Dear ALTF Community,
Here we are again, well over half way through what I am sure has been another very busy year for all. Despite the policy uncertainty of yet another change in Minister, I hope the year is going well for you, your colleagues and our students.
We’re very pleased to be sharing our August Newsletter with you. Unfortunately, this looks likely to be our penultimate communication. As is the case now for all OLT legacy networks, and despite strong encouragement to make one final application for funds last year, the ALTF has recently been advised that no further funding is available beyond 2018. Nevertheless, I trust that, as evidenced in the news items and updates included below, you can see that the ALTF Network continues to have wide-ranging and positive impacts. Through and beyond the Fellowship activities, ALT Fellows also continue to advocate for, support, and enhance higher education quality and student success, at a time when it is critically important that we do so. And our Fellows continue to shine on the national stage, being recognised for the learning leaders they are. We warmly congratulate ALTF Fellow Jessica Vanderlelie on her award this week as the Australian Financial Review Emerging Leader in Australian HE.
Some of you may know that I have recently been appointed as a member on the AQF Review Panel, with preliminary contextual research available here. I am very happy to hear from colleagues with views you might have about how we should go about ensuring that the Framework “continues to meet the needs of students, employers, education providers and the wider community”. Formal and extensive public consultation will commence with the release of a discussion paper, as soon as the final two COAG members are appointed.
This month we hear from Nicolette Lee via her contribution to our Student Success Blog series with her piece on Assessing for Transitions. We have also recently introduced our ALTF Impact blog series. First up, we spoke with one of the original CAUT Fellows David F. Radcliffe about his work on ‘belonging, being and becoming’ in engineering education.
Thank you for your continuing support of the ALTF and the contributions our Network and Fellows make.
All the best to everyone.
Sally Kift
President, ALTF
