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Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Damnèd Screamvens @thehighsign.bsky.social · 11d

Never have I so badly needed Daniel Craig to say these words

It's The Weekend 😌 @craigweekend.bsky.social · 11d

Ladies and gentlemen... the weekend. (also: you are important and are not alone 🧡)

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · 18d

Bleak times at Macquarie Uni, as management moves to implement large scale job cuts in arts and science (because who needs that expertise, right?). Amanda’s threat outlines the lies that underpin these changes. We need urgent governance reform now: but is the government listening?

Prof. Amanda Wise @amandawise.bsky.social · 18d

1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

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Dr Hannah Murray @hlmurray.bsky.social · 21d

This is disgraceful - both the workload and the AI ‘workaround’

Ernesto Priego @ernestopriego.com · 21d

Simply astonishing. Maybe Lecturer A should not have to mark over 100 essays in a two-week window in the first place? Invest in qualified staff and reduce impossible workloads FFS www.kcl.ac.uk/about/strate...

Screenshot. King's College London page. Examples of effective practice

The following scenarios follow the above guidelines and offer insights into ways that academic staff can use AI transparently and in an assistive capacity, always ensuring human oversight and judgment remain central.
Scenario A – Scaling feedback while maintaining quality

Lecturer A is responsible for marking over 100 essays within a two-week window.

Conscious of the limitations this workload places on the depth of individual feedback, they adopt a hybrid approach using their university’s approved or supported LLM tool, Copilot.

Without ever uploading student work directly, Lecturer A composes an anonymised summary for each student, noting which marking criteria were met and the approximate percentage achieved for each. They input this summary alongside the official rubric into Copilot, prompting it to generate supportive, criterion-referenced feedback. This feedback is then carefully reviewed, adapted, and personalised before being uploaded to the marking platform.

Students are made aware of this process in advance and shown a demonstration, reinforcing transparency and trust.

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Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Nate Cochrane @natecochrane.bsky.social · 24d

Don’t ever let Labor say there’s no money for essential services when Richard Marles says it’s budgeted $25 billion for submarine pens to support the U.S. Navy.

#Insiders #auspol

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Jo Dyer @instanterudite.bsky.social · 26d

This is shoddy but unsurprising behaviour from an institution that continues to lionise Ben Roberts-Smith despite multiple courts having determined him to be a murderer.

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · 25d

Great piece on the failures of governance and regulation over our university sector by Richard Dennis:

australiainstitute.org.au/post/imagine...

Imagine if a business or federal department acted like this. Here's why unis get away it

The leaders of Australian universities are enjoying the best of both worlds when it comes to the way they are regulated, but students are getting the worst.

australiainstitute.org.au

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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 26d

Most humanities research — including the best, most world leading research by people we’ve all heard of — is unfunded, by which they mean produced as part of one’s routine job as a university lecturer, just “not funded by a big competitive external grant”.

This would mean the death of research.

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 26d

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ .

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Reposted by Michelle Arrow

andy™ @andylevy.net · 28d

his father was unavailable for comment

FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 28d

RFK Jr: We had lots of guns when we were kids. Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. There are many things that could explain this. One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs.

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Hayley Gleeson @hayleygleeson.bsky.social · Sep 6

“of course it struggled to be viable – it’s a literary magazine. almost no literary magazines around the world are financially viable; that’s not their purpose. the point is their cultural value, the role they serve as a platform for ideas and creativity…” www.theguardian.com/books/commen...

The end of Meanjin after 85 years is as sad as it is infuriating | Ben Walter

MUP says it is ‘no longer viable’ to make the literary magazine – but almost none of them are financially viable. That’s not their purpose or value

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Dr Liz Allen @drdemography.com · Aug 29

Forced redundancies and restructuring at ANU must stop - in the least pause - while TEQSA investigates the university. Leadership also must step aside while the regulator examines their conduct. How can an investigation be completed fairly any other way? www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/defaul...

To inform TEQSA's compliance assessment and its regulatory options, TEQSA requires the Independent Expert to provide an opinion on whether ANU's corporate governance, leadership and culture is operating effectively, with particular reference to whether:
a. actual or potential conflicts of interest are identified and appropriately managed, and whether this is tested and challenged (where appropriate);
b. the development of plans, priorities and responses (including those focussed on financial sustainability) is informed by an appropriate breadth of perspective and oversight, including internal consultation, external advice, and consideration and discussion of that internal consultation/advice by Council;
c. relevant risks associated with the implementation of plans/priorities/change are appropriately identified, discussed and addressed at Council and among
ANU leadership;
d. in cases where concerns about ANU's corporate governance, its leadership, or its culture do arise, there are effective mechanisms to raise and respond to those concerns, including through complaints and grievance processes.

In undertaking this review, the Independent Expert's activities will include, but are not limited to:
a. undertaking targeted consultations and interviews with ANU staff, students, and current and former Council members;
b. conducting interviews with ANU senior executives and governance officeholders;
c. reviewing Council papers, meeting minutes, and decision records;
d. examining financial statements, reporting frameworks, and audit materials;
e. analysing organisational culture, leadership practices, and staff wellbeing issues;
considering relevant legal, compliance, and policy documentation;
g. identifying systemic or root causes of governance concerns; and,
h. advising TEQSA on implications for higher education governance more broadly.

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Aug 29

"A lot of the business majors didn’t think they had learned anything particularly useful in college." Knock me over with a feather. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...

The Surprising Truth About Which College Majors Are Actually Useful at Work

A sociologist studied how students get internships and jobs, and who really uses their degrees.

www.chronicle.com

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thanks Zora!

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Zora Simic @zorasimic.bsky.social · Aug 25

Thanks to @michellearrow.bsky.social , @frankbongiorno.bsky.social and Anna Clark for bringing solutions to the higher ed crisis - as teachers and researchers, not consultants
theconversation.com/universities...

Universities have lost their way, but cost-cutting and consultants are not the answer

Last week in Sydney, we saw a melodrama acted out that could stand in for the state of Australian universities more generally.

theconversation.com

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · Aug 17

All universities were encouraged to sign on to the Universities Australia statement on antisemitism earlier this year - I suspect this is why the code of conduct was imposed by the uni this year

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Alison Barnes @alisonbarnes.bsky.social · Aug 12

Dr Liz Allen’s evidence today was heartbreaking, brave and infuriating. This is the devastating personal toll of broken governance. Julie Bishop must resign immediately or be sacked. t.co/O9W9nhpydN

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-12/anu-academic-alleges-julie-bishop-bullying-senate-inquiry/105641930

t.co

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NTEU @nteunion.bsky.social · Aug 12

Senator @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social: ‘Does it worry you that the staff students and alumni are so dissatisfied and untrusting of governance and the university?’

Kate Witenden, ANU Chief People Officer: ‘I’m not aware of this.’

Senator Faruqi: ‘Why am I aware and you are not?’

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NTEU @nteunion.bsky.social · Aug 12

‘Our public universities have become corporatised, governed from behind closed doors by people with little connection to the daily realities of staff and students. The consequences have been catastrophic.’ Dr Alison Barnes, NTEU National President at today’s Senate Inquiry into university governance

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · Aug 12

Help us reach our target of 5000 signatures - please sign and share!

Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · Jul 30

It baffles me that @australianlabor.bsky.social wants to hang this failed, unfair policy around its neck, when they could condemn it as a folly of the unpopular Morrison government and ditch it. Sign our petition to urge them to abolish it now!

www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition

We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025 (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/28/open-letter-to-australian-govern...

www.openpetition.org

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Leena 🌵 @leena.reuben.games · Aug 11

12 single mums chaired by an academic could put together an entire system in a day for the cost of lunch

Dr Blair Williams @blairwilliams26.bsky.social · Aug 10

First of all, WHY CONSULTANTS!? I thought Labor was supposed to be weaning off them? You could've gotten academics or NGOs to do this research??

#AusPol #Childcare

Labor asks Deloitte to design universal childcare system as PM eyes political legacy

Exclusive: Government could redirect billions in existing spending on the childcare subsidy and introduce a daily flat fee for families

www.theguardian.com

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Nash @radiodeadair.com · Aug 9

The crux of their argument is that if they're found liable, then the consequences of their own actions that no one forced them to take could ruin them and the rest of their industry that undertakes similar practices.

To which I say motherfucker did you never hear about Napster

AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified

Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.

arstechnica.com

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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · Aug 9

The government is under mounting pressure to dump a Morrison-era policy that has drastically cut university funding, saddled many students with debts they will never be able to repay and driven many more away from higher education altogether. satpa.pe/MA6GXR1

Why Labor is stalling on real universities funding reform

The education minister has deferred action to abolish the Morrison-era Job-ready Graduates scheme, which has helped to hollow out tertiary funding and saddled students with lifelong debts.

satpa.pe

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AHA (Australia) @austhistassoc.bsky.social · Aug 4

We are so close to reaching our target of 2500 signatures on this petition calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates! If you care about equity in higher education and want the BA to be affordable and accessible for *all* students, please sign! www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition

We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025…

www.openpetition.org

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Margaret Morgan 🇳🇱🇦🇺🇪🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · Aug 3

Sydney turning out in support of Palestine. So good to see.

Aerial screengrab of a pro-Palestinian march on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Photograph: Channel 9

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Jo Dyer @instanterudite.bsky.social · Aug 3

From our tiny patch. #MarchforHumanity

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Michelle Arrow @michellearrow.bsky.social · Aug 3

We only made it about a quarter of the way across the bridge before the march was turned around. A huge crowd, hugely diverse: proud to be there with my family #MarchforHumanity

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