LATEST ARTICLES

Nutritious, varied meals, and ‘comfort food’ on offer

Nutritious, varied meals, and ‘comfort food’ on offer

Once notoriously unpalatable, boarding school food has evolved to cater to modern appetites and a modern understanding of nutrition – children and adolescents who expect a variety of tastes to choose from and who need sustenance to power them through high-energy days of physical activity and intellectual effort. Gone are the days of watery mince, soggy …read more

It’s all on the menu as kids’ needs covered

It’s all on the menu as kids’ needs covered

Allergies, intolerances, dislikes, religious bans: these days boarding school menus cater for a massive and sometimes overlapping patchwork of differing food requirements. Australian Boarding Schools Association chief executive Richard Stokes says most boarding schools now routinely offer boarders a vegetarian or even vegan option. The number of students with allergies and intolerances has grown markedly …read more

Unscripted: Griffith’s assessment plan to combat cheating

Unscripted: Griffith’s assessment plan to combat cheating

The winners of all seven categories in the AFR Higher Education Awards 2023, which recognise and celebrate the outstanding efforts of Australian universities during the past year, have now been announced. These are the finalists in the Teaching and Learning Excellence category of the AFR Higher Education Awards.

QUT partnership fuels renewables expansion

QUT partnership fuels renewables expansion

The winners of all seven categories in the AFR Higher Education Awards 2023, which recognise and celebrate the outstanding efforts of Australian universities during the past year, have now been announced. The categories include community engagement; emerging leadership; employability; industry engagement; equity and access; research commercialisation; and teaching and learning excellence.

Helping western Sydney girls and women overcome stereotypes for a STEM career

Helping western Sydney girls and women overcome stereotypes for a STEM career

Sandy Lindsay has been fascinated by chemistry since she was a child in Sydney’s outer west and her science teacher poured two clear liquids into a flask. “They lit up bright yellow,” she remembers, “it was like magic”. Yet a lack of family and community support meant she dropped out of a university chemistry course …read more

As Widodo nears his tenure’s end, will an Australia visit burnish his reputation?

As Widodo nears his tenure’s end, will an Australia visit burnish his reputation?

Following a brief working visit to Australia, Indonesian president Joko Widodo will return to Jakarta with a substantial farewell gift in hand: easier visa rules for Indonesian business travellers. Indonesia has long chafed at the current visa inequality. Australians travelling to Indonesia enjoy $50 visas on arrival but Indonesians coming to Australia usually have to fork …read more

Preserving flexibility is key in gig economy

Preserving flexibility is key in gig economy

Gig work is valued by consumers, employers and workers across Australia. The numbers tell the story: More than eight million consumers use Uber services, from food delivery to transport and 50,000 Australian restaurants and retailers are partnered with the Uber Eats platform. Now more than 150,000 Australian Uber drivers are waiting for the government’s final word …read more

High costs drive shift to sustainable travel

High costs drive shift to sustainable travel

Australia’s love affair with the family car is getting more and more expensive and less and less sustainable: it’s time for a Dear John letter to the four-wheeled machine that gobbles up so much cash, time, pavement space while eroding the atmosphere. Cars cost big money to keep on the road: registration, repairs, fuel, insurance and …read more

Limited mobile phone use during school hours now a fact of life

Limited mobile phone use during school hours now a fact of life

Toongabbie Christian College in Sydney’s west has restricted students’ mobile phone usage during school hours for the past decade and the policy is now deeply ingrained in school life: a simple matter of distancing students from their phones, rather than introducing internet signal restrictions. The school, which has 1100 children and teenagers in classes from Kindergarten …read more

Sharing boosts community spirit

Sharing boosts community spirit

Inspired by the success of sharing their facilities during the pandemic, independent schools across Australia are continuing to keep their doors open to their local communities, says Melbourne University’s Dr Ben Cleveland, who has been studying school-community connections for more than three years. “There’s a propensity for independent schools to want to be seen to be …read more