Latest news with #UniversitiesAustralia
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australian universities urge Albanese to join New Zealand in $170bn Europe fund amid Trump attacks on education
Australian universities are urging the Albanese government to join New Zealand in a $170bn Europe research fund amid US president Donald Trump's sweeping crackdown on higher education and international students. Universities Australia's executive officer, Luke Sheehy, travelled to Brussels this week to meet representatives from the European Commission and the Australian ambassador, Angus Campbell, to discuss the possibility of joining Horizon Europe. The seven-year scientific collaborative research fund, with a budget of €95.5bn ($168bn), has 20 non-European partners – including New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada – but the Australian government has so far been reluctant to join. Industry insiders have attributed the government's reluctance to potential costs. New Zealand will pay €19m ($33m) over five years to be part of the program. The EU is drawing up strategies for the next seven-year funding cycle, due to begin in 2028, with a proposal expected to be announced mid-year. About €36bn ($63bn) is still available to the end of 2027. In comparison, Australia's total annual spend on research across all sectors is less than $40bn. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Sheehy said in a rapidly changing global environment, association with the body would give Australian researchers access to a mega-fund and support international collaboration on key sectors, including health and the environment. 'Growing geopolitical uncertainties are threatening to reshape our existing research alliances and we must adapt to remain ahead of the game,' he said. 'If we're serious about building a prosperous and productive economy, we need a seat at the table, particularly in a changing and more complex global environment.' The trade minister, Don Farrell, is in Paris this week restarting negotiations on a trade deal with the EU. Sheehy 'strongly encourage[d]' him to make Australia's involvement in Horizon Europe a focus of conversations. 'There is a strong appetite in Europe to have Australia come on board,' Sheehy said. 'This would remove the biggest roadblock for Australian researchers and scientists working with their European and other counterparts around the world. It's mutually beneficial. 'For what is a relatively modest investment, our best and brightest would gain access to billions of dollars in potential funding to take their work to the next level.' The higher eduction sector has closely focussed on Horizon Europe since the Trump administration was accused of possible 'foreign interference' in Australia's universities in March, pausing funding for programs at more than six universities. Researchers who receive US funding were sent a questionnaire asking them to confirm they aligned with US government interests and promoted administration priorities – including avoiding 'DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal'. Australia's Group of Eight CEO, Vicki Thomson, wrote to then-industry minister, Ed Husic, earlier this year on behalf of its member universities and the European Australian Business Council (EABC) CEO, Jason Collins, urging Australia to associate with the research fund. It has prepared a brief for the ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, at his request. Thomson, also the EABC deputy chair, has lobbied the government to join Horizon Europe for more than a decade. She will be meeting with stakeholders for negotiations in the next fortnight as part of an EABC delegation to Europe. Thomson said association with Horizon Europe was 'critical' to boosting productivity and providing essential buffers against negative global trends. 'Like trade, changes to the global research funding environment are also sending shocks around the world,' she said. 'The US is withdrawing from international research collaboration through the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies as well as defunding research in diversity, equity and inclusion. 'In the face of this, it is imperative that Australia maintains and extends international research collaboration through formal association with Horizon Europe.' The Australian Academy of Science president, Prof Chennupati Jagadish AC, also wants Australia to join the lucrative research fund, pointing to a possible research vacuum in the face of an increasingly unstable US. In April, the body announced a new global talent attraction program to capitalise on academics disfranchised by the Trump administration's research cuts. Americans represent 40% of collaborators in Australian physical sciences publications – including observational systems relied on for cyclone tracking capability and onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing. Jagadish said the government must 'immediately act to diversify risk' by expanding international research collaborations, focusing on Horizon Europe. The industry minister, Madeleine King, was approached for comment.
