Canberra has been urged to adopt a “consistent approach” in covering the indirect costs of medical research, under a strategy which would also align the administration of the two main funders. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/standar...

The 2024 accounts of several universities have been substantially revised in the 2025 annual reports, with costs such as scholarships “presented” as expenses after previously being accounted for in the income columns. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Universities are “writing their own rules” with accounts that make it impossible to judge the efficiency of their activities, because revenue and costs are not directly comparable. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

“You can’t take the revenue out and leave the costs in. Private sector investors would not accept a CEO saying: ‘Ignore the audited accounts and focus on management's numbers’. Unis are sitting on large surpluses, pretending they have deficits.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

USyd and UNSW last year attracted 51% of combined earnings of all 10 public unis in NSW, up from 45% before the pandemic, according to newly published annual reports, and compared to 36% combined share of enrolments stands. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

The wealth gap among universities in Australia’s largest state has widened, with the two biggest and richest institutions now pocketing more than half the entire sector’s income. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

A rule that required Australia’s universities to conduct “world standard” research in at least half of the fields they teach has been discarded before it was ever properly put into practice. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/why-sho...

Leadership positions are left vacant for years, contravening funding scheme rules and raising questions about the sector’s “genuine prioritisation” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/indigen...

Indigenous leaders in Australian universities are paid less than their non-indigenous counterparts and denied opportunities to fill in for absent superiors, a study has found. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/indigen...

Roughly a quarter of Australian graduates say they are overqualified for their jobs, with many unable to fully apply their skills after three years in the workforce. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/one-fou...

By keeping details of vetoed grants secret, ARC is withholding any “educational benefit” for researchers keen to avoid incurring similar treatment. “If it wasn’t your grant that got knocked on the head, you don’t know…what the ARC is looking for.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/grant-v...

In his March statement of expectations, Clare instructed ARC to change grant programs “as a priority” in line with review’s recommendations. But the recommendations haven't been released and the ARC’s response – promised “shortly” – is yet to emerge. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/grant-v...

“[We are] going back to the days when things would sit on the minister’s desk for months. It debilitates the entire community and the very purpose of this scheme. No industry partner is going to get involved if there’s a one-year wait for outcomes.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/grant-v...

ARC appears to have adopted an approach of delaying entire funding rounds if a handful of applications raise concerns. Its previous practice was to announce all the other grants while delaying the problematic ones for additional scrutiny. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/grant-v...

Australia’s research grant processes have veered off the rails again, with delay and confusion prevailing after a couple of years of smooth operations. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/grant-v...

Changes flagged in the 12 May federal budget could directly affect international enrolments at universities, as the government plans to reform the “points test” which gatekeeps the admission of most skilled migrants to Australia. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

Australia has frozen the number of training colleges that are entitled to admit foreign students, in its latest effort to curtail overseas enrolments. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

Tough talk on both sides of Australian politics ‘risks further pain’ for international students and the universities that depend on them. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/canberr...

Research grant vetoes surface as delays re-emerge in grant processing, as the ARC intensified its checks to ensure that the proposed projects posed no security concerns - an approach considered overkill by some insiders. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-m...

Vetoes come after Clare told ARC to beef up security checks. “I expect the ARC to focus on addressing threats of espionage and foreign interference affecting research sector. This includes continually improving processes to identify and assess risks.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-m...

The grants are the first to be vetoed since an amendment to the ARC Act in 2024 transferred approval powers for research grants to the newly created ARC Board, but gave minister power to order grants to be quashed for national security reasons. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-m...

Clare told parliament that he had directed the ARC Board not to approve funding for the 13 projects “for reasons relevant to the security, defence or international relations of Australia”. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-m...

Two years after he introduced a law to end ministerial vetos of research projects, Australian education minister Jason Clare has quashed 13 grants on national security grounds. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-m...

Australian universities have been given three months to resubmit assessment material on their handling of antisemitism on campus, after the entire sector received a fail grade on work so far. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/resubmi...

“Students are not just worried about getting the visa any more, but about what happens after. Even if visas are being granted, they are asking about the situation in the country. What if they go, spend one year, and then get asked to leave?” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/non-ang...

49% of 5,800 surveyed international students weighed up alternative study locations in Europe and Asia, with 21% of the mainly Asian respondents considering Germany and many more eyeing China, France, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore and Netherlands. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/non-ang...

