On education…

I’ve had reason to reflect during the past week or so on the state of education in Australia and on how it compares to education elsewhere. The fact that one of the hats I wear is an academic one won’t have escaped many of you. This gives me some insight into education policy – how it is shaped, how it might change, and how it enables or disables learning and “success”; but I’m also interested in your thoughts and perceptions on what Australia needs to do to remain a clever country. The Bradley Review of Higher Education in Australia makes some important recommendations, but does it go far enough? If the recommendations are fully implemented, will it “fix” things in the tertiary sector? What else needs to be done? One thing that we all have in common is the opportunity that education has given us. We also have in common a commitment to lifelong learning – as enshrined in our continuing professional development requirements. A decline in funding in real terms for the tertiary sector – as measured against most other OECD nations – has clearly impacted the education sector in many ways. Those of us who are the beneficiaries of a proper education and who, with knowledge and reason, fixate on the many ways in which education develops and sustains an economy have long held concerns about access to education and on the effect that cuts in funding may have on educational quality. What value do you place on the education you’ve had? Where do you see opportunities for improvement in funding and policy?

Everyone’s blogging

I note that Australia’s Prime Minister has taken to the wonderful world of blogging. I also note that it is slightly more challenging to post a comment to the PM’s blog – though I am sure to do so at some point – than it is to post one to this blog. I’m sure that this is necessary to ensure the integrity of the messages, however, and to limit the volume of pranksterish messages sent by blogging devotees.

I’m also pleased to let you know that with nearly 4 months of blogging under my belt, not one prank message has yet been received. I’m told by other bloggers that this is quite rare, to which I respond by saying that CPA Australia members have a professionalism and maturity that ensures that such behaviour isn’t part of the mix. I have of course, discounted SPAM messages – there are plenty of those inviting me to do astonishing things in remarkable ways to countless entities. (Aside: the volume of SPAM makes me wonder; how is it that so many have so much time to do so little? What happened to the harmless worm-free & viral absent days of arcade pinball that vexed my youth?).

Others might suggest that my rather-less-than-hoped-for frequency in posting messages has played a part in limiting correspondence of any kind. Rest assured that the volume of messages posted thus far by me is no indication of my passion for this blog or for CPA Australia – rather, it is an unintended consequence of having to get a whole lot of other stuff done! Nonetheless, I am committed to trying harder to up the ante in terms of message frequency.

Anyway, I thought I’d check on the “blog stats” (hipster me, eh?), and I’ve discovered that there has been approximately 10,000 views of the blog to date, and that the peak day for visitors to the blog was April 8 with 607 views in a single day. I’d like to thank my mum for 500 or so of those, and my sister for another 100 (I think I looked at the blog 4 or 5 times that day too, leaving a couple of views to other unknown friends – a hearty thanks to you too whoever you may be!).

A blow by blow, post by post, account is also given in the detailed stats, but I nodded off just looking at the tabulated matrix – so it is humbug to quote them more widely as a soporific for you, my unsuspecting readers. The upshot is that it is mighty nice to know that people are reading, if not commenting all that often.

I shall now return to the PM’s blog to see how he views the world today….

G’Day UK

Recently I attended the G’Day UK week in London. G’Day UK is modelled on the longer established G’Day USA. In broad terms, its purpose is to bring together business people, institutions, government figures, sporting identities and personalities from the entertainment industry to promote Australia and Australian interests in the UK.

CPA Australia played a prominent role in G’Day UK. This included sponsoring the main business event for the week, ‘CEO Forum’, which our CEO, Geoff Rankin, attended along with Andrew Genrich, President European Branch, and Paul Taylor, Director European Branch. [Great job that entire week Andrew and Paul – “Hi” to the team in London and many thanks for the warm welcome!].

I was invited to chair the financial services workshop held at the CEO Forum and to address the gathering more generally. Members of the workshop panel included John MacFarlane, former CEO of ANZ, and Phil Rivett, Global Leader for Financial Services, PwC. With speakers of that calibre it came as no surprise that many interesting points were made and that it was a very stimulating discussion. The workshop ended by forming much the same view that was formed in the similar session I wrote about in my State of the Nation post – more regulation, more targeted regulation, greater risk control, but, ultimately, a return to ‘business as usual’.

The Forum was a great opportunity for CPA Australia to meet with key players from a range of industries and to help them better understand that CPA Australia members are trained to be global strategic business leaders. Among these was the Honourable Richard Alston, former Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and former Australian High Commissioner to the UK who showed a keen interest in the profession and the issues facing it. Mr Alston very helpful in ensuring that some interesting engagements were made with UK counterparties; perhaps the opening up of admission pathways will see him (and others who attended G’Day UK) consider membership (yes, tongue is firmly in cheek).

Another highlight for me was the CEO/President Webinar, ‘CPA: a global designation’, that Paul Taylor arranged. The webinar seemed to be well received and Geoff and I both remarked that it is an excellent way to use technology to connect with members – and an efficient way for members to obtain CPD hours! I note, incidentally, via CPA Update that another webinar is planned to take place on July 28 with Peter Switzer interviewing David Gonski (this one is not to be missed!).