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Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Some great points about fewer students learning languages at school but many more being bilingual. The same is undoubtedly true in Australia and hopefully will be front of mind in the parliamentary inquiry underway into ‘Building Australia’s Asia Capability’

www.aph.gov.au/About_Parlia...

1st of 2 screenshots from the article

“* only 3% of A-level entries are in languages, and a mighty slug of those would come from independent schools;
* undergraduate enrolments in languages are down by 20% in five years;
* language teacher recruitment is less than half of what it needs to be;
* there would still be language teacher shortages if every languages graduate went into teaching.
* 28 out of 38 post-1992 universities have closed their language departments:
* it is now quite common for Oxbridge colleges to get fewer than 10 applicants each for languages. That’s less than Classics, by Jove.“

2nd screenshot

* “20% of primary school pupils are categorised as EAL, i.e. English is not their first language;
* this figure materially understates the percentage of pupils who are multilingual in our schools: for example, I know that over 50% of the pupils in the school where I was head were bilingual, even though none of them were categorised as EAL.
* in many areas of many of our cities, there are primary schools where 90% of pupils are classed as EAL pupils.
* there are many, many schools in London, or Birmingham, or Leicester, or Bradford where 30, or 40, or even 50 languages are spoken.
* the schools with the greatest linguistic diversity are very often the schools in the most disadvantaged areas, areas where language uptake is at its lowest.
And yet, little or no attention, or regard or honour is given to these languages, or to the pupils that speak them. Instead, in 96% of primary schools, it is French or Spanish which is taught, often by primary school teachers who don’t even have a GCSE in the subject. It may be no surprise that too few pupils arrive keen to study a language at GCSE when their language experience has been limited and, to their already multilingual minds, irrelevant.“

November 9, 2025 at 8:25 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

2026 public uni international student caps have been released. Federation Uni & Charles Sturt Uni will be very pleased by their increases, while 5 unis chose not to apply for an increase. Student accommodation places & SE Asia links were criteria for higher caps
www.education.gov.au/download/197...

Comparison of 2025 and 2026 caps - for each university the first number is their 2025 cap, the 2nd number is their 2026 cap, and the % figure is the annual increase
Federation University Australia 1,100 1,800 64%
Charles Sturt University 1,000 1,600 60%
The University of Newcastle 1,600 2,050 28%
Charles Darwin University (CDU) 2,200 2,650 20%
University of Canberra 1,500 1,800 20%
The University of Western Australia 3,000 3,550 18%
Western Sydney University 3,400 4,000 18%
Curtin University 3,500 4,100 17%
La Trobe University 4,100 4,800 17%
Macquarie University 4,500 5,250 17%
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology 6,600 7,700 17%
Southern Cross University 1,300 1,500 15%
Deakin University (Deakin) 5,700 6,550 15%
The University of Notre Dame Australia 700 800 14%
The University of Queensland 7,050 8,050 14%
The University of Melbourne 9,300 10,500 13%
University of the Sunshine Coast 1,200 1,350 13%
Victoria University** 3,600 4,050 13%
Australian Catholic University 1,700 1,900 12%
University of Technology Sydney 4,800 5,350 11%
Murdoch University 3,500 3,900 11%
Australian National University 3,400 3,750 10%
Griffith University 3,600 3,950 10%
The University of New South Wales 9,500 10,350 9%
Adelaide University 6,750 7,350 9%
Monash University 10,390 11,300 9%
Queensland University of Technology 4,500 4,750 6%
Central Queensland University 3,000 3,150 5%
University of Southern Queensland** 1,000 1,050 5%
Edith Cowan University 3,600 3,700 3%
University of Wollongong 3,600 3,700 3%
University of Tasmania (UTas) 2,200 2,250 2%
Flinders University 3,000 3,000 0%
James Cook University 2,200 2,200 0%
Swinburne University of Technology 4,500 4,500 0%
The University of Sydney 11,900 11,900 0%
University of New England 700 700 0%
Total 145,190 160,850 11%

October 14, 2025 at 6:54 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Australian higher ed has some serious governance issues. On the latest episode of the podcast Keith Dowding & @marijataflaga.bsky.social discuss their recent paper (with @francismarkham.bsky.social) on the solutions we need.

