Current Issues
Click on the links below to find out more information about the major public policy issues staff of the Policy and Research Unit are currently working on.
Further information:
| Review of Australian Higher Education | Earlier this year the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced a review of Australian Higher Education. This substantive review will be an important part to future developments of other key policy areas. Follow this link to the NTEU's Review of Australian Higher Education site. |
| Innovation Review | On 22 January 2008, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, announced a wide ranging review of Australia's national innovation system. |
| Excellence in Research for Australia | The federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, announced on 26 February this year a new research quality and evaluation system to replace the Research Quality Framework. |
| Inquiry into Research Training and research workforce issues in Australian universities | On 23 April 2008 the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, asked the House's Standing Committee to undertake an inquiry into research training and research workforce issues in Australian universities. |
| Voluntary Student Unionism | NTEU supports the right of student organisations to represent their members and to allocate resources according to the democratic will of their membership. |
| National Accreditation Body | The MCEETYA Joint Committee on Higher Education (JCHE) called for responses to the PhilipsKPA discussion paper about the desirability of establishing a national accreditation body. |
| National Protocols | Access information and details about the Department of Education, Science and Training's review of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes. |
| Terror Laws | |
| University Governance | Good governance of tertiary education institutions is essential to high quality education, research and scholarship. But what makes good governance? |
| Access and Participation | NTEU supports a higher education system in which the opportunity to participate is extended to all who have the ability and the motivation, regardless of their capacity to pay. |
| Distance Education and Flexible Modes of Delivery | NTEU participates in debates about transnational education and the use of ICT-based teaching at both national and international levels, highlighting in particular issues of quality, equity, governance and the professional and industrial issues of staff involved in this work. |
| Funding - Higher Education & TAFE | Levels of funding, and the balance between public and private sources of income, fundamentally affect NTEU members professional and industrial interests, as well as the capacity of public education institutions to meet the community’s needs and expectations. |
| Globalisation & Internationalisation | This page provides links to information on Education Export, Education International, GATS and other trade agreements, Universitas 21/Transnational Education and MAI. |
| Intellectual Freedom | Intellectual freedom is central to the quality and good governance of tertiary education institutions. |
| Intellectual Property | Intellectual Property (IP) is an increasingly complicated area in universities. It refers to a range of rights relating to ownership and control of the products of intellectual endeavour. |
| Occupational Stress and Workloads | NTEU has been involved in a number of studies exploring the increase in workloads and stress experienced by university staff over the past decade. |
| Professional Development | All staff employed in tertiary education – whether on a contract, continuing or casual basis – have a right to professional development, and effective professional development strategies are essential to quality provision. |
| Quality Assurance and Accreditation | Quality assurance in higher education and TAFE relates not only to internal processes for evaluating and ensuring quality. |
| Regional Development | NTEU canvases these issues in our representations to Government, political parties and other agencies, with the objective of improving quality, diversity and accessibility of education in regional Australia. |
| Research Funding and Management | The majority of NTEU members are involved with research, whether it is its conduct, management, research education or the provision of technical services and infrastructure. |
| Research Quality Framework | Follow this link to find useful information about this important research policy issue. |
| TAFE & Vocational Education | NTEU's policy and research work covers the full gamut of tertiary education, including TAFE and vocational education and training issues more generally. |
| Tax Reform and Tax Related Issues | NTEU policy calls for a taxation base and a progressive taxation system, adequate to fund a quality post-compulsory education sector and other crucial public services. |
| Working Offshore |