Torrens University chief joins COPHE board

The Council of Private Higher Education has brought Torrens University vice-chancellor Justin Beilby onto its board.

Torrens University vice-chancellor Justin Beilby has joined the board of COPHE

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: Beilby joins COPHE, SE Asian archaeology

New role for Torrens VC

The Council of Private Higher Education (COPHE), the umbrella group for private higher education providers, has brought Torrens University vice-chancellor Justin Beilby onto its board. COPHE chief executive Simon Finn said that Professor Beilby, who has headed the Adelaide based university since 2015, would help the body in its role of advancing independent higher education. COPHE said that 10 per cent of Australian higher education students are enrolled with independent providers, the equivalent of 4.45 public universities or over 150,000 students.

Ancient population boom

Australian National University researchers have discovered that the population boom which followed the introduction of agriculture in the Middle East thousands of years ago also occurred in South East Asia. They used a new method of measurement, using human skeletal remains, to gather their data.

“We saw huge population growth associated with the agricultural transition,” said Claire McFadden, a PhD Scholar with the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. “Up until about 4,000 years ago you have hunter gatherer type populations, then you have the introduction and intensification of agriculture.”

She said the ancient population upsurge had not previously been quantified in South East Asia before because procedures used to measure prehistoric populations were designed for Europe and the Americas where archaeological conditions were different to Asia.

Ms McFadden said she had found huge numbers of infants and children compared to total population, indicating a growing population. This method is possible in South East Asia where children’s bones are well preserved, unlike in Europe. But it had not been done previously.

She said her data “aligned perfectly with what researchers expect to see in response to agriculture.”