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Skills

Yesterday

After the column ran, Microsoft gave Bing a lobotomy, neutralising the chatbot’s outbursts and installing new guardrails to prevent more unhinged behaviour.

Will AI make you dumber?

It’s a question that some HR bosses are pondering, albeit in less dramatic terms. And an academic paper might hold some answers.

  • Updated
  • Euan Black

This Month

Overseas students still want to come to Australia despite the policy chaos besetting the sector.

Unis expect near-record foreign student numbers despite policy chaos

The Albanese government has been switching higher education guidelines in efforts to reduce the international student intake, with little effect.

  • Julie Hare
Canva chief people officer Jennie Rogerson says workers should focus on “human skills” in 2025 as AI will increasingly assume responsibility for routine, technical tasks.

The skills you need to thrive at work in 2025

Experts say critical thinking, problem-solving and using generative AI ethically and productively are among the top skills for knowledge workers this year.

  • Euan Black

December 2024

Muhammad Ahsan Siddiqi’s qualifications as a civil engineer are recognised in Australia, but employers want local experience.

‘Give us a chance’: More visas not enough to fix skills crisis

According to a recently launched coalition of business groups, unions and community organisations, more than 620,000 permanent migrants work below their skill levels and qualifications.

  • Ronald Mizen
The government is struggling to contain net migration numbers.

Migration target not a chance, as students keep coming

A raft of government reforms to slow the rate of net migration have been slow to take hold as more students arrive and fewer leave.

  • Julie Hare
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Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and his predecessor Steven Miles

Labor paid $30m to union-backed bodies in dying hours of Qld rule

Despite promising the money as part of its re-election bid, the state government paid it to union-backed training organisations a day before entering caretaker mode.

  • David Marin-Guzman and James Hall
Stacey Toskas with 2nd year Joinery apprentice Rebecca Daley, at NICCO Timber Windows and Doors in Kingsgrove,

Why we got it wrong on education and skill shortages

After 15 years of policies encouraging people to go to university, Australia’s skills tsar says it is now time for a reset if we are to address chronic skill shortages.

  • Julie Hare

November 2024

Marita Tilleras, with daughters Naomi and Chloe, says childcare fees eat up 40 per cent of her family income.

Why families feel like they can never get on top of childcare fees

Marita Tilleraas has experienced childcare systems in Norway and Australia, and says the latter is impossible to understand. Economist Angela Jackson agrees.

  • Julie Hare
Potential Chinese students predict more policy chaos in the aftermath of caps being dumped.

Chinese social media users slam foreign student chaos

Students and university leaders are digesting what the blocking of student caps legislation mean for them.

  • Julie Hare
Dr Ant Bagshaw, CEO Australian Technology Network

Demand for postgraduate courses on the rise

Students increasingly look for shorter and more industry-aligned qualifications, experts say.

  • Sian Powell

Foreign student cap plan’s collapse is a sign of the times

Migration is gaining momentum as a policy area voters want the government to deal with. And politicians are tapping into the zeitgeist.

  • Julie Hare
A bid to cap international student places has been blocked after the Greens and Coalition banded together.

Unis, colleges brace for chaos after foreign student cap plan blocked

The $51 billion international education sector is bracing for a new wave of student visa rejections after the government’s signature migration plan was killed off.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
AFR Emily Pham, 20, third year digital marketing student from RMIT.

Migration at record highs as political pressure builds

Overseas students, New Zealanders and backpackers continue to flock to Australia, inflating net migration numbers to historical highs.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare and Gus McCubbing
Kshitiz (Kay) Srivastava pays $375 a week for his room with en suite in a private student residential complex in the heart of Adelaide.

Impact on rent of foreign student caps is price of a coffee: report

The government says too many international students is putting pressure on the rental market. New analysis reveals student caps will push rents down – by $5 a week

  • Julie Hare

October 2024

Prospective business school students should think hard about what they want out of their investment in time and money.

Think hard: the best choice might not be the most obvious one

When it comes to choosing the right degree and right school, what is the best decision for one person might not translate to the next.

  • Julie Hare
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A conversation with a career coach helped Canva’s Charlotte Anderson realise she wanted to create a new role for herself.

How execs create their own jobs

BOSS talks to three executives who came up with their own titles or convinced an employer to create a new position for them.

  • Euan Black
Desperate colleges are also stacking multiple courses into packages to ensure students can stay longer in Australia, shoring up their cash flows.

Desperate colleges shore up numbers before student caps kick in

Parliament is yet to pass a bill allowing the government to limit overseas student places, but there is a lot of manoeuvring on the assumption it will go ahead.

  • Julie Hare
Students at Melbourne University.

Universities left in the lurch as Labor pushes back student cap bill

The government has only two weeks to pass changes, which are due to start on January 1, before parliament ends for the year.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
International students walk through Melbourne University.

Labor education heavyweight says student cap plan is ‘bad policy’

The comments from former higher education minister Kim Carr came as the central bank warned a limit on enrolments would hit exports but may not lower inflation.

  • Julie Hare
International students are staying longer than predicted which is throwing out net migration forecasts.

Student visa surge puts Labor’s migration crackdown in doubt

The number of international students has hit a record, according to official data, even as overseas enrolments begin to fall amid new government restrictions.

  • Julie Hare

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/skills-1nh4