http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/universities/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-must-be-clever-to-avoid-being-the-dumb-country/ Far from being useless precursors to a life of burger flipping, Arts degrees actually provide students with a range of important life skills. From skulling beers to rolling joints, from discussing both Noam Chomsky and Nim Chimpsky to being able to read several layers of meaning into Dr Seuss. During an Arts degree you may develop highly sophisticated techniques to pass subjects while attending minimal lectures; you may hone your hacky sack skills. By the time you graduate (10 years later) you may have mastered cunning linguistics or the discourse of ethnocentrism. Of course, you might actually learn something. Like a language or how to help someone with a mental health disorder or how to better understand politics or people. That most basic Arts course, Philosophy 101, teaches logic and logical fallacies – skills sorely lacking in the general population. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-must-be-clever-to-avoid-being-the-dumb-country/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-must-be-clever-to-avoid-being-the-dumb-country/#item8111 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/ Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/#item8069 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/instead-of-sandstone-unis-what-about-iron-ore-ones/ As the Senate debates the Mining Resources Rent Tax legislation it occurred to me that, for all the political posturing and economic ‘forecasts’ amid significant uncertainty and complexity, there is another way forward. At the Adelaide Festival of Ideas forum, ‘Resource Rich or Dirt Poor’, held in Adelaide late last year about the proceeds from the mining boom. I asked, “If BHP and Rio Tinto together endowed Universities in Australia with $10 billion by 2015, a) Why would they? And b) What would be the implications”? Fanciful? Naïve? …Or not? The immediate response from the panel was a cynical, “Well, yes, why would they”? And if they were to make such a donation it would have to be put through a ‘cleansing’ institution, a Government agency to ensure that the funds were put to appropriate use. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/instead-of-sandstone-unis-what-about-iron-ore-ones/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/instead-of-sandstone-unis-what-about-iron-ore-ones/#item8026 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-going-on-an-endless-uni-holiday/ In a previous life, I was a chef. Not a great one, but I do have the little certificate and scars to prove it. The hours were long. I am sure we have all heard the horror stories of 16 hour days and 80 hour weeks so there is no need to discuss that at length. Anyhow, I decided that my future wasn’t in the kitchen, so university beckoned. Fast forward a couple of years and university holidays have come around again. On the 11th of November last year, I went on university holidays. I will not go back until the end of February. That’s around 110 days. It is a long time. Even so, it’s apparently not quite long enough. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-going-on-an-endless-uni-holiday/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-going-on-an-endless-uni-holiday/#item7578 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fee-paying-uni-students-bully-academics-for-good-marks/ There’s a hidden epidemic of bullying in Australia – and it’s not in the schoolyard. The corporatisation of universities has led to an increase in students bullying their lecturers for better marks. “It’s often the international students, whose families have sacrificed so much to send them to university,” says one lecturer in the arts and social sciences faculty at the ANU. Dr. Janet Shepherd* admits bumping up one student’s Credit to a Distinction, because he stalked and harassed her daily via social media. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fee-paying-uni-students-bully-academics-for-good-marks/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fee-paying-uni-students-bully-academics-for-good-marks/#item2564 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-throes-of-student-media/ In 1995, La Trobe University student publication Rabelais ran a feature entitled The Art of Shoplifting, which highlighted student poverty a decade before it became an election platform. Now it and student media publications around Australia are facing relative poverty themselves. Since Voluntary Student Unionism was introduced by the then Liberal Australian Government in mid-2006, Australian student media have been starved of funds. VSU was introduced with the aim of removing the obligation for tertiary students to pay for and be members of student unions. The Punch interviewed representatives from three student publications and the response was the same: VSU has curtailed the potential of student media to add to a vibrant university culture. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-throes-of-student-media/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-throes-of-student-media/#item1302 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hsc-could-be-the-saviour-of-our-university-entry-system/ The world changed for our universities with the release of the Bradley Review earlier this year.  One of the most significant changes is that universities will have to meet targets to increase their ‘participation of low socio-economic status students’.  In other words, they must increase the number of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds gaining university degrees. This will put pressure on the way universities traditionally select school-leavers for courses – by ranking every Year 12 student on a percentile scale with a system called the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, or ATAR. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hsc-could-be-the-saviour-of-our-university-entry-system/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hsc-could-be-the-saviour-of-our-university-entry-system/#item1292 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/ High school students in NSW may not know how they are judged by prospective universities and the admissions system needs a review – according to the man who designed it. The scheme’s founder is calling for an inquiry into the university admissions system arguing recent changes have led to the loss of transparency for students and parents. In an interview with The Punch, Professor George Cooney listed a series of changes by universities to the admissions process that he believes are undermining openness in the admissions system. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/#item1245 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community.