Out now in your podcast feed or: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com

October 13, 2025 at 11:01 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Really looking forward to attending #GITEXGLOBAL in Dubai this week - including these sessions 👇

www.gitex.com

Session: “From early adoption to AI-native societies: envisioning the next era of intelligence” Peng Xiao, G42; Sam Altman, OpenAI

Session: “From research to power: Building deeptech and AI that redefine markets and nations” Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commission; Najwa Aaraj, Technology Innovation Institute; David Rowan, WIRED

Session: “Connecting continents: AI-enabled economic transformation” His Excellency Mehmet Fatih Kacir, Minister of Industry and Technology, Turkiye; Olivia Kingshorst, Ex-CNN & Forbes Switzerland

Session: “Responsible by design: Governing intelligence in AI native societies” Andrew Jackson, G42; Amanda Drury, CNBC

October 13, 2025 at 5:45 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

3 recent podcast guests share insights on what’s happening in Australian tertiary education: tackling disadvantage, use of AI, and much more
- TAFE Gippsland’s Transitions Manager, Shae McGregor
- Uni of New England’s VC, Prof Chris Moran
- TAFE NSW teacher, Bala Subra
whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com

October 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

3 pages of sensible recommendations in the just released Interim Report of the Senate inquiry into university governance

www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

Recommendation 1
5.91 The committee recommends that universities improve the transparency and
accountability of their governing bodies, including by:
 publishing all minutes of council meetings in their entirety, on university
websites, while ensuring that personal or legally protected information is
appropriately withheld;
 publicly disclosing details of all spending on consultants, including the
purpose of each consultancy and the extent to which the capacity exists to
perform that function within the institution;
 maintaining a publicly disclosed conflict-of-interest register for
university council members and senior university executives. Where
senior executives receive remuneration for external roles, mitigation
actions to manage any perceived or real conflicts-of-interest (which could
include the offsetting of salaries) should be both agreed and disclosed on
the public register;
 publishing annual remuneration reports in-line with requirements for
public companies including role-specific salaries of senior university
executives; and
 publicly reporting on the composition of governing bodies, including the
proportion of elected members and those with public and higher
education sector experience, and that there be transparency over the
appointment process for non-elected positions.
Recommendation 2
5.92 The committee recommends that the Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency's (TEQSA) regulatory mechanisms to enforce these
transparency and accountability practices are considered alongside the
current process to modernise and strengthen TEQSA's powers.
Recommendation 3
5.93 The committee recommends that universities adopt best-practice and
meaningful consultation for major change proposals, including involvement
from staff and students prior to decisions being made.

Recommendation 4
5.102 The committee recommends that the Australian Government work with the
Remuneration Tribunal and states and territories to devise a mechanism or
framework of classification structures and remuneration ranges to determine
vice-chancellors' and senior executives' remuneration. University councils
would retain responsibility for setting the vice-chancellors' and senior
executives' remuneration, within the appropriate classification and
remuneration range.
Recommendation 5
5.109 The committee recommends that universities set and implement a minimum
proportion of members with public administration and higher education
expertise on university governing bodies.
Recommendation 6
5.110 The committee recommends that universities set and implement a minimum
proportion of elected representatives (staff, undergraduate and postgraduate
students) on governing bodies.
Recommendation 7
5.111 The committee recommends that universities ensure equal and respectful
treatment of elected staff and students on governing bodies. While university
governing bodies need to retain responsibility for engaging and consulting
with members of their community, including students and staff, they should
support elected representatives to consult with their communities as needed.
Recommendation 8
5.112 The committee recommends that universities adopt a best-practice model for
the induction and continuous professional development of nominated and
elected council members, and facilitate governance training for these
members where appropriate.
Recommendation 9
5.121 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, following the
current consultation process being undertaken by the Department of
Education, introduce legislation to provide the Tertiary Education Quality
and Standards Agency with the necessary suite of powers to investigate
potential breaches of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold
Standards) 2021 and enforce its compliance directions.