The Age
6 days ago
- General
- The Age
I thought dating my uni tutor made me special. For him, it was a pattern
In 2016, at the end of semester, I sent my university tutor a message on Facebook. Sporting a crush, I was eager to see if my feelings were reciprocated. He soon responded, agreed to meet up with me, and we quickly proceeded to date. At the time, it didn't feel particularly sordid, given there were only a handful of years between us in age. Two years into our relationship, a report examining staff sexual misconduct at UK universities was published, showing that of the 1839 students surveyed, about 80 per cent were uncomfortable with relationships between staff and students. Four months later, Universities Australia released a statement on the issue, declaring relationships between academic supervisors and students are never OK. Neither of us acknowledged the report during our relationship. By then, the dust felt as though it had settled, and I had made a concerted effort to avoid being his student again, namely by changing my major (a decision I later came to regret). It wasn't until 2020 that University College London became one of the first universities in the world to introduce a formal ban on romantic and sexual relationships between staff and their students. Even today, there are no formal statewide or federal bans across Australian universities. In the academic world, this is famously a grey area: somewhere between a conflict of interest and sexual harassment. While many universities require staff to declare any anticipated or existing close personal relationship with a current student, this implies that they're not off limits. Such clear standards would have made for smoother sailing once I discovered my ex-partner had engaged in relationships with other women over the years who were, like me, once his students. Dr Renee Hamilton, former policy director at Universities Australia, describes this as essentially a 'no harm, no foul' approach that allows institutions wipe their hands clean of any mess that falls outside obvious violations such as assault of a student, or a sequence of tangibly coercive behaviours. While it's likely this reluctance to get involved stems from institutions not wanting to meddle in the personal lives of adults, as Hamilton notes: 'This perspective does not capture the inherent power imbalance [between staff and students]. A conflict of interest is one thing, but I believe somebody who is involved in a romantic relationship with their student is [engaging in] academic misconduct.' It's 30 years since the publication of Helen Garner's controversial book, The First Stone – a scathing dissection of the sexual chokehold young female students seemingly have over male superiors – and tensions between staff and students endure. Garner's interrogation of staff-student relationships was biting, particularly given her finger was levelled at young women, rather than the men attracted to them. Many people were – and remain – outraged by her views on the topic. Loading The overwhelming majority of staff-student relationships occur between male superiors and female students. This is something I discovered throughout my own research, as did Amia Srinivasan, a scholar and author of The Right to Sex. In one paper on the topic, she refers to consensual professor-student sex as a 'patriarchal failure', given the over-representation of female students and male superiors where there are clear divides in age, authority and life experience. And while institutions aren't necessarily defending the right to such relationships any more, their commitment to ignoring their impact on female students remains. When a young woman crosses over from being a student to an academic's romantic partner, she is no longer safeguarded by the usual distance between teachers and students. If she's 'lucky', their relationship might last, and prove that she was the one to change him; an exception to the rule. If unlucky, she will likely be a nameless blip in his career.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
I thought dating my uni tutor made me special. For him, it was a pattern
In 2016, at the end of semester, I sent my university tutor a message on Facebook. Sporting a crush, I was eager to see if my feelings were reciprocated. He soon responded, agreed to meet up with me, and we quickly proceeded to date. At the time, it didn't feel particularly sordid, given there were only a handful of years between us in age. Two years into our relationship, a report examining staff sexual misconduct at UK universities was published, showing that of the 1839 students surveyed, about 80 per cent were uncomfortable with relationships between staff and students. Four months later, Universities Australia released a statement on the issue, declaring relationships between academic supervisors and students are never OK. Neither of us acknowledged the report during our relationship. By then, the dust felt as though it had settled, and I had made a concerted effort to avoid being his student again, namely by changing my major (a decision I later came to regret). It wasn't until 2020 that University College London became one of the first universities in the world to introduce a formal ban on romantic and sexual relationships between staff and their students. Even today, there are no formal statewide or federal bans across Australian universities. In the academic world, this is famously a grey area: somewhere between a conflict of interest and sexual harassment. While many universities require staff to declare any anticipated or existing close personal relationship with a current student, this implies that they're not off limits. Such clear standards would have made for smoother sailing once I discovered my ex-partner had engaged in relationships with other women over the years who were, like me, once his students. Dr Renee Hamilton, former policy director at Universities Australia, describes this as essentially a 'no harm, no foul' approach that allows institutions wipe their hands clean of any mess that falls outside obvious violations such as assault of a student, or a sequence of tangibly coercive behaviours. While it's likely this reluctance to get involved stems from institutions not wanting to meddle in