Category Archives: Australian universities

Jillian Segal’s office hand-picked candidate to assess controversial university antisemitism report card

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Greg Craven, a former vice-chancellor of Australian Catholic University, chosen after no other bids made for the tender

Australia’s antisemitism envoy hand-picked Greg Craven to lead her controversial university report card process after receiving no response from five firms approached during an open tender process.

Documents released under freedom of information laws showed Jillian Segal’s office initially approached three independent consulting firms and two law firms to potentially conduct the assessment of Australian universities and how well they were dealing with antisemitism on campus, but all of them declined to bid on the tender.

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Adelaide University cancels literary festival event with UN Gaza investigator Francesca Albanese

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Festival organisers criticise the university for last-minute booking cancellation of event headlined by special rapporteur for Palestinian territories

Another free speech row at a literary festival has erupted, with Adelaide University abruptly cancelling a high-profile event featuring UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.

The move has prompted the festival’s organisers and speakers to accuse the 152 year-old institution of “crumbling in fear”.

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International students accuse Australia of treating them like ATMs after fees for one visa double without warning

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Union says students blindsided after non-refundable visa fee rose from $2,300 to $4,600

International students say they feel like “ATMs” after the federal government quietly doubled application fees for temporary graduate visas, making Australia’s costs the most expensive in the world for graduates hoping to stay onshore after completing their studies.

The non-refundable visa fee rose from $2,300 to $4,600 without prior warning on Sunday, placing Australia well in excess of competitors including New Zealand (A$1,406), Canada (A$262), the UK (A$1,665) and the US (A$661).

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Taunts, harassment and assaults: landmark report finds racism at Australian universities is ‘systemic’

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Survey by Australian Human Rights Commission found universities failed to meet duty of care, while complaints processes were ‘Kafkaesque’

Racism is “systemic” at Australia’s universities, according to a landmark report found students have mocked their Palestinian peers with shouts of “terrorism”, some students have been followed by campus security and First Nations students have been compared to “petrol sniffers” in lecture halls.

The report also found Jewish students were fearful to attend classes, with one harassed for wearing their kippa walking to class and another who described people screaming “send them to the camps” at a group of Jews on campus.

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Academics who say they are ‘pro-white’ and have ‘ethnic conception’ of Australia turn spotlight on Sydney’s Campion College

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Higher education regulator investigates Catholic institute after comments by academics, including endorsing the White Australia policy

An influential Catholic college in Sydney is under investigation by the higher education regulator over a series of comments made by two of its prominent academics supporting the White Australia policy and calling for Anglo-Celtic Australians and Europeans to become a “supermajority” in the country.

The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) was “undertaking a compliance process” with Campion College in relation to a number of comments made by Stephen McInerney, a dean of studies, and Associate Prof Stephen Chavura, a senior lecturer.

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ANU bought shares in Israeli weapons maker after pledging to stop controversial arms investments

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Exclusive: University says Elbit Systems, whose drones have been used extensively in Gaza, not on any controversial weapons list when shares bought and sold this year

The Australian National University bought $138,000 worth of shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer in March, despite an earlier pledge to not invest in controversial arms companies.

The investments in Elbit Systems were made 12 days after Israel shattered a pause in hostilities with airstrikes that killed more than 400 people in Gaza. At the time, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had warned the renewed military offensive was “only the beginning”.

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UTS’s teacher education program set to close as university reveals plan to slash more than 1,000 subjects

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Of the 1,101 subjects to be discontinued, 463 had no student enrolments and weren’t taught in 2024, according to University of Technology Sydney’s proposal

The University of Technology Sydney will close its teacher education program and public health school as part of a sweeping restructure that would remove more than 1,100 subjects to return the institution to surplus.

The proposed cuts, released on Wednesday, are part of the debt-ridden university’s strategy to reduce expenditure by $100m annually, including previously announcing the cutting of about 400 jobs.

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Tasmanian museum kept and displayed 177 human remains without families’ knowledge, report finds

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University of Tasmania apologises, saying staff have met with families and will consider coroner’s findings

Human specimens were collected, and in some cases publicly displayed, by a museum for decades without the knowledge or consent of families.

The University of Tasmania’s RA Rodda Museum collected remains from coronial autopsies from 1966 to 1991 for teaching and research purposes.

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ANU vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell resigns amid crisis of confidence in leadership

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Resignation follows tumultuous period marked by redundancies, proposed course closures and allegations of a toxic work culture

The vice-chancellor of the Australian National University has tendered her resignation after a tumultuous two years at the institution, marked by redundancies, proposed course closures, and allegations of a toxic work culture.

Chancellor Julie Bishop confirmed Prof Genevieve Bell had resigned on Thursday morning. Multiple sources said Bell advised the council of her decision on Wednesday evening, with Provost Rebekah Brown to be interim vice-chancellor until a replacement is found.

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Pocock questions Bishop’s ANU leadership as pressure builds for chancellor and vice chancellor to step down

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Independent senator claims there was ‘no faith’ in leadership of Genevieve Bell or Julie Bishop among university staff

David Pocock has called on the federal government to urgently intervene into the leadership crisis at the Australian National University as pressure mounts on the chancellor and vice-chancellor to resign.

It comes after the independent senator told ABC earlier on Tuesday he hoped to see “some change in leadership at the top” of ANU, following a tumultuous year including redundancies, proposed course closures and allegations of a toxic work culture.

