CampusReview · HEDx Podcast: The world's most innovative university - Episode 117 Minerva University is an independent, not-for-profit institution based in San Francisco, California, that educates its students through experiential learning and immersive travel. Martin Betts sits down with Minerva founder Ben Nelson to discuss why he sees traditional university education as outdated. Mr Nelson argues the current higher education approach has students cram information, pass exams, only to forget the knowledge they have gained ..read more

Universities will be forced to raise the bar for enrolment in education degrees, and ensure that all graduates know how to teach children to read and write, and how to keep classrooms under control. All trainee teachers will be taught to use explicit instruction – a practical step-by-step teaching method embraced by some NSW and WA schools and championed by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson. The first core content for all teaching degrees – to take effect next year – was released by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership ahead of a meeting of federal, state and ..read more

University chancellors are attempting to find the right balance between freedom of speech and ensuring safety on university campuses, as tensions continue to rise between Jewish students and pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “from the river to the sea” at Melbourne’s biggest campus. The University Chancellors Council (UCC) assembled for a pivotal meeting in Brisbane and discussed growing fears among Jewish ­students and staff of creeping anti-Semitism, but its 150-word state­ment did not directly condemn anti-Semitism, angering the Coalition. The council, made up of heads of g ..read more

The Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) chief commissioner Emeritus Professor Peter Coaldrake has announced he will resign from his post on May 10, an announcement that comes as a new TEQSA chief executive was appointed on Friday by Education Minister Jason Clare. Dr Mary Russell has been the acting chief executive since June last year, and has now been appointed to a permanent term of five years. New TEQSA chief executive Dr Mary Russell. Picture: Supplied/TEQSA TEQSA is the higher education sector's regulatory body, and had come under fire in recent years amid high numbers of ..read more

An eminent constitutional lawyer, who was a powerful advocate for the yes case in the Voice referendum, has been named as the next vice-chancellor of the Western Sydney University. George Williams, currently a deputy vice-chancellor at the University of NSW, will take charge at Western Sydney University in July. In his new post as vice-chancellor Professor Williams has the opportunity and the challenge of leading the university into a next phase of its development, building on the rapid growth of the western Sydney region which is being driven by a new airport due to open in 2026 and ..read more

The federal government on Saturday announced it will change the way HECS-HELP and apprenticeship support loans are indexed, backdated to June 1, 2023. The changes, under Universities Accord recommendations, will wipe last year's record 7.1 per cent indexation, along with this year's speculated 4.7 per cent hike. These numbers are linked to the consumer price index (CPI), which has increased enormously in the past two years in a high inflation environment. If indexation remained linked to CPI, it would mean those who earn less than $65,000 a year, even after repayments, would still have a debt ..read more

CampusReview · HEDx Podcast: Live from the ASU+GSV Summit - Episode 116 This week, Martin Betts attended the 2024 Arizona State University + Global Silicon Valley Summit in San Diego. Along with the co-chief executive of mentoring ed-tech Vygo, Joel Di Trapani (pictured), Martin led a panel of Australian higher education technology experts to compare Australian university tech opportunities to those in the US. The panel included chief executive of Torrens University Australia Linda Brown, chief executive of Edugrowth David Linke, and director of digital learning at Chegg, Candace Sue. The ASU ..read more

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell unexpectedly announced his resignation on Monday, saying that he will leave the $1.2m a year job early next year. Professor Maskell, who has led Australia’s most highly ranked university since 2018 and steered it through the pandemic, said it had “been an honour to be the custodian of Australia’s top university through such extraordinary times”. “I am proud of everyone in the university community who has worked together to ensure that the University of Melbourne remains one of the world’s great universities,” he said in a statement. “I sti ..read more

Swinburne University has reported itself to the Fair Work Ombudsman after an investigation found more than 1800 current and former staff had been underpaid between 2017 and 2023. The investigation found 1699 employees – including casual lecturers, unit conveners, research assistants and training teachers – are owed $2.6m. Another 114 casual teachers are owed $245,610. A letter emailed to staff yesterday morning said a review of timesheets and payroll data had identified the underpayments. In the letter, vice-chancellor Pascale Quester apologised to staff and acknowledged the “fr ..read more

The University of Sydney is facing its second anti-Semitism crisis in as many days, as a leading Jewish group accuses one of its professors of putting out the names of dozens of Jewish colleagues on social media. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) alleges political scientist John Keane engaged in doxxing – the malicious release of a person’s information without their consent, which is an abbreviation of “dropping documents” – by publishing an internal email from a group of mostly Jewish ­academics on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The accusation comes amid ..read more