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On Campus blog: Daily news updates from the tertiary education sector

Chinese universities are in a race to the bottom to come up with novelty gimmicks designed to attract the country’s top students.

Students will find it easier to apply for credit for previous study under Victoria University’s new system.
Students will find it easier to apply for credit for previous study under Victoria University’s new system.

On Campus daily blog: Higher education news as it happens

Thursday 15 July

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Gimmicks abound as Chinese unis compete for best students

Top universities in China have taken to sending out parcels that glow, hum and sing songs in their intensifying competition to win over the country’s brightest students, reports The Times.

In the past, successful candidates for university places were sent simple acceptance letters. Some institutions have replaced these with gimmick-packed, multi-media novelty boxes.

Just under 11 million students across China took the National College Entrance Examination, known as the gaokao last week, a standardised test used by universities to assess applicants.

These will be followed in August by invitation letters, which last year reached new standards of opulence.

Southeast University in Nanjing sent out a shimmering magnetic box that played the university song when opened and displayed a scale model of its Great Hall. Nankai University sent packets of lotus seeds from Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, a salute to the Chinese Communist Party which held its first congress in the city 100 years ago last week. The University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing sent a disc containing recordings of pulsars, rotating stars that emit radiation.

“A well-designed physical acceptance letter is also a good way to convey a university’s cultural characteristics,” said the Global Times newspaper.

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Wednesday 14 July

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Victoria Uni simplifies processing for academic credit

A new system at Victoria University will make it simpler to award students academic credit for study they have already completed — often at other universities.

One-third of students are estimated to apply for academic credit at some time during their study, and the current system for assessing this is time consuming, costly, and often inconsistent.

VU is the first university to sign up to an automated credit assessment system being offered by the University Admissions Centre which will verify prior learning from national tertiary databases.

A report from Nous Group for UAC found that Australian universities currently spend an estimated $36.5m a year on managing academic credit applications, or about $125 per application.

VU’s interim executive director (students) James Amit, said the move would “reduce the burden on students when applying for academic credit, decrease staff workload, and help our staff manage precedents more efficiently.”

UQ Art Museum’s wake up call on the internet

A new exhibition that borrows its title from a line that appeared in but was later removed from, Google’s corporate motto — Don’t Be Evil — will open at the end of the month at the University of Queensland Art Museum.

Xanthe Dobbie, Cloud Copy (detail), a virtual reality installation which explores the omnipotence of the internet.
Xanthe Dobbie, Cloud Copy (detail), a virtual reality installation which explores the omnipotence of the internet.

“In the last decade we have seen [the internet] used as a powerful tool to undermine truth and democracy by shaping our behaviour and the way we think, vote and act,” UQ Art Museum curator Anna Briers said.

“There is an urgent need to critically examine the corporate agendas and techno-politics built into the everyday devices, known as the internet of Things, that are shaping our world.”

There will be screen-based works, interactive installations and virtual reality experiences as well as public programs.

Ms Briers said highlights would include Xanthe Dobbie’s new virtual reality work Cloud Copy, Kate Geck’s rlx:tech, Eugenia Lim’s ON DEMAND and Simon Denny’s Extractor, which is an interactive board game based on the dynamics of the data mining industry.

Don’t Be Evil will open 30 July 2021 and run until 22 January 2022.

Tuesday 13 July

Monash Commission to plan cities of the future

The Monash Commission will investigate what would make a liveable city in the post-Covid-19 era.

“Even before the pandemic, cities across the globe were grappling with accommodating sprawling development and congestion, and debating what planning and innovation would ensure sustainable growth to promote the quality of life for citizens,” commission founder, Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner said.

“The Liveable Metropolis: The future role of intermediary cities to deliver resilience, impact and prosperity”, the commission’s second inquiry, will be chaired by former Victorian cabinet minister Mark Birrell.

Other members include Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Jinhua Zhao, architect and urban planner Kees Christiaanse and ACT City Renewal Authority and the Western City and Aerotropolis Authority non executive director and adviser, Gabrielle Trainor.

Mr Birrell said the commission wanted to “encourage fresh perspectives on sustainable urban development and planning in a post-Covid world”.

“We will look beyond CBD’s and focus on ways to improve the urban centres and secondary cities that are so important to our quality of life and prosperity,” he said.

Defence force support from UniSA and Ultra Electronics

An army electronics systems technician who is also in the first year of his information technology (cyber security and networking) degree at the University of South Australia has been awarded the Ultra Electronics Australia Veterans’ Engagement and Education Program (VEEP) Grant.

Douglas Burns, who has been in the army since 2017, is the beneficiary of a partnership between UniSA and the electronics company.

ADF electronics systems technician Douglas Burns
ADF electronics systems technician Douglas Burns

The grant is available to commencing and continuing students registered with the university’s new VEEP scheme, piloted last year.

“The program offers personalised study support to veterans, serving and ex-serving ADF members, including reservists, first responders, and immediate family members,” UniSA Director, Defence and Space, Matt Opie said. It also offers mentoring, work experience and networking opportunities.

Ultra managing director Doug Burd said the company wanted develop students’ skills in technology areas that aligned with its future requirements.

“I want to diversify and expand my skillset in the world of technology and electronics,” Burns says. “The grant from Ultra will allow me to pay for my upcoming subjects and mitigate the debt I will incur during my studies.”

Monday 12 July

$1 million for Indigenous doctors

Retired ophthalmologists Mary Calthorpe and George Wong have donated $1 million to

Flinders University to create scholarships to enable Indigenous students to study medicine, then work in their own communities.

The Calthorpe Wong Indigenous Medical Scholarship will provide $80,000 annually to fund up to four $20,000 scholarships for up to five years at Flinders’ Bedford Park or Northern Territory Medical Program.

“It’s our hope that people will be able to access medical care in their own region from people they identify with, speak their language and thoroughly understand their cultural background,” Dr Calthorpe said.

“During our professional careers … we sought to understand the health challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Dr Wong said. “We place our trust and have confidence in these doctors to significantly improve Indigenous health outcomes.”

Pro vice-chancellor (Indigenous) Simone Tur said the scholarship was a major step forward. “In particular [it] reinforces the 10 years of effort by our Northern Territory Medical Program to improve medical treatment for people in remote areas and help them lead longer, healthier lives,” Associate Professor Tur said.

Events coming up

Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia Annual Conference (8-10 September) RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast

The conference theme is Global Partnerships and Commercialisation themes. It also features the annual KCA awards that celebrate the achievements of members, and highlight “top tier work” in Australasian tech transfer.

Quantum Australia 2021 (8-10 September) Doltone House, Sydney and online

Sydney Quantum Academy’s conference and careers fair for the rapidly growing quantum technology industry. It’s for researchers, businesses, government decision makers, start-ups and big tech.

Australian International Education Conference (5-8 October) Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and online

AIEC 2021 will explore new horizons for international education with five key subthemes: global challenges, digital innovation, life and learning, policy and politics, and strategic insights.

Collaborate Innovate 2021 (New date of 18-20 October, instead of 9-11 August). Hotel QT, Canberra

The Cooperative Research Centre Association conference will feature an early career researchers competition, the annual Ralph Slatyer address, and the 30th anniversary of the CRC Innovation Showcase at Parliament House.

5th Annual TEQSA Conference (24-26 November)

Save the date, more information is coming.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/on-campus-blog-daily-news-updates-from-the-tertiary-education-sector/news-story/ab21dad147d140443ac040ba062f1a0c