Non-Anglo education destinations are increasingly figuring in international students’ plans, with around half now considering countries where English is not the predominant language, new research suggests. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/non-ang...

Australia’s higher education steward has adopted many of the same occupational priorities that steer vocational education and training (VET) policy, in the latest effort to build cohesion between the two sectors. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-...

The world needs theoretical tools to help tackle the resurrection of the “ancient phenomenon” of hostage diplomacy, and academics must step up their efforts to research a “geopolitical trend” that places them at direct risk. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/hostage...

Disability advocates have urged Australian authorities to proceed carefully with a proposal to make “inherent requirements” mandatory in course outlines so that students know in advance what they are signing up for. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/new-cou...

“It's not just unethical; it's bad policy. We should be…in the business of attracting the best students, and cranking up the application fee will not help in attracting the best students.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

In total, the government collected almost $65 million from students whose visa applications were processed in March, adding to a burgeoning revenue stream capable of funding services like the weather office or statistical agency. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

Australia’s government earned almost $10 million from the overseas higher education students it turned away in March alone. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

New Zealand is maintaining its allure as an international education destination, despite concerted competition from Asian countries seeking to shore up their fading demographics by capitalising on their neighbours’ desire to study close to home. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/new-zea...

“How do you recruit the kinds of students that DHA would approve of if you don’t know what they’re looking for? We can’t introduce better compliance [or] more aggressive screening. The students themselves can’t decide if they are good or bad applicants.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

DHA using 2-year-old “ministerial direction 106”, which includes clauses about applicants’ economic circumstances, to make “holistic financial assessments” of their capacity to cover their living costs for the entire duration of their studies. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

March offshore HE visa grant rate of 59% worst on record, well under previous record posted in Feb. Applicants from 2nd and 3rd biggest source countries for HE – India and Nepal – more likely to be rejected than accepted, with rates of 49% and 27%. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

Visas for Australian university study have become harder than ever to obtain, with over 40 per cent of candidates knocked back during the most recently reported processing period. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/austral...

Before 2022, experts warned about the effects of LLMs on higher ed, but few listened. “Then we got the chaos of reacting to ChatGPT. We can’t survive that again. This is not science fiction. How do we get in front of it now? The horse is going to bolt.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/no-defe...

“Do I need to be suspicious about what Muslim students have underneath the headdress, or if hearing aids are really required? If the problem is doing exams when students might be wearing AI we can’t detect, the solution might just be to stop doing exams.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/no-defe...

“Wearable” artificial intelligence is dissolving the last line of defence between traditional assessment and emerging technology, marking a “second wave” of the disruptive force that has confounded educators since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/no-defe...

“We have government support and the autonomy to be creative and somewhat determine our own destiny. With that autonomy comes a level of responsibility. Maybe people don’t see us as being responsible any more.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

“There’s still huge respect for higher education in emerging economies – significant respect for expertise, wisdom, higher learning and the professor. There’s something about the level of autonomy we have that also brings with it a degree of scepticism.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Universities have weakened their standing by crying poor while possessing a degree of self-determination beyond the dreams of most institutions, and by tolerating shortcomings in governance and academic standards. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Anglophone universities have contributed to their own image problems by failing to perform at the level warranted by their privileged autonomy, according to a vice-chancellor with leadership history in three countries. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Agreement constitutes an unprecedented intervention in the affairs of a public Australian university, whose governing bodies normally have unfettered control of their own leadership. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/teqsa-t...

“Majority independent” panel will manage recruitment and selection of replacement for current chancellor Julie Bishop, with TEQSA nominating at least half of panel and university expected to accept its recommendation. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/teqsa-t...

Australia’s higher education regulator will take charge of the search for the next chancellor of the Australian National University, under a “voluntary undertaking” accepted from the troubled university. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/anu-acc...

Shortcomings in ombudsman investigation emerge after student ombudsman chastised universities over their handling of student complaints, and warned them to “act promptly to address issues they are specifically on notice of.” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/whistle...

Thorpe said ombudsman’s “deeply unsatisfactory” response didn't answer “important” questions like why anyone could be confident that the handling of whistleblower disclosures would meet "intentions of parliament and expectations of community”. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/whistle...