2015-12-15
NSW government rejects TAFE funding claims
The NSW government has rejected claims nearly half of the state’s TAFE funding will need to come from the private sector next year. A leaked government document has reportedly shown that direct state government funding for TAFE’s income will be reduced to half in 2016, with the rest to be funded by competitive sources, according to media reports. A spokesman for NSW Skills Minister John Barilaro said the claims were “false and misleading.” Click here for full article.
No Advantage to being multi-lingual, Australian study finds
An Australian study of five thousand children has found that being multi-lingual has no academic advantage. The research was conducted by academics at Charles Sturt University and the Queensland University of Technology. “The report shows that there is no advantage or disadvantage to speaking multiple languages in terms of school readiness, literacy or numeracy” said one of the authors, Sharynne McLeod. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, twenty three per cent of the population speaks a second language at home, with Mandarin, Italian and Arabic the most popular. Click here for full article.
$3.5m gift to WSU for Chinese culture
With the biggest philanthropic donation in its 26 year history Western Sydney University will establish a new institute devoted to Chinese arts and culture. The gift was received from businessman Xiangmo Huang, founder of property development company the Yuhu Group. “This is a significant donation to the humanities in Australia” said Barney Glover, WSU’s vice-chancellor. The donation will be used to fund a professorial chair supported by two four-year research fellowships and a five-year post-doctoral fellowship. Click here for full article.
Australia scores twice in top-10 cities for foreign students
Australia is the only country with more than one entry in the top-10, with Melbourne and Sydney both appearing in the latest list of best student cities, ranked second and fourth respectively. Brisbane and Canberra also ranked in the top twenty. The list is based on the concentration number of high-ranking institutions, the student mix, city desirability, employer activity and affordability. Click here for full article.
China’s workforce getting better educated
Chinese people of working age are becoming better educated, with over fifteen per cent of them receiving some form of higher education, according to the Ministry of Education. An assessment report on China’s educational reform and development has revealed enrollment rates from preschool up to university have now reached or exceeded the average level of high and middle income countries. In the period 2010 to 2014, the number of people with university level education rose to eleven per cent of the population, and increase of over two per cent. Click here for full article.