Date: Thursday, 17th September 2015
Vocational education, the biggest get-rich quick scheme in Australia (English)
Source: smh.com.au, 17 September 2015
Vocational education is Australia’s fastest growing industry by far, with every cent of the money promised coming from the taxpayer. Last year, the system cost the Commonwealth $1.3 billion in subsidies, rising so fast that projections predict a cost $4 billion this year. Since Labor’s home insulation debacle, selling online diplomas has become the quickest get-rich scheme there is. Call centers, door-to-door salesmen, and so-called “aggregators” are all marketing online courses to new students.
Australia’s PEP agrees to buy Academic Colleges Group for undisclosed sum (English)
Source: sharechat.co.nz, 16 September 2015
Pacific Equity Partners, the biggest private equity firm in Australia, has agreed to buy Academic Colleges Group, the Auckland based private educator, for an undisclosed sum. ACG runs seven schools and several tertiary training centers in New Zealand, as well as a school in Indonesia and one in Vietnam. Additionally, last month the Australian Financial Review reported the price tag was about $530 million.
Australian National University cracks top 20 university rankings, leads nation at 19th position (English)
Source: ABC News, 15 September 2015
The latest QS World University Rankings for 2015-16 ranked the ANU as equal 19th in the world with Kings College London. Last year, the ANU came in at number 25 and was once again ranked the top university in Australia – a position it has held for the past few years. The rankings are based on a number of measures including academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations and the ratio of staff to students.
Why are universities so unwelcoming to student-parents? (English)
Source: ABC News, 10 September 2015
Public universities have adapted to women demanding that they be given a fair go, but too often they remain not only unsupportive of students with young children, but openly hostile. There is no data in Australia regarding discrimination against student-parents. But anecdotal evidence suggests that experiences like this are not exceptional. On a university campus today, a student who becomes a parent will likely find that crèche facilities are booked out.
This brief summarises a range of publicly available news articles in both Chinese and English and AustCham takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information in these articles. In addition, the views and opinions reflected in these articles are not necessarily representative of AustCham.
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