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"For the last couple of decades, exercises to assess the extent to which university research is excellent have been all the rage. The UK led the way with the RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) to be followed by Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong among others. With the passage of time, increasing amounts of research funding tend to be allocated on the basis of the results of these exercises and, so important have they become to individual universities, these exercises now drive the research cycle in the same way as national or general elections drive the economic cycles of individual states."

"Broadly, Knight calls for students applying for programs in the 39 universities to be considered under the least onerous visa arrangements. Immigration will effectively accept the judgement of the universities that a student with an offer is a genuine student (provided they meet other threshold requirements). Applicants for programs in most other sectors will be assessed according to the existing framework. The Department of Immigration will therefore retain direct influence over growth in the non-university sector. The immigration handbrake can be engaged at any time. Universities, on the other hand, are expected to regulate their own growth strategies. "Government departments will monitor the responses of the universities, with the ultimate and humiliating penalty of exclusion from the streamlined visa arrangements available if universities become intoxicated by their new 'freedom'. "We don't yet know the metrics that immigration officials will monitor, these are under development, but we can assume that they will include a range of visa-related measures combined with assessments of student progress and outcomes..................................... "If we are to truly live up to the expectations that the new arrangements place upon us, we will need to focus squarely on recruiting new students at the front end and providing outstanding outcomes (education, research, professional and visa outcomes) at the other. Our international student support programs, already strong by world standards, assume a new importance. Our ability to monitor student progress and to jump in to provide assistance when it is required, will also assume a new importance. We will need to find new and proactive working relationships with DIAC as universities and immigration officials share accountability for visa outcomes."

March 11, 2012 An Australian University Boosts Retention With Mentoring David Dare ParkerSamantha Saw (left), mentor-program administrative assistant, and Amy Hetherington, prospective-student adviser, help run Curtin U.'s mentorship program. The university started the program after discovering that 95 percent of students who dropped out had talked to no one. By David L. Wheeler Seven years ago, Curtin University administrators were unhappy to discover that their institution had middle-of-the pack student-retention numbers among Australia's 39 universities. They set out to change that. Now, with the addition of student-led mentoring and other programs, the university calculates that it prevents about 300 students a year from dropping out and thus saves at least $3.2-million (U.S.) annually in tuition and fees that would have been lost. The mentoring program also helps students "make connections and friends sooner than if they were left on their own," says Amanda Smith, the mentor-program coordinator.

Australian government office web portal for teaching and learning related information.

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) Areas measured by the AUSSE The survey instruments used in the AUSSE collect information on around 100 specific learning activities and conditions along with information on individual demographics and educational contexts.The instruments contain items that map onto six student engagement scales: Academic Challenge - the extent to which expectations and assessments challenge students to learn; Active Learning - students' efforts to actively construct knowledge; Student and Staff Interactions - the level and nature of students' contact and interaction with teaching staff; Enriching Educational Experiences - students' participation in broadening educational activities; Supportive Learning Environment - students' feelings of support within the university community; and Work Integrated Learning - integration of employment-focused work experiences into study. The instruments also contain items that map onto seven outcome measures. Average overall grade is captured in a single item, and the other six are composite measures which reflect responses to several items: Higher-Order Thinking - participation in higher-order forms of thinking; General Learning Outcomes - development of general competencies; General Development Outcomes - development of general forms of individual and social development; Career Readiness - preparation for participation in the professional workforce; Average Overall Grade - average overall grade so far in course; Departure Intention - non-graduating students' intentions on not returning to study in the following year; and Overall Satisfaction - students' overall satisfaction with their educational experience.

Publications and News Mapping Australian higher education The Rights of International Students Australian higher education: trends, policies, performance Subsidy review plan neither fair nor enticing Filling the university information gap The Rise of University Rankings The University Gender Gap

Publications and News Mapping Australian higher education Publication | 29 Jan 2012 | Andrew Norton Australia's higher education system is entering one of its most significant years in recent history. To meet a government goal to increase the number of young adults holding a degree, restrictions on undergraduate student numbers have been lifted. Yet despite the system's importance to Australia's economy and society, it is often hard to know what is going on inside it. Mapping Australian higher education, the first report from Grattan Institute's Higher Education program, puts in one place facts, figures and analysis relevant to understanding institutions, students, and outcomes.

"Ranked Outlets The ERA initiative will use a range of indicators and other proxies to support the evaluation of research excellence. One of these indicators is discipline-specific tiered outlet rankings. Ranked Journal List Ranked Conference List Review of the ERA 2010 ranked outlet lists Ranked Journal List The ARC has released the full ERA 2010 Ranked Journal List. Ranked Journal List - Excel Format (5.27MB) - ZIP File (584KB)"