Previous issues:

While universities may not be subject to any additional regulation under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), their international students may feel the affects of its implementation when seeking financial services while studying in Australia.

A recent Federal Court decision is of particular significance to universities because it takes a narrow approach to the issue of when a university will be entitled to ownership of inventions developed by their academic staff.

In early February this year, the State Government announced that it would conduct a full review of the Acts which govern Victoria's public universities. This announcement was made as part of the Premier's Statement of Government Intentions for 2008, which included a promise to 'modernise university governance'.

Over the past few years there has been a notable shift in the way universities and research organisations have approached commercialisation of their intellectual property. Some have had the budget and focus to establish in-house capacity. Others have sought to complement in-house skills with external collaboration and more recently we have seen movement towards full outsourcing of IP commercialisation services. This article gives an overview of some of the issues that usually appear in the course of negotiating an IP commercialisation outsourcing arrangement.

Universities need to be aware of the dynamic climate change policy environment, to ensure they comply with their obligations under the new laws, protect themselves against risk, and to ensure they are ready to capitalise on new opportunities as they arise.

The increasing use of technologies such as podcasts, chatrooms, online forums and other forms of 'electronic classroom' has led to a proliferation of new content created in, and by, educational institutions.

Higher education institutions looking to recognise contributions people make to the institution for free ought to have in mind the various tax law aspects of doing so.

The new Labor Government has introduced a new Bill known as the Higher Education Support Amendment (Removal of Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements and National Governance Protocols Requirements and Other Matters) Bill.

Quality student accommodation is an important factor in attracting and retaining both local and international students at tertiary institutions in Australia. Students are now seeking accommodation facilities which offer not only affordable and quality accommodation, but also complementary ancillary services.

The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) has a significant influence on the way higher education providers can use copyright material, including books, articles, online research resources, films and sound recordings.

A comprehensive summary of class action law in Australia.

In this first edition of Higher Education Focus, we provide an overview of the Government and ALP workplace relations policies – focusing on the aspects of the policies which will be important to the university sector.