By DAVID MYTON The UK’s new higher education watchdog, the Office for Students, has been keeping an eye on vice-chancellors’ salaries and says that there are signs of pay restraint at some universities “with some vice-chancellors refusing a salary increase”. The OfS, which became operational last April with a mandate...
By David Myton Upon a time Lelia Green worked as a bus conductor on the No19, a red double-decker that trundled back and forth through the streets of an English town. With a ticket machine strapped across her front, she would usher the passengers on board, then...
By DAVID MYTON It’s 1982. You decide to go to see that new film that’s causing such a buzz – a sci-fi thing called Blade Runner. You take in its dystopic bleakness, its bioengineered synthetic humans, the flying cars, scary interrogations, the malignant corporate powers. You go...
By DAVID MYTON Intrinsic to much academic research is a spirit of discovery, adventure, and hope. Yes, it can be demanding hard work, but that’s ameliorated by all the thrilling boundary-pushing possibilities that lie just around the knowledge corner. Leah Bromfield’s research isn’t quite like that. To...
By DAVID MYTONAt heart Michelle Simmons is a builder and a maker. Her raw materials differ from those of more traditional trades and crafts. They are not bricks or wood, metals or glass. They are the fundamental building blocks of nature itself – atoms.The UNSW professor has always loved...
By DAVID MYTONWhen it comes to higher education in Australia, Glenn Withers has been there and done that. From Menzies and Whitlam to Hawke, Keating and Howard, and through to the present day – he’s seen it all. He’s an insider who’s been outside often...
Higher Education Consulting Group's Dr Susie Robinson takes a closer look at the ARC engagement and impact exerciseAll around the country, universities are busily preparing engagement narratives and impact case studies, ready for ERA submission in May/June. Many are now realising the significant resources required...
By DAVID MYTONTanya Monro is something of a regular at the Rob Roy Hotel, a popular watering hole in Adelaide’s CBD. But she’s not there for the grog. Rather, she can be found talking with her customary passion, answering questions about subjects such as string...
By DAVID MYTONA common contemporary trope is that universities are facing a future in which they will be disrupted beyond recognition. In this scenario, the digital revolution – with its artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and new and aggressive private providers – will force many institutions...
By DAVID MYTONIn the closing decades of the 20th century postmodernism was the philosophy of choice within the humanities, with the likes of Foucault and Derrida the sages du jour. Their influence was felt particularly within the history discipline, where skepticism abounded, micro histories flourished, and ‘metanarratives’...