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University of Melbourne law professor’s allegedly racist emails were protected ‘political opinion’, court hears

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Lawyer argues university’s move to fire Dr Eric Descheemaeker breached Fair Work Act and freedom of academic expression policy

A law professor at the centre of a leaked email controversy says the University of Melbourne attempted to expel him over his political expression after it unearthed allegedly racist emails which included references to First Nations people.

Dr Eric Descheemaeker launched legal action against Australia’s top-ranked university over his proposed dismissal earlier this year, alleging he was suspended over his political opinion.

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Decision to close Meanjin criticised as act of ‘utter cultural vandalism’

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Shutting long-running literary journal, which published emerging writers as well as the cream of Australia’s literary talent, described as ‘enormous loss’

One of Australia’s longest running literary journals has been scrapped, in what has been described as an act of “utter cultural vandalism” on the part of the University of Melbourne.

After 85 years, Meanjin, run by the university’s subsidiary Melbourne University Publishing (MUP), will publish its last edition in December. Although the journal’s editor, Esther Anatolitis, worked her last day at Meanjin on Thursday, the spring and summer quarterly editions of the journal are already at the printers.

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Australian universities to cut about 2,400 jobs and hundreds of courses as sector blames ‘confused’ government policies

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Vice-chancellors say they’ve been forced to restructure but critics point finger at ‘unaccountable’ university management

Hundreds of university courses within teaching, languages, archaeology and media are among those being slashed as the tertiary sector pushes back against “confused” government policies.

Almost half of Australia’s universities have restructured in the past year, leading to the merging or disbanding of more than 50 schools of study and drastic reductions in course options for students, particularly in the humanities.

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UTS academics describe ‘culture of fear’ as enrolments put on hold for nearly a fifth of courses

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The freeze comes as the university pursues $100m in cost cuts and after it announced in April it could axe 400 jobs

Academics at the University of Technology Sydney have described feelings of stress and a “culture of fear” after the educational institution temporarily paused student enrolments for nearly a fifth of its courses, leaving staff wondering if their jobs will be among the hundreds set to be axed.

The university has stopped taking in new students for 120 of its 615 courses, including masters degrees in teaching primary and secondary education. More than 50 of the affected courses were international study options attached to other degrees. The pause will last until the end of the autumn 2026 semester.

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University of Sydney removes Palestinian flag from academic’s window after accusing him of breaching policy

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Dr David Brophy claims new flag policy introduced in June was ‘precisely in response to people like me hanging Palestinian flags’

The University of Sydney has removed a Palestinian flag hanging outside an academic’s office after accusing him of breaching its new flag policy.

The 13-page flag policy, revised in June and formerly referred to as flag guidelines, sets out the university’s requirements for flying and displaying flags and using university flagpoles. Under the policy, “unapproved flags” must not be flown permanently, including flags that represent unlawful activities, are inconsistent with university values, represent a political party or are considered to be “otherwise unsuitable”.

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Law professor at centre of leaked email controversy claims University of Melbourne suspended him because of his political opinion

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Exclusive: Dr Eric Descheemaeker also alleges Australia’s top-ranked university will sack him unless ‘restrained from doing so’, court documents show

A University of Melbourne law professor who claimed “‘Blak’ activists” were leading the prestigious institution to “destruction” alleges he has been suspended because of his political opinion.

Guardian Australia on Saturday revealed that Dr Eric Descheemaeker is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination. The legal action comes after a 2023 email written by Descheemaeker to the then head of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) was leaked and posted around the university’s Parkville campus last month.

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Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students

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Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”.

It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career.

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Law professor who claimed ‘Blak’ activists were leading University of Melbourne to ‘destruction’ sues for discrimination

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Exclusive: Dr Eric Descheemaeker files court application against university after 2023 email to Melbourne law school dean leaked last month

A University of Melbourne law professor who wrote an email saying the institution was dictated to by “‘Blak’ activists” who were leading it to “destruction” is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination.

Last month, a 2023 email written by Dr Eric Descheemaeker to the then head of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) was leaked and posted around the university’s Parkville campus. In the email, in response to the announcement of a cultural safety review at the university, Descheemaeker said MLS was “celebrating the ‘noble savage’” and likened it to an “ideological re-education camp”.

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Federal opposition flags more ‘sensitive’ approach to foreign students at Australian universities

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New Coalition education spokesperson Jonathon Duniam says Peter Dutton policy to slash international enrolments not ‘as constructive as it could have been’

The Coalition has walked away from its call for Australia to slash 80,000 international students from higher education institutions, with the opposition’s education spokesperson promising a more “sensitive” approach after the party’s crushing election defeat in May.

During the federal election campaign, the then-opposition leader, Peter Dutton, claimed that cutting foreign student numbers would free up more housing and rental opportunities. Dutton said students were “taking up accommodation that should be occupied by Australian citizens”.

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Chinese authority scams fleece international students in Australia of $5m in five months

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National Anti-Scam Centre warns that fraudsters posing as Mandarin-speaking law enforcement officers are becoming more threatening

Scammers pretending to be Chinese authorities are increasingly targeting international students in Australia, threatening “serious trouble” and 24-hour surveillance and fleecing them of more than $5m in just five months.

The scammers claim to be Chinese law enforcement officers who demand that personal information or money be transferred to them.

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