August 2013

Australia's strong higher education system, and terrific lifestyle, mean that every world-class academic should go down under, if only for part of their training, or career. The sector punches above its weight in excellence; with five universities in the world top 100 and 19 in the top 500, Australia has one of the most globally competitive higher education systems in the world, as measured by Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) out of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Half of Australia's universities are in the global top rankings. Other similarly ranked countries have much larger GDP, population -- and larger, older, higher education sectors. And…

The Australian automotive industry grabs news headlines, particularly as the political parties wrestle for hearts and minds during an election campaign. But what's happening on university campuses tells a very different story of demand and investment  - and where Australia's automotive engineering fits into the nation's future. The Labor party began its election campaign by announcing funding for the automotive industry and a target to boost the market by acquiring Australian cars for Commonwealth fleets, followed up with further funding commitments. Innovation Minister Kim Carr says, "The automotive industry is vital to Australia's economic future". A survey for The Australian newspaper found a majority of…