The Latest Breaking News from Paul Ramsay Foundation

Community funding to help break disadvantage cycle

Australia has a long way to go to eliminate disadvantage but partnerships with local groups can help to bridge the divide, the federal treasurer says.

AAP · Oct 29, 2024

Teaching and research are the core functions of universities. But in Australia, we don't value teaching

This article is part of our series on big ideas for the Universities Accord. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and…

The Conversation · May 3, 2023

'Why would you go to uni?' A new study looks at what young Australians do after school

This week, the federal government released a discussion paper for a Universities Accord, which it hopes will make a 30-year plan for the sector.

The Conversation · Feb 23, 2023

We asked children how they experienced poverty. Here are 6 changes needed now

An eight-year-old boy is often hungry, but knows if he tells his mum, she will eat less herself and go hungry. He hates the thought, so he stays quiet.

The Conversation · Aug 18, 2022

How your status, where you live and your family background affect your risk of dementia

As part of a series on cycles of disadvantage, supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, we’re publishing three articles on the social determinants of health. They look at how factors like income, where you live and your background affect your risk for cancer, dementia and heart…

The Conversation · Jul 17, 2022

Don't expect schools to do all the heavy lifting to close the education divide between the big cities and the rest of Australia

Students in regional, rural and remote Australia have been behind their urban counterparts on almost every recognised measure of successful schooling for decades. This is unacceptable and has to change.

The Conversation · Jul 14, 2022

Labor promised a new committee of 15 young people to guide policy. So who gets picked, and how?

The federal government has announced Anne Aly is Australia’s new minister for youth. This will restore youth consultation to government decision-making after the abolition in 2013 of the Youth Advisory Council and the Office for Youth.

The Conversation · Jul 14, 2022

$1.5bn has gone into getting disadvantaged students into uni for very small gains. So what more can be done?

The proportion of Australian university students from under-represented backgrounds has “barely moved” in more than a decade, federal Education Minister Jason Clare noted last week. About 15% of undergraduates came from low-socieconomic-status (SES) backgrounds in 2008, he said, and a target of 20% by 2020 was set. Today the figure…

The Conversation · Jul 12, 2022

Richer schools' students run faster: how the inequality in sport flows through to health

Cross-town sporting rivalry between the kids from the wealthy school and those from the country school – or the poorer suburbs – has been fodder for Hollywood movies such as Friday Night Lights, McFarland USA, Coach Carter, The Mighty Ducks and Hoosiers. We like to believe sport is the great…

The Conversation · Jul 11, 2022

Your pay, postcode and parents affect your heart disease risk

As part of a series on cycles of disadvantage, supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, we’re publishing three articles on the social determinants of health. They look at how factors like income, where you live and your background affect your risk for cancer, dementia and heart…

The Conversation · Jul 10, 2022