Recommendation 10
5.123 The committee recommends that the Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency take steps to improve governance reporting requirements
to enable it to identify and mitigate risk across the university sector, including
public reporting on the results of its compliance processes.
Recommendation 11
5.124 The committee recommends that the Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency work with other regulatory bodies, Commonwealth and
State, to identify common data requests relating to university governance, and
to work across jurisdictions to avoid duplicative reporting requirements,
where possible.
Recommendation 12
5.129 The committee recommends that universities examine and enhance their
complaints processes to ensure they are effective and accessible to all
members of the university community.

September 19, 2025 at 5:19 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Amazing contrast between the evidence given to the Senate inquiry into university governance yesterday by @westernsydneyu.bsky.social Chancellor Jennifer Westacott & Vice Chancellor George Williams - and the media release from AHEIA the peak body for university VCs on industrial relations matters

September 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

The AFR’s Julie Hare with a lot more detail on what’s apparently happening at the ANU

www.afr.com/work-and-car...

Extracts from the AFR article:

“The rumour mill was whipped into furor after Bishop appeared on campus and was seen taking meetings in the College of Business and Economics, which is located well away from the chancellery where council normally meets, as well as in the nearby human resources building.

Among the people Bishop met with were a number of deans, provost Rebekah Brown, the person considered mostly likely to replace Bell in an interim role, former Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon, who wrote a damning report into workplace culture at the university and members of the union, according to numerous sources who asked not to be identified.

A university spokesman refused to comment on Bell’s future.”

“Currently, numerous investigations are underway into leadership and governance, including conflicts of interest, providing inaccurate information to the senate, providing staff with misleading information about forced redundancies and ongoing questions about the true financial position of the university.

The findings of the ANU Governance Project are due for release this week. The project, which has been run by a group of academics, engaged more than 600 ANU staff over the past month in kitchen table conversations about how the university was run.

The preliminary findings, released on August 12, found that ANU staff, students, alumni and stakeholders are deeply dissatisfied with current governance arrangements and believe it requires an overhaul.

Over 97 per cent of respondents said current ANU governance is not fit for purpose and should be reformed.

It also said ANU is “suffering from a significant deficit of trust in their current practices of transparency and accountability”.”

September 8, 2025 at 10:30 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

The Nightly is reporting that ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop has been on campus meeting one-on-one with staff - amid speculation that VC Prof. Genevieve Bell may be moved on, although the university spokesperson appears to rule it out:

thenightly.com.au/politics/aus...

Extract from the article which states:

“It’s highly irregular for the Chancellor to meet one-on-one with staff, particularly those several rungs below her, and it’s not usual practice for her to do so without the Vice Chancellor in the room,” one senior ANU figure told The Nightly.

“The expectation is that Professor Bell is going to be shown the door, and the terms of her departure are now being negotiated”.

The Nightly has been told the ANU’s six Deans as well as Provost Rebekah Brown, have all expressed concerns to Ms Bishop about the direction of the university under the leadership of Professor Bell.

Earlier this year an overwhelming majority of ANU staff expressed “no confidence” in both the chancellor and vice-chancellor as part a National Tertiary Education Union petition which involved over 800 members angry at job cuts.

ANU staff are paying close attention to the movements of Professor Brown who has been seen accompanying Ms Bishop on campus over recent days and is considered a possible candidate for the $1million a year Vice Chancellor position if it becomes vacant.

However, on Friday evening an ANU spokesperson insisted there had been no formal discussions involving Ms Bishop about an impending departure for Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell.

“The Chancellor was at the ANU campus on Tuesday and, as is usual practice on such visits, she met a range of academic and professional staff and students,” the ANU spokesperson told The Nightly.

“It’s common practice for the Chancellor to meet senior staff without the VC. There has not been any discussion about a possible departure of Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell”.

September 5, 2025 at 12:37 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

🚀 New AI in Education Update 🚀

In addition to my regular updates on Australian tertiary education, I’m now publishing a separate briefing every 3–4 weeks dedicated to GenAI in education and its transformation of the labour force

September 2, 2025 at 3:00 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Against the background of the current debate on Australian universities - their corporate governance, their funding and the impact on their staff and students - it was great to speak to corporate governance expert Prof. Gavin Nicholson from QUT: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com

Cover image for the 'What now? What next?' podcast

July 28, 2025 at 4:30 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Apparently Google Scholar might be using GenAI.. according to this Australian Federal Court decision 🤔

www.afr.com/companies/pr...

