NiTRO + Creative Matters

Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

Higher Education Policy

The Unkindest Cut(s) of All – the creative arts perspective on current higher education policy

A bleaker aspect of writing for an intellectually self-conscious publication like NiTRO is the obligation to respond rationally to what are, in the end, irrational points of view.  As the political Right dissolves into its constituent pathologies, its policies transmogrify into a mix of prejudice and panic. . . This

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Welcome to NiTRO, Your Non-Traditional Voice in the Academy! 
By Su Baker, President, Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts — At the DDCA annual conference in Adelaide in 2015, a group of 25 leaders in the creative arts engaged in rigorous and expansive discussion following a series of highly astute commentary and presentations by invited colleagues.
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The Rough Magic of Engagement Measurement
By Dr Tim Cahill and Professor Julian Meyrick — ‘In God we trust. All others bring data,’ quipped US statistician, W. Edwards Deeming. As he implied, measurement is an inherently conservative occupation. Units of appraisal have to be agreed in advance, while the aim of measuring something is usually to
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Strategic Manoeuvres: Creative Practice Thriving? 
By Lynn Churchill and Jill Franz, IDEA (Interior Design Interior Architecture Educator’s Association) — IDEA comprises 12 International Institutions providing a minimum four-year Bachelor degree in the disciplines of Interior Design (ID), Interior Architecture (IA) and Spatial Design (SD). Most include an Honours program and the opportunity to undertake further
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ATSE’s Research Engagement for Australia May Just Fit Creative Arts
By Associate Professor Denise Ferris and Professor Marie Sierra, Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) — The National Innovation and Science Agenda, launched in December 2015, has significant consequences for tertiary institutions, and in particular, for the art and design disciplines, as well as the broader arts,
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Creative Communication Needs Reciprocal Valuation
By Dr Lynda Hawryluk, Australasian Association of Writing Programs — The ever-changing higher education landscape affects all disciplines and their related industries in a variety of ways, and the creative arts discipline is not immune to these changes and challenges.
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Policy Changes Stymie Industry Engagement Benefits
By John Cumming and Craig Batty, Australian Screen Production, Education and Research Association (ASPERA) — Australia is engaged in completing a transition that will result in academic endeavor being placed squarely within the ‘triple helix’ of university-industry-government. Priority research projects will be those that can secure funding from ‘end-users’. The
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