Academic Freedom

Reminder: closing date for submissions is 15/8/08.

Terms of Reference

Senator Fifield, pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved business of the Senate notice of motion no. 3—That the following matter be referred to the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee for inquiry and report by 11 November 2008:

The current level of academic freedom in school and higher education, with particular reference to:

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) will launch a major campaign tomorrow, Thursday 24 July, under the banner of “Our Universities Matter – Investing in People and Society”.

Details of the launch are:

THURSDAY 24 JULY 2008, 12.45 PM

KALEIDE THEATRE,
RMIT UNIVERSITY, SWANSTON ST MELBOURNE (enter from Swanston St)

LAUNCH PARTICIPANTS:

Professor Margaret Gardner, Vice-Chancellor, RMIT University (host)

Dr Carolyn Allport, National President, NTEU
Sarah Cole, Victorian President, National Union of Students (NUS)

On the 4th of June 2008 Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, announced the release of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative consultation paper.

Administered by Australian Research Council (ARC), the Consultation Paper was the first formal step in communicating with the sector regarding the ERA initiative (it is worth noting that the ERA is being administered by the ARC, whereas its predecessor, the Research Quality Framework (RQF), was administered by the (then) Department of Education, Science and Training(then DEST, now DEEWR)).

Where do the limits on academic freedom begin and end? Who defines this and how?

the Australian Research Council (ARC) has released the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative Consultation Paper.

The Consultation Paper is the first formal step in communicating with the sector regarding ERA and the ARC looks forward to your contribution to this consultation process (it is worth noting that the ERA initiative is being administered by the ARC, whereas its predecessor, the RQF, was administered by DEST).

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the outcome of the 2007 Federal Election. “We look forward to working with Labor to rebuild the higher education sector, to support the promise of an education revolution, and to ensure that Australia remains a leader of innovation and research, in the sciences, in the humanities and in the arts. There will be many opportunities for the new Labor government to demonstrate “new leadership”.

A report card on the higher education policies of the Coalition and Labor parties released by university staff and students on Tuesday has failed the Howard Government for its record on universities.

The report card, prepared by National Tertiary Education Union, the National Union of Students and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, awarded Labor a pass on the basis of the well targeted but limited commitments announced during the campaign and its stated commitment to build on these in office.

A report card on the higher education policies of the Coalition and Labor parties released by university staff and students on Tuesday has failed the Howard Government for its record on universities.

The report card, prepared by National Tertiary Education Union, the National Union of Students and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, awarded Labor a pass on the basis of the well targeted but limited commitments announced during the campaign and its stated commitment to build on these in office.

The National Governance Protocols were implemented under the Federal Government’s reforms in higher education and became effective in June 2004. The Protocols were to improve governance practices at universities by providing standards to ensure that governing bodies were effectively overseeing the operations of universities.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is the national peak body of postgraduate student organisations representing Australia's 257,700 postgraduate students, including 47,300 research students. These research students contribute approximately 70% of the research conducted in Australian universities. This submission will comment broadly on the scope of Part A Introduction/1.Background and then on specific sections of the Draft
Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (the Code).

Full submission is in PDF below: