Eureka Street

Keywords: Academics

EDUCATION

Universities are placing limits on protests for student safety
- Erica Cervini
- 25 March 2025
As campus protests grow increasingly disruptive, universities face an uncomfortable choice: uphold students’ right to protest or ensure their safety and right to education. The debate over free speech and campus security has never been more urgent.
READ MORE
EDUCATION

History matters. So why don't students think so?
- Erica Cervini
- 06 March 2025
Despite public fascination with ancestry, true crime, and historical podcasts surging, formal study of history is in free fall. With university departments shrinking and misinformation rising, historians face an urgent question: how do you persuade students—and the public—that history isn’t just interesting, but essential to understanding the present?
READ MORE
EDUCATION

Are Australian universities sacrificing teaching quality for research prestige? Discuss.
- Erica Cervini
- 21 January 2025
Top Australian universities, including the Go8, are underperforming in teaching quality, with recent surveys revealing student dissatisfaction and disengagement. Despite their research reputation, top institutions are failing to meet student expectations, highlighting the need for urgent reform to improve teaching standards.
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

Is America ready for a tycoon President again?
- David James
- 18 November 2024
4 Comments
Donald Trump's first term, marred by impeachments, bureaucratic resistance and a pandemic, offered few answers as to how a businessperson might navigate the complexities of Washington. Now, as he returns to office, Trump’s business instincts — and their implications for governance — are once again under scrutiny.
READ MORE
EDUCATION

Degrees of discontent
- Erica Cervini
- 14 November 2024
4 Comments
At an ACU graduation event, students walked out in protest as Joe de Bruyn gave an address condemning abortion, single-parent IVF, and same-sex marriage. The event highlights tensions for Catholic institutions trying to balance traditional Catholic values while also embracing often opposing perspectives a diverse, pluralistic society.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

A second try at combatting disinformation
- Frank Brennan
- 25 September 2024
3 Comments
The Government is making another valiant effort to rein in the adverse effects of ungoverned digital platforms. But in debating such a detailed bill without the backstop of a constitutional or statutory bill of rights recognising the right to freedom of expression, there are no clear guard rails for getting the balance right.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

International student caps: The end of the education gold rush?
- Binoy Kampmark
- 03 September 2024
The government has imposed a cap on enrolments, sparking controversy among universities. Critics argue this will harm the education sector and exploit foreign students, while supporters believe it will protect the integrity of Australia's education system and address concerns about over-reliance on international student fees.
READ MORE
EDUCATION

Universities struggle to keep pace with AI integrity challenges
- Erica Cervini
- 25 July 2024
1 Comment
To counter threats to academic integrity posed by AI, universities need to continually update policies, alongside placing additional emphasis on examining what makes effective academic writing.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

Australia's autism strategy is a test of national empathy
- Anthony N Castle
- 04 July 2024
The National Autism Strategy is the first coordinated national approach designed to support autistic people at each stage of life. But the draft strategy’s lack of conclusions has provoked some frustration and unless more autistic people are truly heard we won’t arrive at the practical solutions they need.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

When safetyism leads
- Julie Szego
- 07 June 2024
1 Comment
In response to campus protests, universities erred on the side of free speech when every other day, the prevailing ethos is one of ‘safetyism’, namely suppressing speech or inquiry if an identity group frames it as ‘harmful’ to them. Universities should strive to be uncomfortable and ‘unsafe’ for all, with no identity immune from robust scrutiny.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

The Punisher
- Barry Gittins
- 24 May 2024
1 Comment
In the latest Quarterly Essay profile of Peter Dutton, author Lech Blaine may well describe his work as character delineation, rather than character assassination. But we seem to be at an impasse in Australian market of ideas, and scorn gives greater bang for the buck than dialogue.
READ MORE
ARTS AND CULTURE

Taller when prone: The contradictions of Les Murray
- Paul Mitchell
- 10 May 2024
2 Comments
Les Murray once confessed it was his mission to 'irritate the hell out of the eloquent who would oppress my people,' by being a paradox that their categories can’t assimilate: the Subhuman Redneck who writes poems. And therein lies the ‘poem’ of Les Murray: complex, contradictory, sublime, and sometimes ready to whip his enemies with a scorpion’s tail.
READ MORE

Subscriber login

Keywords: Academics