Extract from the Australian Financial Review article:

“The junior solicitor used Google Scholar to do the citations for a schedule to the firm’s application because they did not have access to physical or electronic copies of the real documents that were in the firm’s office.

The junior solicitor had used Google Scholar during their university studies but had not previously encountered this problem.
When FNLRS identified the issue, the junior solicitor attempted to replicate the result, but Google Scholar produced different results each time.

Murphy concluded “it seems likely that the false document citations arose through generative AI, possibly associated with Google Scholar. The capacity of generative AI to ‘fabricate’ or ‘hallucinate’ information is now widely appreciated.”

Murphy ordered Massar Briggs Law to personally pay the costs of the respondents, primarily the state of Victoria, on an indemnity basis but the exact amount is not specified in the ruling. Murphy did not deem the matter appropriate to refer to the Victorian Legal Services Board.

The justice found the “use of AI in the preparation of two court documents has given rise to cost, inconvenience and delay to the parties and has compromised the effectiveness of the administration of justice””

July 8, 2025 at 10:47 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

ABC’s 7.30 program with a lot of questions for Southern Cross University about its Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Childhood)

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Screenshot of text from the article which reads:
“To become an early childhood teacher in Australia, a four-year degree is typical. But some providers are offering graduate diplomas that take as little as 10 months to complete, with no prior teaching or childcare experience required.

One institution pushing it hard is Southern Cross University (SCU), a 31-year-old institution based in regional NSW, with campuses in Lismore, Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast. It also has a presence in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

2023 marked a turning point when it bought out a private education partner and ramped up its international student intake. Fast-track courses like childcare were aggressively marketed through education and immigration agents.

In just two years, 7.30 understands an estimated 6,000 students have enrolled in its 10-month graduate diploma in early education — a course marketed by third parties to both local and international students as a shortcut to becoming a qualified teacher. At $25,000 per student, that's around $150 million in fees.

The majority are international students, some are men in their 40s and 50s, with backgrounds in fields like IT, engineering and finance — not early childhood education or teaching.

"Childcare services are recognising that students are quite openly telling them that they are only there to get their permanent residency and that's why they are undertaking the course," one Southern Cross University insider said.”

July 7, 2025 at 11:26 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

The latest (April 2025) international student data is out and it is grim reading - especially when you look at commencements for students 'new to Australia' ie recruited offshore. It's difficult to imagine the impact on almost all providers from these numbers: clairefield.com.au/bad-news-in-...

Data from the Department of Education showing YTD commencements by international students who are 'new to Australia' in different sub-sectors from 2019 to 2025. In the last 12 months there has been a decline in commencements for students in all sub-sectors:
higher education (2024) 62,334 (2025) 61,241
VET (2024) 17,772 (2025) 5,853
Schools (2024) 3,909 (2025) 3,023
English language (2024) 23,630 (2025) 12,004
Non-award (2024) 12,030 (2025) 11,992
Grand total (2024) 119,675 (2025) 94,043

July 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Extract from the article:

“Instead, it suggests they are leveraging AI to free up more time to engage in deeper processes and metacognitive behaviors – deliberately organizing ideas, honing arguments and refining style.

If AI allows students to automate routine cognitive tasks – like information retrieval or ensuring that verb tenses are consistent – it doesn’t mean they’re thinking less. It means their thinking is changing.”

July 6, 2025 at 3:59 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

A really thoughtful piece on what’s happening in Australian universities. I disagree with how staff leaving the sector is characterised (as more of a choice by casual academics rather than universities restructuring/downsizing) but the other points are very well argued www.smh.com.au/national/a-k...

A screenshot of the article the post links to

June 29, 2025 at 12:40 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

TEQSA is dealing with a workload backlog - almost 1/4 of all providers have their re-registration currently 'pending' ie not completed on time.

The University of Melbourne, Australia's highest ranked uni, has been waiting 12 months to see if it meets the Standards www.teqsa.gov.au/provider/uni...

Screenshot from the National Register
"Re-registration 22 June 2017
Provider: The University of Melbourne
Renewal of registration
Report on renewal of registration of The University of Melbourne
TEQSA has renewed the registration as a higher education provider, under Section 36(1) of the TEQSA Act, of The University of Melbourne for a period of seven years to 22 June 2024 in the provider category of 'Australian University'."

