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"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."

Abstract Learning 'using' technologies has become a global phenomenon. The Internet is often seen as a value-neutral tool that potentially allows individuals to overcome the constraints of traditional elitist spaces and gain unhindered access to learning. It is widely suggested that online technologies can help address issues of educational equity and social exclusion, and open up democratic and accessible educational opportunities. The national governments and non-governmental agencies who fund educational endeavours in developing countries have advocated the use of new technologies to reduce the cost of reaching and educating large numbers of children and adults who are currently missing out on education. This paper presents an overview of the educational developments in open, distance, and technology-facilitated learning that aim to reach the educationally deprived populations of the world. It reveals the challenges encountered by children and adults in developing countries as they attempt to access available educational opportunities. The discussion questions whether, in face of these challenges, developing nations should continue to invest money, time, and effort into e-learning developments. Can technology-enhanced learning help address the poverty, literacy, social, and political problems in developing countries?

Updated E-Learning Definitions By John Sener, Founder/CKO, Sener Knowledge LLC | No Comments | July 7, 2015 | Leave a comment Definitions of E-Learning Courses and Programs Version 2.0 April 4, 2015 Developed for Discussion within the Online Learning Community By Frank Mayadas, Gary Miller, and John Sener As e-learning has evolved into a global change agent in higher education, it has become more diverse in its form and applications. This increased diversity has complicated our ability to share research findings and best practices, because we lack a shared set of definitions to distinguish among the many variations on e-learning that have arisen. This paper is designed to provide practitioners, researchers, and policy makers with a common set of terms and definitions to guide the ongoing development of the field. Our hope is that it will move us toward a set of shared, commonly understood definitions that will facilitate the sharing of research data and professional standards in our field. In developing the definitions below, we have tried to incorporate existing definitions developed by others and have incorporated comments from colleagues who have reviewed earlier drafts. We do not present these as the ultimate definitions, but as a step toward more commonly held standards as our field continues to evolve. Additions and revisions will be published periodically, as needed.

Information technology has been an important part of higher education since the development of the lantern slide in the mid-1800s. However, occasions in which the academy has been transformed by technology are rare. Viewed in a historical perspective, these occasions can be considered as a series of three epochs: the online public-access catalog epoch; the personal computer, Internet, and web epoch; and the enterprise systems (ERP, CMS) epoch. Certainly, developments are continuing, but for most colleges and universities, these three epochs no longer represent technological frontiers. Looking forward, those of us in higher education are now focusing our attention on technology applications for teaching, learning, and research-or what can be viewed as the epochs of teaching and learning with technology, and cyberinfrastructure. In this commentary, I'll be confining my comments to teaching and learning.

"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)"

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

But soon, introductory physics texts will have a new competitor, developed at Rice University. A free online physics book, peer-reviewed and designed to compete with major publishers' offerings, will debut next month through the non-profit publisher OpenStax College.

Exploring Students' E-Textbook Practices in Higher Education ShareShare RecommendLog in to Recommend by Aimee deNoyelles, John Raible, and Ryan Seilhamer Published on Monday, July 6, 20150 Comments Key Takeaways A two-year university-wide study of students' e-textbook practices found that e-textbook use has increased and become broader demographically. Lower cost and convenience remain the top reasons students purchase an e-textbook, not the interactive features designed to enhance learning. The instructor's role has not changed significantly in the past two years, suggesting the need for further professional development including increased awareness, instruction, and active modeling.

As an integral part of students' daily lives, mobile technology has changed how they communicate, gather information, allocate time and attention, and potentially how they learn. The mobile platform's unique capabilities - including connectivity, cameras, sensors, and GPS - have great potential to enrich the academic experience.3 Learners are no longer limited to the classroom's geographical boundaries, for example; they can now record raw observations and analyze data on location. Furthermore, mobile technology platforms let individuals discuss issues with their colleagues or classmates in the field. The ever-growing mobile landscape thus represents new opportunities for learners both inside and outside the classroom.4 We conducted two surveys - one in 2012 and one in 2014 - to investigate student use of mobile technology.

Although faculty and students are the primary learning management system users, administrators and IT experts often select the system. This article stresses the importance of involving all stakeholders in the selection process, offers a step-by-step guide to LMS selection, and enables readers to develop a customized list of LMS features that align with their institution's instructional and learning priorities.

"Learning to Hate Learning Objectives By Mikita Brottman Like many of my colleagues, I assume, I'm growing deeply frustrated with the need for "learning objectives"-that list of superficial projections and assumptions that most syllabi these days are required to contain ("Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to … "). Perhaps learning objectives make sense for most courses outside the humanities, but for me-as, no doubt, for many others-they bear absolutely no connection to anything that happens in the classroom."