In the Australian higher education sector, the challenges to successful engagement and retention experienced by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and communities are considerable. They persist despite many well-intentioned attempts to address this issue and to strengthen equity in participation in the sector. Implicated in this is the absence of a culturally-informed data quality framework for the sector, and the resulting persistence of associated issues such as confusion with data ownership; consistency; standards; usage; and storage. In this paper we argue it is essential that rigorous inquiry be carried out into the type and nature of data required or sought in the higher education sector on, for and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This inquiry must involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, researchers, evaluators and communities to bring into effect their aspirations for data sovereignty including stewardship and ownership of data, and for culturally beneficial outcomes relating to the use and application of data. It also mandates a collaborative approach with existing government and independent organisations, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers from higher education institutions, working together towards the development and implementation of an agreed-upon and decolonised Indigenous data framework for the sector. More...

In a statement to NTEU members at The University of Western Australia today, Acting UWA Branch President Dr. Sanna Peden expressed disappointment with the decision by UWA VC Professor Dawn Freshwater and Chancellor Dr. Robert French to allow a speech by a homophobic and transphobic lobby group to take place at the University. More...

On the occasion of the 25th anniversaries of Education International and the National Tertiary Education Union,today NTEU is hosting a symposium will reflect upon the growth and achievements of higher education unions over the past 25 years and identify the challenges for the next 25 years. More...

We, the undersigned academic and professional staff from Australian universities, condemn the detention, alleged torture, and proposed prosecution of our colleague and RMIT Adjunct Professor Dr Shahidul Alam. We also condemn the recent violence against peaceful student protesters, and journalists covering these protests. More...

The number of Indigenous people enrolling in and completing higher education courses in the Northern Territory slowly continues to climb. Since the first policies supporting the Australian Government's self-determination policy that encompassed training of Indigenous teachers in the Northern Territory, Charles Darwin University and Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education have played vital roles in increasing opportunities for Indigenous people to participate and succeed in higher education across all industries. More...

This article provides insight into the nature of research workload allocation for Australian academics. It explores the distinction between research performance and research workload allocation. Research performance can be judged at an institutional level, a work group level or an individual level. The process by which an institution's research performance is judged is not necessarily suitable at the level of the individual academic. More...

International professional experiences have long been esteemed by universities and pre-service teachers alike. This paper analyses the experiences of six academics who have supervised Australian pre-service teachers undertaking international professional experience (PE), with a view to better understanding the problems and prospects that they encounter during their overseas supervision. More...

Current and future generations of university graduates have been dealt another big blow with the passage of the government’s Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Bill 2018 through the Senate yesterday, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said today. More...

This volume’s primary focus is the role of religious organisations in the provision of primary and secondary school education around the world. The main discussion points concern how and why the many education systems run by religious bodies operate worldwide, what they provide for their communities and how they interact with government education policies, practices and school systems. More...