June 26, 2025 at 8:25 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Are there really only 62 ‘bad’ providers in the Australian vocational education & training sector, (ie just 1.5%)? The latest data say yes 🤔

And the data on government funding for VET in the latest Productivity Commission report is equally interesting… my summary: clairefield.com.au/the-producti...

June 24, 2025 at 11:01 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

All eyes have been on the @timeshighered.bsky.social & QS rankings but Lokman I. Meho’s excellent RI2 research integrity index is also a must read - rating unis on “the rate of retracted publications and the share of output in delisted journals”. Here’s the “top” 25:

sites.aub.edu.lb/lmeho/ri2/

Screenshot of the first 25 entries in the integrity index - from the full table of 1,500 universities which is available using the hyperlink.

June 20, 2025 at 2:52 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

If you’re interested in business skills development initiatives in Southeast Asia - this report I produced for ASEAN might be of interest. In a nutshell there’s lots happening across the region - and much for Australia and other countries to learn

asean.org/book/promoti...

June 16, 2025 at 4:25 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

There’s lots to like, & even be excited by 🤓, in the steps TEQSA and ASQA (for non-Australian followers - Australia’s higher education and VET regulators) are taking on GenAI. My latest: clairefield.com.au/australias-t...

And yes I created the image with GenAI - it seemed appropriate!

Humanoid robot walking through a futuristic landscape

June 4, 2025 at 12:30 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Two contrasting/jarring headlines in Australia in the last 24 hours - the growing prevalence of homelessness amongst international students in Sydney and the salaries of NSW university Vice Chancellors

Article in The Australian newspaper which starts with the following details “Foreign students outnumber locals studying business, engineering and architecture at Australia’s oldest university, which milked $1.6bn in revenue from international tuition fees last year.
And a $151,000 pay rise for University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott pushed his salary above $1.33m last year.
Nearly half of all students attending the sandstone institution hail from overseas – mainly China – and dominate enrolments in degrees that once were the domain of domestic students.
In its latest annual report, the university reveals that foreign students make up 62 per cent of postgraduate and 38 per cent of undergraduate enrolments.
In the faculty of engineering – which imposes some of the highest academic entry requirements for Australian school leavers – as many as 59 per cent of students came from overseas.
Foreign students make up 71 per cent of enrolments in the University of Sydney Business School, and 53 per cent of enrolments in the school of architecture, design and planning.
The elite university posted a $545m surplus in 2024 – an increase of $193m compared to the previous year – thanks to investment income, international student fees and donors with deep pockets.”

The article goes on to detail the salaries of other NSW university leaders and the financial position of each university. Other VCs in NSW earning above $1m last year were at: UNSW, UTS, Macquarie University, the University of Newcastle and the University of Wollongong

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald which starts by outlining the experience of a young student from China who has been homeless for more than 12 months after he came to Sydney aged 20 after a self-described sheltered childhood and started drinking, smoking and gambling - and now can’t afford to pay rent. The article includes the following quote

“Sean Stimson, a senior solicitor at the Redfern Legal Centre’s International Student Legal Service, said there had been a spike in homelessness over the past 18 months as international students faced steep rent hikes.
“What we saw and continue to see is that landlords are increasing their rent significantly. There were evictions associated with that,” he said.”

May 31, 2025 at 10:35 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Some thoughts on why and how Australia’s VET sector needs to move to independent assessment to rule a line under ongoing integrity issues: clairefield.com.au/independent_...

May 28, 2025 at 11:03 PM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Prof. Renée Leon from Charles Sturt University joined me on the latest episode of the podcast: the biggest issue in Australian higher education is funding not governance, especially for regional unis, & lots more...

Out now in your podcast feed or listen online: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com

May 22, 2025 at 6:21 AM

Claire Field

@clairefield.bsky.social

Some reflections from the recent QS Middle East summit on what Australian higher education leaders can learn from their counterparts across the Middle East (in short - a lot more than they probably realise)

clairefield.com.au/what_austral...

Photo of the Kuwait Towers (illustrative only)

May 16, 2025 at 8:43 AM

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