People, Place, and Purpose

While higher ed institutions have been incorporating online learning into their curriculum and delivery of content, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for major reform and reconsideration of learning practices, especially online. This chapter focuses on the ramifications of the pandemic on people, place, and purpose in ways that will have long-lasting meaning for both higher education options and the future of work for years to come. From the form of delivery to the way in which content becomes measured, mastered, and linked to employment opportunities, the future of higher education and work will demand non-degree offerings (NDO) that align with skills gap needs to improve efficiency, speed to completion, and qualifications for jobs and/or promotion.

What’s obstructing climate change adaptation in environmental water management?

Climate change is irreversibly changing the water cycle, yet existing environmental flow assessment methods often fail to recognise the non stationarity of hydro climatic systems. Failure to do so will lead to the inability of environmental water management to achieve its restoration targets. Australia has undergone major reform over the past twelve years to recover water from consumptive use for environmental benefit. This paper examines how government agencies responsible for the planning and delivery of that environmental water establish ecological objectives, whether climate change adaptations are considered important, and if not whether there is a clear rationale or barrier to adaptation. We used semi structured interviews and an online survey of staff involved in environmental water management throughout Australia, with a focus on south east Australia, to gather information on methods and perceptions regarding these key issues. The results show water management staff are aware of the general impacts climate change will have on local areas they are responsible for. However, they do not have the necessary, detailed information about how ecosystems are likely to respond to climate change to plan with confidence. There is also a lack of legislative and policy guidance as to how to deal with the potential inability to meet existing environmental targets. We conclude that environmental water planning needs to more formally incorporate climate change considerations along with modelling approaches that can evaluate outcomes under a range of possible future hydro climatic scenarios. As the industry currently exists in Australia, it is ill prepared for the challenge of meeting legislated ecological targets under future climates.

A Critical Consideration of Current Social Insurance Policy Developments in New Zealand

Recent surprising announcements about the development of a social unemployment insurance (SUI) system by the Labour government are critically considered. Introducing SUI represents a major philosophical lurch from a welfare system mainly about family poverty alleviation towards one which has a stronger focus on market income replacement for individual low- and middle-income earners. We critically consider the policy process, the reasons why an SUI system might be desirable, and several alternative solutions to the likely proposal. We express scepticism about the democratic credentials of the process thus far and conclude that a persuasive case for such major reform has not yet been made.

Economic challenges and success in the post-COVID era: A CAGE Policy Report

In 2008 there was an expectation of major reform to social and economic structures following the financial crisis. The European Union (EU) referendum of 2016, and the UK’s subsequent exit from the EU in 2020, was also signalled as a turning point that would bring about epochal change. Now, in the waning of the coronavirus pandemic, we are experiencing a similar rhetoric. There is widespread agreement that the pandemic will usher in big changes for the economy and society, with the potential for major policy reform. But what will be the long-term impacts of the pandemic on the UK economy? Is the right response a “new settlement” or is some alternative approach likely to be more beneficial? This report puts forward a new perspective on the pandemic-related changes that could be ahead. The central theme is assessing the viability of epochal reform in policymaking. There seems to be a relentless desire for making big changes; however, there is arguably not enough recognition of how current settings and history can hold back these efforts. Foreword by: Dame Frances Cairncross, CBE, FRSE.

Polytechnic Tutor Training After Learning for Life: A Study of the Effects of Funding Policy Changes

<p>This thesis presents the findings of an investigation into the effects of a change in government policy for the funding of polytechnic tutor training in New Zealand after 1990. The new policy arose from Learning for Life: Two, and was part of a major reform of the administration and funding of all tertiary education and training in New Zealand. The main intentions of Learning for Life: Two were to make individual institutions more autonomous, through the decentralisation of management and funding, and so to create increased equity and excellence in tertiary education. From 1973 to 1990, tutor training had been directly funded by the Department of Education; the 1990 Tutor Training Policy required each polytechnic thenceforward to provide for tutor training from its annual bulk funding. Comparative data was collected by survey and interview, relating to polytechnics' treatment of initial tutor training in 1990 and 1993, and a more detailed case study was carried out at one polytechnic that had made substantial changes in practice. In 1990 all new tutors had been entitled to 12 weeks of initial training at one of three regional centres, with all training costs met centrally, including travel, accommodation and relief staffing. Analysis of the findings showed that by 1993, despite some transitional funding protection for the regional centres, tutor training provision varied considerably around the country, as polytechnics made local decisions about funding and implemented various forms of training delivery. When the emerging trends and effects were compared with the policy intentions of Learning for Life, it was concluded that the equity and access intentions had not been achieved consistently around the country in respect of tutor training. Longer term research was recommended into the effects of changes in tutor training on teaching quality in polytechnics.</p>

