Can’t verify this but presumably, Drew Pavlou has his sources: So sad Peter Høj didn’t get hired as the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide. Public wouldn’t allow it after his insane China blood money suicide mission against me at UQ. Missed out on a million dollar salary – sending hugs and kisses Pete!
Primary Section
Virgin Premier abandons international student return
It’s all good news today, at the SMH: The NSW government has shelved plans to start returning 1000 international students to Sydney each week in a blow to some of the city’s major universities. Premier Gladys Berejiklian told The Sun-Herald in November she wanted to use a third of the state’s hotel quarantine slots to bring in international
Too risky to bring back students and reboot immigration
It is hard to believe that only one month ago the NSW Government hatched a treasonous plan to reserve one-third of the state’s hotel quarantine places for international students to be flown into Australia on chartered flights and have their quarantine costs paid for by universities: The NSW government is taking a plan to national cabinet
Aussie universities to plunge down rankings. So what?
Australian universities earned over $7 billion in student fees from China in 2019, with outgoing Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven describing the sector’s reliance on Chinese markets as being like a “drug addiction”. Craven says the big universities will have to accept that their budgets will never be as big as they were before
Quarantine failures highlight grave risk in rebooting immigration
The NSW Government’s hotel quarantine program is under scrutiny after a third case of COVID-19 was linked to returned overseas travellers. A nurse is believed to have contracted the virus while transporting a family from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel, although health authorities have yet to determine the exact source of this infection. A
It’s time governments “came clean” on international student scam
The Australian’s Judith Sloan notes today that the higher education sector has expressed much angst about the fall in overseas student numbers as a result of border restrictions caused by COVID-19 and the impact this is having on higher education and the economy in general. However, while there may be positives associated with international students,
Sydney COVID outbreak ridicules call to bring back international students
Two week’s sure is a long time in the world of COVID. Less than a fortnight ago, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian lodged a plan with the federal government to use one third of the state’s 3,000 hotel quarantine places to import international students. The education lobby quickly jumped on the announcement, once again demanding Australia
Calls for Royal Commission into corrupt universities
Academics from three WA universities are calling for a royal commission into higher education. They argue that an obsession with university rankings and publishing research has overtaken universities’ fundamental mission: to deliver quality education to Australian students. From The SMH: West Australian universities are on a dangerous path, according to WA academics who say the
Hospitality industry suffering shortage of migrant slaves
A new survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that many businesses are finding it hard to attract skilled workers, with hospitality supposedly experiencing the biggest worker shortage: It’s hard to take this type of survey serious when the accommodation and food sector has experienced the biggest COVID-19 job and wage losses: The hospitality
Universities in civil war over why corruption isn’t working
We reported last week that university chancellors had ordered a review into its peak lobby group – Universities Australia (UA) – because of its lack of success in influencing the Morrison Government: Education consultancy PhillipsKPA will assess Universities Australia’s core functions — and its relationships with key cabinet ministers and top public servants — handing its
More proof international student ‘exports’ are wildly exaggerated
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released a Bulletin Article examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia’s international student trade. The RBA perpetuates the myth that education is Australia’s fourth largest export, earning $40 billion in 2019: Australia’s education exports totalled $40 billion in 2019. This included $17 billion in tuition fees
Quarantine places must be reserved for stranded Australians
We noted last week how the NSW Government hatched a treasonous plan to reserve one-third of the state’s hotel quarantine places for international students that would be flown into Australia on chartered flights and have their quarantine costs paid for by universities: The NSW government is taking a plan to national cabinet to bring up
Federal government ramps-up university funding
The University of Melbourne will receive an additional $111 million in research funding from the federal government, while Monash University and the University of New South Wales will each get an extra $100 million. Education Minister Dan Tehan says the additional funding will directly support over 40,000 PhD and Masters students in 2021, along with
Vice-chancellors launch inquiry into why corruption isn’t working
Australia’s university chancellors have ordered a review into its peak lobby group – Universities Australia – because of its lack of success in influencing the Morrison Government: Education consultancy PhillipsKPA will assess Universities Australia’s core functions — and its relationships with key cabinet ministers and top public servants — handing its findings to vice-chancellors next
Chinese influence stifles university free speech
Only 9 of 42 universities have signed up for a new free speech code of conduct: Only nine of the nation’s 42 universities have adopted policies that completely align with a government-backed model code on free speech, despite the sector committing to having policies in place by the year’s end… The findings are contained in
International students get free hotel quarantine while Aussies pay
