Want to lift workers’ productivity? Let’s start with their bosses www.thenewdaily.com.au/work/2025/08...

"Australia has the second-lowest public expenditure on tertiary education institutions in the OECD…This has resulted in an endless chase for dollars (international students & “the next big thing”) rather than thinking about what an educated Australia should look like” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

with what's been going on at ANU, UTS, Macquarie, etc. seems like an appropriate time to again post this 2021 study. Gives some good hints as to where some alternative savings might be found link.springer.com/article/10.1...

UTS academics describe ‘culture of fear’ as enrolments put on hold for nearly a fifth of courses

"Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records" via @truthout.org: truthout.org/video/europe...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act isn't a solution to economic inequality or for managing immigration and asylum procedures — it's a blueprint for cruelty. The US deserves a health care system that fulfills everyone’s human right to health, and a budget that makes this possible.

Unbelievable. Senate Republicans just voted to TERMINATE healthcare & SNAP for millions — all to funnel more billions to billionaires. This vote exposes Trump’s MAGA agenda: always for billionaires—not for working families fighting for care, food, dignity. seiuca.org/press-releas...

Excellent news. Great work from the ALP, Greens, Animal Justice & Legalise Cannabis parties. Of course, the LNP refuses to come out of the 1950s. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Please sign and share - a worthy petition to protect Sociology at Macquarie and, more generally, to protest the declining commitment by university managers to strong social sciences in Australia. Their value cannot be over-stated. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...

Please sign and share - a worthy petition to protect Sociology at Macquarie and, more generally, to protest the declining commitment by university managers to strong social sciences in Australia. Their value cannot be over-stated. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...

Oh god yes, the next time I read (incl from uni peak bodies) that unis are a leading export industry Ill throw up! Among other things they are key to boosting productivity. Won’t happen if corporatised production line approach persists.

🔥 FINAL HOURS! Early Bird registration for #TASA2025 closes at midnight tonight! Be part of Australia’s leading sociology conference and connect with scholars, researchers & change-makers from around the country. 🎟️ Register now and save: www.tasa.org.au/content.aspx...#TASA2025 #DeadlineDay #TASA2025

I think the new universities regular ATEC should make a rule — every time a university kills off a course like music or politics or sociology, they should also have to reduce the salary of the vice-chancellor by $100k

‘Academics are leaving, exhausted by stifling workloads…Students are unhappy…paying through the nose for an insipid version of the…experience their parents enjoyed. We’re so busy beating up universities…we forget what a disastrous own goal we’re kicking…’ www.theage.com.au/national/a-k...

University policy has been broken for 40 years. ‘Our policymakers must be brave enough to argue that education is unequivocally and intrinsically a public good, vital to the interests of the nation, and therefore worth funding properly.’ www.afr.com/policy/healt...

Maq Uni restructuring is symptomatic of the rot infesting university mgmt throughout the land (and elsewhere). Just when you think the hollowing out has to stop somewhere it accelerates into new disciplines. #Sociology now at risk there due to pitifully small thinking #AcademicSky #SaveHASS

Will History fall silent? We are extremely concerned to hear about the planned downsizing of academic positions in the Arts Faculty Please read our statement of concern on the proposed staff and course cuts at Macquarie University via the link below buff.ly/8ThbLgf

It’s heartbreaking to read about the dissolution of the Politics Department at Macquarie University along with the decimation of Sociology - so many brilliant scholars livelihoods being destroyed www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Yes to this but why stop there? Let’s go for full comprehensive universities established on co-operative principles. VCs to be elected by staff, paid the same as other professors and rewarded for the burden of their 4 year stint with a sabbatical afterwards. Local govt on the board too.

Penny Wong, 2003: "I say suspicion is not enough. To justify going to war we need more than suspicion. What sort of world would we live in if suspicion alone was justification for participation in unilateral military action outside the auspices of the UN? "

From the edge of extinction Spain and Portugal were able to save the world's most endangered cat from the brink. We have the solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate #climate #energy #nature #rewilding #GreenNewDeal

Impressive work - The number of recognised genera of Australo-Papuan treefrogs has just been increased from 3 to 35! academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

A message from Bernie as we head into the final weekend before the election.