Polytechnic Tutor Training After Learning for Life: A Study of the Effects of Funding Policy Changes

<p>This thesis presents the findings of an investigation into the effects of a change in government policy for the funding of polytechnic tutor training in New Zealand after 1990. The new policy arose from Learning for Life: Two, and was part of a major reform of the administration and funding of all tertiary education and training in New Zealand. The main intentions of Learning for Life: Two were to make individual institutions more autonomous, through the decentralisation of management and funding, and so to create increased equity and excellence in tertiary education. From 1973 to 1990, tutor training had been directly funded by the Department of Education; the 1990 Tutor Training Policy required each polytechnic thenceforward to provide for tutor training from its annual bulk funding. Comparative data was collected by survey and interview, relating to polytechnics' treatment of initial tutor training in 1990 and 1993, and a more detailed case study was carried out at one polytechnic that had made substantial changes in practice. In 1990 all new tutors had been entitled to 12 weeks of initial training at one of three regional centres, with all training costs met centrally, including travel, accommodation and relief staffing. Analysis of the findings showed that by 1993, despite some transitional funding protection for the regional centres, tutor training provision varied considerably around the country, as polytechnics made local decisions about funding and implemented various forms of training delivery. When the emerging trends and effects were compared with the policy intentions of Learning for Life, it was concluded that the equity and access intentions had not been achieved consistently around the country in respect of tutor training. Longer term research was recommended into the effects of changes in tutor training on teaching quality in polytechnics.</p>

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) shares many of the problems of other countries in the Sahel. Those include an arid and increasingly difficult climate, a weak economy, high levels of poverty, a youthful and rapidly growing population, ethnic and religious tensions, and a history of poor governance. While most states in the region also have experienced notable political instability, Burkina Faso has had a particular tendency toward rebellion, ranging from a military-led revolutionary experience in the 1980s to a popular insurrection that toppled a long-ruling autocrat in 2014. The latter upheaval brought a restoration of democracy, constitutional order, and the possibility of major reform. That progress, however, has been threatened by an escalation of regional and local jihadi attacks since 2015. As security has increased in priority for Burkina Faso, so has the country’s direct collaboration and engagement with its Sahelian neighbors.

Elites and Brexit: Ideological Realignment in the House of Lords, 2000-2020

The UK House of Lords has increasingly attracted public attention due to several government defeats of Brexit bills. Despite this growing attention, there is little research on how coalitions' and individuals' voting behavior in the upper house of the UK Parliament has transformed since its major reform in 1999. This paper addresses this gap by shedding light on the transformation of Lords' voting behavior between 2000 and 2020. We argue that the British party system's growing bipolarity along the UK's future relationship with the EU had substantive repercussions for decision-making processes in the Lords. Analyzing about 2,400 roll call votes with Optimal Classification (OC) ideal point estimation models, we show that, in the post-Brexit period, partisan clusters among peers dissolved and new voting coalitions emerged, leading to an increasingly unidimensional voting space in the Lords. Our results suggest that the UK's second chamber has undergone a process of ideological realignment after the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Athens braces for battle on school reform

Significance Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Education Minister Niki Kerameus announced the reform on June 28. It includes hiring 11,700 elementary and high-school teachers on tenured job contracts. Since the performance of Greece’s school system ranks among the lowest on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicators, a major reform has been long overdue. Impacts Given the high number of teachers to be hired, the government may have underestimated the financial cost of school reform. The state budget will simultaneously require funds for the management of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The reform may open a new battle front for the government this autumn, uniting anti-government unions and opposition parties. A general election is not in sight, but a political crisis could upset the stability being sought to attract much-needed private investment.

International Investment Arbitration in the European Union

The author analyses the regulation of institutional arbitration under investor–state dispute settlement mechanisms, with an emphasis on such arrangements to which the European Union is a party. The functioning of the EU’s Investment Court System is presented in detail as a major reform to the status quo, along with some questions raised when qualifying this system as a means of arbitration, especially for the purposes of recognition and enforcement of decisions rendered, both in jurisdictions party to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union and third countries. The latter problem is identified as a significant aspect of international investment arbitration.