Last month I looked at the uses and limits of academic freedom in Australia, taking the Peter Ridd affair at James Cook University as a case study. And also at how last year's French Review balanced two aspects of the work of universities: promoting free exchange as a way of exploring ideas, testing claims, exposing…
Let’s Glance: new OECD metrics on Australian tertiary spending
The 2020 edition of the OECD's Education at a Glance report landed on 8 September. In Australia it caused barely a ripple of public interest. With past editions, university sector press releases and media commentary usually appear within a few days. Typically, these highlight how low we look in the latest OECD "ranking" of tertiary…
Peter Ridd and the French Review connection
Good Riddance? Or Bad Judgments? The Peter Ridd versus James Cook University saga has been examined in two courts so far, in 2019 and 2020. Ridd's sea of troubles arose from complaints by another JCU professor (coral research centre director Terry Hughes) about his criticisms of Great Barrier Reef research. He was sanctioned in 2016…