TASA is deeply dismayed by Macquarie Uni’s proposed restructuring that would decimate sociology. The social sciences matter — they help us navigate a complex world. Our full statement & call to action here: www.tasa.org.au/docs.ashx?id... #Sociology #HigherEd #SupportHASS

Thank you, @jasonclaremp.bsky.social! The minister has taken the extraordinary steps writing to ANU leadership asking them to explain themselves and referred to the university regulator. I hope the government inquiry into university governance is extended. www.afr.com/work-and-car...

Netanyahu began this war with his attack on Iran. In the process, he sabotaged US-Iran negotiations on nuclear issues and assassinated Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator. The US must not be dragged into another illegal Netanyahu war – either militarily or financially.

Rarely have we needed graduates competent in political and sociological analysis than we do now. Dreadful move by @Macquarie_Uni @Thesis11 #politics #Sociology #HigherEducation

🎨🌞 Cool paint – literally New paint keeps buildings cooler by reflecting sunlight and releasing water. It even works on walls in humid places like Singapore. Less heat, less energy use – smart and simple. 🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie... 🧪 #ClimateAction #SciComm

Politics, Sociology, Ancient History, majors in Media, Music may be decimated @ MQ. 4/8 Politics staff with no more Politics units. 11/14 Sociologists to be axed. Ancient History recently the jewel in the MQ crown is being destroyed. This is beyond save Arts & SS @ MQ. Thank you @auspsa.bsky.social

Shambolic. If teachers can use AI to mark, why can’t students use AI to write? And here we go: students not doing the work and teachers not doing the marking. Why don’t students not bother to go to school and teachers can stay at home? How about we all don’t get out of bed in the morning?????

APSA is deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. Our letter to university leadership outlines the discipline’s outstanding research, strong teaching record, and impact. 📄 Read the full letter here: auspsa.org.au/job-alert/ap....

America's descent into suppression of dissent 🧵 I've been tracking Trump's actions since Jan and have included 93 actions that I consider to suppress dissent. They fall into 4 domains and their use is quite different over time. 1/16

Great to see ACT Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social putting university governance front and centre at #ANU. Very popular discussion topic for those in attendance. 👏 @nteunion.bsky.social

Universities are in trouble. But is Nous Group the answer? The business model of the consultant is sharp and sophisticated. They bought the sector 'benchmarking' data and use it to sell services. Griffith Uni even hired 4 exec staff from them. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

Opinion from Auckland University: The findings of a new IMF report suggest NZ is not just underperforming, but actively backing the wrong kinds of growth.

Excellent article by Rock Morton in the Saturday Paper this morning, on consultants Nous. These guys are so endemic in university managements I ended up writing a whole paper about them. They're basically vampires www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

These are the people that make America great 🇲🇽🇺🇸

Excellent coverage of Macquarie Uni’s proposed restructure: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Macquarie University isn't unique here, but university managers across the sector are rapidly turning the undergraduate curriculum into boring, mass teaching with smaller, more interesting, and intellectually alive units wiped out on questionable financial grounds.

We’re gutting ourselves not-so-slowly

Why Australia's productivity growth is low: # short-term rent seeking managerialism: profits thru cost-cutting v LT investment # oligopolistic product & labour markets produce rents w/o innovation # lack of industrial capacity + R & D # service/care economy: productivity gains don't make sense

Automation won’t necessarily lead to either mass unemployment or a utopian workless future. Power and politics impact how automation affects work — which means that automation can create dignified jobs through class struggle.

Don’t let them cut the heart out of our universities. Join today: nteu.au/join @alisonbarnes.bsky.social

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California is not about the protests. It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism. All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.

Los Angeles: violent raids by Trump regime secret police forces spark panic and protests in largest west coast city www.latimes.com/california/s...