing how much money it will allocate to private schools, some will get an increase at the expense of others.
Unis offer a study in cronyism
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER |
UNIVERSITIES have given big contracts to friends and family, wasted millions on defective software, misused corporate credit cards and engaged in deceptive advertising, says Macquarie University's vice-chancellor.
Wednesday October 24, 2007
Research stifled, says uni chief
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THE conservative head of Australia's oldest university has attacked the Federal Government for stifling academic freedom and discouraging truthful reporting in favour of that which suits its political agenda.
Tuesday October 23, 2007
Same HSC exam, different days
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | A HSC timetable glitch has resulted in students sitting the same examination on two different days, raising teacher concerns about the potential for cheating.
Teachers allege bullying over pay
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR |
Teachers at an exclusive North Shore private school claim it is
using Work Choices legislation to bully them into accepting
below-award pay and conditions.
Saturday October 20, 2007
US gap-year visa expensive and hard for students
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | IT WILL be more difficult for Australian students to take advantage of a gap-year visa in the United States than it will be for their US counterparts to come here, with a greater administrative burden for Australians and slow interest from US organisers.
English offers a struggle with ambiguity as HSC journey begins
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | "A MOSAIC, a dance of broken, gleaming fragments … " In 40 minutes, compose a piece of creative writing using this quotation as a central idea.
Friday October 19, 2007
Students lose out as union laws bite
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THE Federal Government's ban on compulsory student union membership has crippled political representation and independent advocacy at universities, a report has found.
Wednesday October 17, 2007
More study time in religion than science
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR |
AUSTRALIAN primary school students spend more time in school
assemblies and religious education than they do studying science, a
study has found.
Oxford legal academic lands top uni position
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | AN INTERNATIONAL search to fill one of the top university positions in Australia has resulted in a senior Oxford academic being appointed the vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney.
Sunday October 14, 2007
Seeing double in a record HSC year
SARAH PRICE EDUCATION REPORTER | FOUR high schools will have five sets of twins sitting for the Higher School Certificate this week.
Saturday October 13, 2007
Poor shut out of Catholic schools: study
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | LOW-INCOME Catholic families feel shut out of the increasingly middle-class Catholic school system, an analysis of census data has found.
Doctors to get a grounding in herbal remedies
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | ALTERNATIVE and herbal medicines have made a break for the mainstream, with the oldest medical school in NSW choosing to incorporate complementary therapies in the curriculum.
Friday October 12, 2007
Teachers united in mockery
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | HISTORY teachers yesterday criticised a new history curriculum proposed by John Howard as too overcrowded and politicised.
Thursday October 11, 2007
PM's lesson: cash for history
ANNA PATTY, EDUCATION EDITOR 11:46am | Schools will be forced to teach 150 hours of Australian history as part of a prime ministerial push for a radical change to the curriculum.
University clarifies sponsorship rules
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THE University of Sydney will introduce guidelines on how to balance ethical concerns with commercial interests in response to a series of controversies over its corporate research deals.
Wednesday October 10, 2007
Plagiarism a 'double standards' row at uni
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | A SENIOR academic has written an open letter to the University of Sydney's most senior staff, calling on them to act on allegations of plagiarism by one of its deans, which sat as an "untreated stain on the conservatorium's character and reputation".
Monday October 8, 2007
Full-time at TAFE, working four jobs
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | TAFE students working part-time under Work Choices say they are juggling up to four jobs and being paid for fewer hours than they work, according to teachers and new research data.
Sunday October 7, 2007
A pre-exam pamper is just the treatment for HSC students
SARAH PRICE, EDUCATION REPORTER |
STRESSED-OUT Higher School Certificate students are swapping text
books for expensive spa treatments to escape the study blues.
Thursday October 4, 2007
Students cry double standards over dean's reports
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | STUDENTS have accused the University of Sydney of double standards over its decision not to take action against the dean of the Conservatorium of Music, despite evidence her internal reports contained identical wording to speeches by the former presidents of an American university.
Wednesday October 3, 2007
Dean of music denies speech was plagiarised
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | AN ANALYSIS of a report written by the head of University of Sydney's Conservatorium of Music reveals that up to two-thirds of the text is identical to material drawn from speeches and documents from overseas sources.
Cash-starved dental school to cut students
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | THE only dental school in the state plans to cut the number of students it takes next year despite a critical shortage of dentists, because it is unable to fund their training.
Tuesday October 2, 2007
Principals agree: cut out social subjects
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | PRIMARY school curriculums have too many subjects and schools are too underfunded to meet standard requirements for English, maths and science, a national study of principals has found.
Saturday September 29, 2007
Parents demand answers over top school's finances
ANNA PATTY EDUCATION EDITOR | ANGRY parents and former teachers at NSW's oldest government boarding school, Hurlstone Agricultural High, have raised serious allegations of financial mismanagement and bullying at the school.
Friday September 28, 2007
Skills gap as trainees quit for big bucks
HARRIET ALEXANDER HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER | ABOUT half of all apprentices are dropping out of their training, lured by bigger pay packets or disappointed by the lack of support in their programs.