While tens of thousands of Aussies remain stranded abroad unable to return home due to limits on flights and hotel quarantine capacity, we several states have submitted plans to fly international students into Australia ahead of returning citizens and permanent residents: …federal Education Minister Dan Tehan confirmed that the NT, South Australia and New South
NSW shafts Aussies for international students
The NSW Government has lodged a plan to use one third of the state’s 3,000 hotel quarantine places to import international students: The NSW government is taking a plan to national cabinet to bring up to 1000 international students a week into Sydney starting in the new year… The students, to arrive on charter flights,
ICAC: International students are corrupting Australia’s universities
South Australia’s Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) has undertaken a survey of university staff as part of its University Integrity Survey 2020. Of particular note, university staff raised concern around low entry standards pertaining to international students, alongside pressure to pass failing international students and widespread cheating: Student admissions A total of 108 respondents provided
Universities’ international student addiction beggars belief
The federal government yesterday released the 2019 Financial Report for Higher Education Providers, which revealed that Australia’s universities earned over $10 billion in fees from international students in 2019 – a record 27% of their revenue: The report also debunks the claim that the federal government has continually cut funding to universities: That is, despite
Chief international student lobbyist demands open borders
CEO of International Education Association of Australia, Phil Honeywood, has demanded states lift their caps on international arrivals so that Australia can welcome thousands of international students: NSW has been accepting 80% of all returning Aussie citizens. Time for other states to do some heavy lifting so International students can return! #Intled https://t.co/quhD4PcCmi — Phil
Alert! Quarantine system can’t handle international students return
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s call to open Australia to international students and skilled migrants has been shut down by reality, with minutes of a meeting between government officials and representatives of security firms showing NSW’s hotel quarantine system is at breaking point: The NSW hotel quarantine scheme has been beset with thousands of incidents, with
New higher education regulator must target Chinese influence
Former CEO of Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission, Alistair Maclean, has been appointed as the new CEO of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Maclean has promised to broaden TEQSA’s regulatory reach, including by setting up a new integrity unit: Maclean… told The Australian Financial Review there were “harder edged” tools at his
Australia reaches deep down international student quality barrel
On Friday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released services trade data for the 2019-20 Financial Year, which revealed that education exports from China plunged by 14.2%. However, this was almost fully offset by strong growth in education exports from India (+19.2%) and Nepal (+12.6%), with total education exports falling by only 0.7% over the year:
The criminal greed of Australian vice-chancellors
Follow the money, as they say. Via AFR: University vice-chancellors’ pay is “ridiculous” compared to their overseas counterparts and COVID-19 has exposed the inability of most of them to deliver the performance that would be expected if they were earning the same money in the private sector, say two leading business academics. Professors Tom Smith
Australia bans international students
After spending months championing the quick return of international students, National Cabinet on Friday junked the idea, declaring that Australians stranded overseas must be brought home first: Australians returning home National Cabinet agreed to continue to prioritise the return of Australians. Since the beginning of the pandemic over 414,000 Australians have returned to Australia on
Report: Extreme Chinese student numbers stifle university free speech
A new report prepared for the Business Council and Asia Society warns that the excessive concentration of Chinese students at Australia’s universities are stifling free speech and debate, compromising academic integrity. It also calls for entry standards to be tightened: The paper, authored by the University of Sydney Business School’s international academic director John Shields,
Universities panic as international students crash 80%
Yesterday, I provided a series of charts from various official government data showing that the international student trade had turned bust due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing Australia’s international border. Today, The SMH has added further insight, reporting Department of Home Affairs data showing that applications to study in Australia’ have collapsed by 80%: There
The international student bust has arrived
Last week, I released detailed temporary visa statistics from the Department of Home Affairs, which showed that Australia shed around 420,000 temporary visa holders in the year to September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of Australia’s international border: One of the main drivers of the decline in temporary visa holders was
Chinese international students are not coming back
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that four out of five affluent Chinese families are shunning Western universities amid strained foreign relations and negative sentiment towards the COVID-19 pandemic: After being inundated with news about the worsening coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions between China and the West for months, Beijinger Joe Gao… who runs
Mirabile dictu: International student applications crater 85%
Via the ABC: International student visa applications from outside Australia have dropped off a cliff, raising serious concerns of an increasing budget black hole for Australian higher education. Just 72,397 student visa applications have been received from prospective overseas students from January to July, 40 per cent of the total for the same period last