Backlash!

In today’s High Wired, we contemplate the interesting dynamics at play in the UK and ponder their relevance here.

In today’s High Wired, we contemplate the interesting dynamics at play in the UK and ponder their relevance here.

The undercurrents of revolution are upon us (actually in the UK). After years of expansionary policies, both here and there and elsewhere, to ensure more students have a university degree, the price is now considered as too high by many. Big questions are being asked by big and important people (and Jeremy Corbyn) about the charging of fees and the income-contingent loan system that props that up.

Then comes news that the number of university applicants has fallen by 25,000 in a single year — down 4 per cent. While the number of school leavers applying for university has reached an all-time high and international student applications are up 2 per cent, Brexit and funding changes to allied health degrees are taking their toll, according to Universities UK chair Julia Goodfellow. One has got to agree, there are some very interesting dynamics at play here. Given Australia’s propensity to follow the UK (and vice versa) only time will tell if fee hikes here are precisely the wrong decision.

Who says?

Vice-chancellors say, that’s who! A survey by Times Higher Education found that nearly half of university bosses said fees were too high and the system unsustainable. One third backed Labour’s pitch to dump fees altogether.

“The current fee system is now under intense political pressure following the perceived success of Labour’s policy in the general election and a damning report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighting the regressive nature of changes, made after the trebling of fees, to abolish maintenance grants and freeze the loan repayment threshold at £21,000.”

THE admits the response to their survey was small — around 25 per cent of all UK vice-chancellors — but the response is a strong indication the Conservatives can’t expect VCs to back the status quo. Unlike here, where the Conservatives have no idea what VCs are going to back or not back — but maybe that is because consultation can be interpreted in many different ways.

Gotta love it

The crazy dudes over at Brit higher ed blog WONKHE have called their conference for later this year: Revenge of the experts.

NUW future

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will today launch the NUW Alliance between Newcastle, UNSW and Wollongong universities. The alliance will “harness the combined power of the three institutions’ multidisciplinary research, education expertise and innovative thinking” to tackle issues such as “energy security, unlocking the benefits of big data, improving healthcare solutions and creating liveable communities”. They intend asking real people what they should focus on.

Congratulations

The University of Melbourne’s Arts West redevelopment has won an architectural award in Singapore for excellence in educational facilities out of a field of 72. Arts West was described as “imaginative and sophisticated architectural and instructional design at its best — a triumph at multiple scale levels and across many domains. It combines the best of contemporary museum learning with collaborative studio based learning, and achieves a five star green star rating.”

Deakin also collected a prize.

Deakin was on a run yesterday, also being placed in the 2017 Digital Edge 50 for its Smart Campus program. The platform enables students to receive personalised information on campus about topics relevant to them, including available study locations, events and services in their proximity and the capacity to ask for help via their device, which is then responded to by a student support staff member who can identify their location instantly.

And back at Melbourne University, Al Gore was handed an honorary doctorate last night.

Speaking of which

Deakin is so digital, students don’t go to class anymore according to a photo posted by lecturer Adrian Rafterty. Is this the new digital revolution?

Having a spray

Melbourne-based journalism lecturer Tracie Winch has a spray about the state of modern universities in Fairfax today. The headline goes like this: Universities’ greed and phony prestige to blame for appalling drop-out rates. Read it if you have the stomach for such stuff. ()