Words, words, words – the slogan game
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 30th, 2007
On my travels I have seen quite a few university slogans – “learn for life”, “a university for the real world”, “tomorrow’s leaders today”, “advancing knowledge, transforming lives”, and “together we are amazing” are just some examples.
What do these slogans mean? Not much, really.
As Goethe says in Faust, “When ideas fail, words come in […]
Should universities have social goals?
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 23rd, 2007
Writing in The Australian today higher education editor Catherine Armitage concludes a look at the politics of higher education by stating that whoever wins the election “a long, hard look at the university sector is long overdue”.
Any inquiry that does take place almost certainly will focus on the economics of higher education. This is necessary […]
Rewarding innovation
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 20th, 2007
Macquarie’s researchers and educators do some great work year after year and we like to ensure their efforts are recognised by the university.
One way we do this is through the annual Macquarie Innovation Awards.
Recently the university presented Innovation Awards to academics who have made outstanding efforts in their fields.
These included researchers who developed tools to […]
Implications of the RQF
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 14th, 2007
Assuming it wins the election, the Coalition Government says it will go ahead with an assessment of university research quality. The Labor Party says it will abort the current Government’s process and replace it with its own assessment regime. For the time being, only the Government’s assessment program is on the table.
For reasons that are […]
Macquarie and the rankings
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 12th, 2007
Macquarie’s place in the latest Times Higher Education Supplement-QS World University Rankings has been the subject of some comment, including a front page article in the local newspaper. The rankings showed Macquarie has dropped from 82 to 168 in the international rankings and from seventh to ninth among local universities.
Should we be concerned? While it’s […]
Higher education: what does the future hold?
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 8th, 2007
The Australian federal election result will have surprisingly little effect on the future of those of us who work in universities. This is because our fate will be determined by forces beyond the control of any government.
Today’s universities compete for staff, students, grants, contracts and donations with universities from around the globe. Our future depends […]
University adopts ethics statement
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 6th, 2007
As part of the development of a University-wide code of ethics the Macquarie University Council has approved the adoption of an Ethics Statement. This had previously been considered and amended by Academic Senate, the Staff Consultative Group and the Macquarie community during the past year.
Now the St. James Ethics Centre is to conduct an organisational […]