In The Age today there is a discussion of the financial cost of the government's cuts to domestic undergraduate full fees.
Let's take a moment to look at the difference between the 2007 and 2009 subject offerings in the Faculty of Arts and take.
Arts Majors in the 2007 Handbook that have not be listed as available to B. Arts students in the 2009 Handbook:
American Studies,
Ancient Greek,
Archaeology,
Architectural History,
Astronomy,
Biology and Botany,
Business Law,
Catalan, Chemistry,
Classical Studies and Archaeology,
Computer applications in the Social Sciences and Humanities,
Computer Science,
Development Studies,
Earth Sciences,
English as a Second Language,
English Language Studies,
Communication Skills,
Environmental Studies,
European Studies,
Gender Studies,
Global Issues,
Management,
Mathematics and Statistics,
Modern Greek,
Music History,
Physics,
Planning and Design,
Portuguese,
Social Work subjects, Social Work,
Socio-Legal Studies,
Theology,
Media and Communications,
Creative Arts,
Public Policy and Management (Honours).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Faculty of Arts Handbook Analysis
Monday, October 27, 2008
Culture?
So it has been a month since I last posted anything here. A lot has happened.
There was this interesting piece in The Cambridge Student where a member of the drinking society goes to a 'fresher swap' and explains how selection for the swap works: "During the lull in proceedings just before the curry arrived, they began to press me for answers as to their selection, and encouraged by their responses to some of my anecdotes, along with the effects of several pints, I leant forwards and confided (with a knowing smile and a wink) that they had in fact been picked straight from the fresher's facebook group, by virtue of their aesthetic qualities and whether or not they looked "fun" (translate: easy).
This is an interesting comment on student culture in higher education institutions. What do we really mean when we talk about student culture? Is this the kind of thing we are referring to? Is student culture for the most part just free sausages, beer, chlamydia share-parties with the occasional theatre production (complete with almost nude actresses) to give it that icing of dignity?
...
Cambridge gets away with a lot under the pretence of tradition, and perhaps we could all do without this bizarre and laughable need of some people to set themselves apart as the social elite within an already elite university."
In other news, the York University Student Union is to lobby for a 24-hour library. This is the kind of thing that would probably only work at a residential university. Can you imagine a student taking the 1030 train on to campus to hang out in the library until at least 6 am before they can return home?
Marc Bousquet also writes some excellent commentary about the higher education quality cult and the problem of what seems to be the US-equivalent of a hyper-casualised academic workforce.
The second article is particularly relevant to the University of Melbourne. The university is happy to cut permanent staff and rehire them as casuals, essentially forcing people off real contracts and on to dodgy ones. It undermines their rights as workers and tells them how much the university really cares about the teaching and research they do (not a lot). The student unions and associations are more or less powerless to stop the trend since the university will just claim that it is an HR issue and refuse to talk any further. Bousquet argues that it is only when the untenurable reach positions of leadership that the situation will change. It is only through autonomous action that the casual staff of UniMelb can win decent conditions. They soon will be, if they aren't already, in the majority. All they need to do is realise it.
It is a little depressing really. How on earth do these people expect students to get a reasonable education and to engage with the campus if the only staff we encounter are casuals or sessionals? Casual staff means casual engagement and it is rather hypocritical of the educationalists and executives to casualise their academic workforce on the one hand and then whinge about the casualisation of student engagement.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Results
I've been so busy and away that I've missed multiple editions of Honi Soit and haven't done all that much. Amy was wondering about how the UMSU elections went so here is the rundown:
A win for StandUp! and the broader left with StandUp! taking all of its Office-Bearer positions, winning contests against both right-wing opponents and against fellow left-wing ticket Activate (who were contesting President). Independent Media retains control of the Media Office, following a strong contest from Activate. The Liberals have made a strong showing, picking up three seats on Students' Council.
However, the broad left retains control of Students' Council with:
3 Activate , 2 Socialist Alternative and one Green Thumbs (Paul Coats is former SA), 1 each for Independent Media and More Activities and a strong showing from StandUp! taking 3 positions and an additional position with Make it Cheap!.
Now for the fun story. The Young Liberals nominated former International House Students' Club President Joe Zhang for International Representative on Students' Council, who received the most votes but was found to not actually be an international student and was disqualified. Lovely.
Also, Honi Soit covers the issue of independent student media, including coverage regarding the left faction Activate and Farrago.
Friday, September 12, 2008
"We Hate Elections Too"
"We Hate Elections Too" was displayed on an Independent Media placard as their campaigners danced around campus yesterday on the last day of elections.
I'm glad it's over.
The Young Liberals (Liberals, Yes and Energize) worked hard all week to disrupt the election in favour of their 'Yes' ticket and its promises, most of which related to organisations or businesses which are not owned or controlled by the student union.
The Labor Right (Voice) seemed to die off as the week went on.
The incumbent Stand Up! faction seems poised to win the elections.
Activate made some waves on the left, contesting Stand Up! for president and Independent Media for Farrago. Do you really want a bunch of hippies and squatters editing your student paper? Didn't think so.
Socialist Alternative (Left Student Unionists) seemed to get into fights with Young Liberals a lot.
What has the Returning Officer been up to?
Ruling 1. The Returning Officer, after receiving complaints from Activate, forces Independent Media to not use 'IndyMedia' and the Independent Media campaigners went around for the rest of the week with 'ie' badges covering the 'y' on their t-shirts.
Ruling 2. Activate take another stab at Independent Media, trying to neutralise their test edition. This is dismissed.
Ruling 3. Tickets should share poster space.
Ruling 4. Activate attacks Independent Media for not using recycled paper in their test edition. Independent Media are forced to surrender 200 copies of their test edition for recycling.
Ruling 5. Independent Media retaliates against Activate for using a non-student and professional graphic designer in the production of their test edition. Activate confirm that this was the case and the RO gives them the benefit of the doubt with respect to the electoral regulations.
Ruling 6. Young Liberal, Alex Cambria, is suspended from campaigning for harassment.
Ruling 7. Samuel Flewett, SA(LSU), is suspended from campaigning for fighting with a Young Liberal (Yes) campaigner.
Ruling 8. The RO decides that there is no difference between a volunteer and an intern and the "clearly selective" presention of the facts is not necessarily misleading or deceiving.
This summarises the tension in the elections.
But everyone is glad to be done with it.
Monday, September 1, 2008
SUPRA takes on the Melbourne Model
SUPRA has published a critique of the Melbourne Mode in the latest edition of Honi Soit. It raises standard points, such as income support, public transport concession cards and the exploitation of students for fee-income.
But most interestingly, it discusses USyd's SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, coincidentally its acronym is a homophone of the acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics). USyd apparently thinks that it is already pretty good at offering graduate entry programmes and even has some initiatives in place to offset some of the problems of postgraduate study, such as access to income support.
The Melbourne Model seems to be receiving a somewhat icy reception in Australian Higher Ed. It is generally a feared thing in popular press and opinion thanks to its association with subject cuts, staff cuts and blatant money-grabbing. The only university that seems to be considering copying it is UWA and it is my estimation that they will be going for something subtly but significantly different.
