Higher Education News

The Australian Communications and Media Authority released Social networking - staying safe online, a new fact sheet published in support of the Federal Privacy Commission's Privacy Awareness Week. Privacy Awareness Week runs from 24 August until 30 August 2008, and is an opportunity for governments, business and individuals to promote privacy awareness and identify some of the key risks for users of all ages when participating in online social networking sites. ACMA Media release, 27 August 2008

Research conducted by Macquarie University experts will soon be freely available to anyone with access to the internet, following a unanimous decision by the Macquarie University Council. Council voted to endorse University Senate recommendations that research articles be deposited in the online Macquarie University repository ResearchOnline after their acceptance for publication. Macquarie University News, 28 August 2008

A partnership between ANU and Oxford University Press is now bringing Australian English to the world free online. This month the Australian National Dictionary launched OUP describes it as 'the first comprehensive and historically based record of the 10,000 words and idioms that make up the Australian contribution to the English language'. ANU News, 27 August 2008

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria will launch the 2008 edition of OECD's annual Education at a Glance at a news conference at 11.00 a.m. on 9 September 2008 in Paris. This rich compendium of comparable statistics provides valuable underpinning for policy debate and decisions by education authorities. OECD News, 27 August 2008

Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology. Joseph Pisano, a music professor and conductor at Grove City College, and Travis Weller, a composer, instrumental music instructor, and director of bands for grades 7-12 at Mercer Area Middle School and High School, are working together to explore the teaching potential in Skype, the well known Internet communication tool owned by eBay. Campus Technology, 27 August 2008

South Australia's largest university will support the Apple iPhone 3G as one of its official corporate mobile handsets, the institution revealed recently. This represents the first confirmed move by a large Australian organisation to officially support Apple's handset, which was released to great local fanfare last month. ZDNet Australia, 27 August 2008

The Higher Education IT Summit is designed to provide a platform through which best practice can be shared on all of the key issues facing senior higher education IT executives. The Summit aims to foster a greater understanding within the chain of command of individual institutions, clarifying the importance of IT in the future of higher education and helping it attain the resources it needs to deliver what the institution demands.

The Commission launched a pilot project that will give unrestricted online access to EU-funded research results, primarily research articles published in peer reviewed journals, after an embargo period of between 6 and 12 months. The pilot will cover around 20 percent of the FP7 programme budget in areas such as health, energy, environment, social sciences and information and communication technologies. European Commission Press release, 20 August 2008

Keen to foster creativity and collaboration online, ABC Radio National has developed Pool, a place for creative content makers to upload their work, publish and collaborate. ABC Radio National has been assisted in the development of Pool by organisations including RMIT University, University of Technology Sydney, University of Wollongong, and Pool's community of contributors. ABC Media release, 21 August 2008

AUQA is pleased to announce the inclusion of the first good practice from a non selfaccrediting higher education provider in its Good Practice Database, which is based on selected commendations from AUQA audit reports. AUQA Media release, 20 August 2008

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, and Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr have welcomed the strong interest shown by the university sector in the Rudd Government������s plan for strategic investments in capital and research facilities. DEEWR Media release, 21 August 2008

INSTITUTIONS are ill-prepared to satisfy the Australian Universities Quality Agency's belated interest in standards and outcomes.

THE academic union has won pay increases above inflation but failed to secure a cap on casual employment.

MARTIN Westwell wonders why people bang on about back to basics in education, because the basics are not basic any more.

LA TROBE University vice-chancellor Paul Johnson has criticised Group of Eight proposals to deregulate fees and allow universities to raise tuition prices as an unnecessary recipe for social exclusion that is out of step with the federal Government's equity and access agenda.

UNIVERSITY of Melbourne dean of arts Mark Considine has had to spend much of his time cutting costs and culling staff, but he says there is light at the end of the tunnel once the latest round of redundancies is over.

STUDENT loans and higher fees may become commonplace across higher level vocational courses after Canberra yesterday backed Victoria's training shake-up.

THE University of Queensland has spent millions of dollars in an effort to lower its student-staff ratio to levels in line with the US.

MOST league tables that purport to reflect university performance do nothing of the kind.

Winners were announced at the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Dinner on Tuesday 19 August. The page lists the winners per category. Australian Museum, 19 August 2008