the personal lives of adults, as Hamilton notes: 'This perspective does not capture the inherent power imbalance [between staff and students]. A conflict of interest is one thing, but I believe somebody who is involved in a romantic relationship with their student is [engaging in] academic misconduct.' It's 30 years since the publication of Helen Garner's controversial book, The First Stone – a scathing dissection of the sexual chokehold young female students seemingly have over male superiors – and tensions between staff and students endure. Garner's interrogation of staff-student relationships was biting, particularly given her finger was levelled at young women, rather than the men attracted to them. Many people were – and remain – outraged by her views on the topic. Loading The overwhelming majority of staff-student relationships occur between male superiors and female students. This is something I discovered throughout my own research, as did Amia Srinivasan, a scholar and author of The Right to Sex. In one paper on the topic, she refers to consensual professor-student sex as a 'patriarchal failure', given the over-representation of female students and male superiors where there are clear divides in age, authority and life experience. And while institutions aren't necessarily defending the right to such relationships any more, their commitment to ignoring their impact on female students remains. When a young woman crosses over from being a student to an academic's romantic partner, she is no longer safeguarded by the usual distance between teachers and students. If she's 'lucky', their relationship might last, and prove that she was the one to change him; an exception to the rule. If unlucky, she will likely be a nameless blip in his career.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney University staff resisting controversial antisemitism rules
University of Sydney academics will hold a meeting this week attempting to thwart the adoption of a definition of antisemitism that aims to protect Jewish and Israeli students on campus which some staff say unreasonably constricts criticism of Israel. It comes a week after a student meeting to discuss the definition ended in the audience turning their backs on a Jewish speaker while another student effectively called for Israel to cease to exist. The University of Sydney has been the centre of student protests against Israel since the October 7 attacks – playing host to a sprawling pro-Palestinian encampment of university students and activists as well as long-time supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir – an organisation banned in Germany and Turkey and labelled a terrorist group in Britain. After pressure to act on antisemitism, the university spent $441,789 on an external review, which proposed new civility rules which asked students to explain exactly what they meant when using contentious phrases. Additionally, it adopted the Universities Australia definition of antisemitism, along with more than 30 other institutions, which states criticism of Israel is not in itself antisemitic. 'However, criticism of Israel can be antisemitic when it is grounded in harmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions and when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel or all Jews or when it holds Jewish individuals or communities responsible for Israel's actions.' An email invitation about the meeting on Thursday held by Staff for Palestine says: 'This definition, which has been imposed on the university community unilaterally, treats criticism of Israel and of Zionism as likely to be antisemitic.' 'The definition constitutes a serious obstacle to staff and students' intellectual freedom, and to our ability to campaign for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions, and for justice for everyone in the Middle East regardless of their faith, background or ethnicity. 'Our position is that no one kind of racism should be treated as more serious than others, including by being the object of standalone definitions.'
South China Morning Post
02-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Australia urges decoupling from US universities: ‘we live in a different world'
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged universities to seek greater research cooperation with partners outside the US following the Trump administration's threat of funding cuts to the sector. Advertisement At least seven Australian universities are facing a potential reduction in funding after they received lengthy questionnaires from the US government asking how their projects aligned with President Donald Trump 's domestic and foreign policy priorities. Industry group Universities Australia said the change could affect as much as A$600 million (US$377 million) in research funding. Wong said that just as the Australian government was encouraging businesses to broaden their trade markets in response to global disruptions, the education industry needed to follow suit. We have to recognise that we live in a different world Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong 'We have to recognise that we live in a different world,' she told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio on Wednesday. 'We will continue to make the case to the US that collaborative research benefits both countries, but I would say making sure we diversify our engagement matters across all our economic sectors.' Australia, one of Washington's oldest allies which also runs a trade deficit with the US, is bracing for the next round of tariffs due to be unveiled by the Trump administration within 24 hours. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he will not negotiate on a range of concerns raised by the US trade representative in a report released this week. Universities Australia Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy told the ABC last week that Monash University and the University of Technology Sydney were among those exposed to potential US funding cuts. Advertisement 'This is really alarming that Australia's closest ally, someone who funds more than half a billion dollars of research in the Australian system seeking Australian expertise to benefit both countries, is putting all of that at risk,' he said.
