| Serious investment in higher education needed
That evidence confirms a severe public under-investment in Australian higher education, a trend alarming industry and employer groups and the university sector itself. Globally acknowledged universities are judged on the strength and achievements of their research and teaching, so what must Rudd do to truly revolutionise the system? High-quality graduates emerge from high-quality teaching, so the average dollars allocated per student must increase. Under Howard that figure roughly halved, say from about $12,000 to about $6000. In later Howard years different disciplines fell even further - agriculture students attracted about $16,000 a year in government funds, law students only $1500. The theory was that disciplines such as law attracted numbers anyway, while agriculture needed to be built.
Thuet serves up a carnivore's delight at Bloor and Spadina
362 Bloor St. W. 416-962-5050. Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip, $75. I have an empty nest. Such are the fruits of middle age. When my baby (I know, I know) left for university a few weeks ago, I stopped buying milk. And bread. And great hunks of steak. Who needs food in the house if you have no kids to feed? I have discovered that a person can have a perfectly good life and hardly ever go home. Of course I miss my kids, but it is, I'm embarrassed to say, a bit of a relief not to be responsible for anybody. Number one child, also a university student, upon hearing that I had been dining (if such be the word) at Cluck, Grunt & Low, said that very restaurant had been the subject of a conversation in her Culture and Nature course.
Freecycle members told not to trade weapons
Nick Skeet, who set up the Croydon arm of Freecycle, has told members of the group that "firearms and weapons" of any sort are not to be offered or requested. A blanket ban on advertising replicas, air powered or pump action weapons and ornamental swords is in place on the site. A notice on the site says: "I know that some people belong to clubs and want guns for use there. However this is not something we will venture into at Croydon-Freecycle." Mr Skeet, from Upper Norwood, said he felt it necessary to issue the warning after one member used the site to request an air rifle. "With everything that's been going on recently, especially around my area with what happened to Evren Anil, I wanted to put a stop to it," he explained, adding: "I don't want Freecycle to end up being a part of something like that - for there to be a newspaper report saying something awful has happened to someone and the perpetrator got that weapon off Freecycle." .
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