Training

Australia’s education system has a good reputation. Schooling is compulsory and free of charge for all children between 6 and 16 years. The state authorities are responsible for the schools. However, the federal authorities are trying to coordinate the training. Just over two-thirds of the students attend state schools, the others attend private schools, mainly under the auspices of the Catholic Church.

Nearly seven out of ten three-year-olds are expected to attend some form of preschool. After six or seven years in primary and lower secondary schools (primary school), there is a secondary school of 3-4 years where students in some states can choose between technical, academic or other specialization. Those who want to study further must go two extra years. In international knowledge surveys, Australian 15-year-olds are well ahead. At the same time, the OECD cooperative organization has pointed out that rural and indigenous peoples receive poorer school results than the average and that they do not have as great opportunities to study further at the university.

• COUNTRYAAH: Country facts of Australia, including geography profile, population statistics, and business data.

In the sparsely populated parts of the country, children attend boarding schools or receive distance education at home, often via two-way radio (Schools of the Air).

Since 1989, it has been a national goal for Aboriginal children to complete schooling to the same extent as other Australians. The proportion of Aborigines leaving compulsory school is also increasing, but at higher stages their proportion of pupils is declining rapidly.

Academic education and research were long overdue and many academics were drawn from Europe. There are around 40 universities and a number of specialized colleges. Students may pay for part of their college studies themselves through loans. Prime Minister Turnbull’s government wanted to raise fees for higher education in 2017 while at the same time starting student loans to be repaid earlier and at a lower income level. A quarter of those who studied at Australian universities were foreign nationals by the mid-2010s. Of these, about a quarter came from China. The tuition fees of foreign students have become an important source of income in higher education. Of the domestic students, 58 percent were women.

• Searchforpublicschools: Offers schooling information of Australia in each level – compulsory, technical and higher education programs.

FACTS – EDUCATION

Proportion of children starting primary school

96.7 percent (2017)

Number of pupils per teacher in primary school

18 (1999)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP

14.1 percent (2015)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of the state budget

14.1 percent (2015)

2020

May

Australia relieves coronary restrictions

May 25

Since Prime Minister Scott Morrison presented a three-step plan in early May to ease the measures introduced in March to stop the spread of the corona virus, the states have gradually reopened. But the restrictions are gradually lifted in the country’s states and it is up to them to decide for themselves when the measures will be taken. In New South Wales, for example, it is not allowed to invite more than five people at a time, while in Queensland and Victoria, for example, private gatherings with 20 people from different households are allowed. Restaurants and bars have opened in the states, but it is different how many guests are allowed to stay at the same time. It is also permitted or will be allowed to travel freely within the states from the beginning of June.

April

Cardinal Pell acquitted by the Supreme Court

April 7

Cardinal George Pell, who was sentenced to a longer prison sentence for having sexually assaulted two corpses, is acquitted by the nation’s highest court. Pell has previously been declared guilty in two lower courts (see March 2019 and June 2017). Cardinal Pell would soon be allowed to leave prison in the state of Victoria, but it was unclear if, before he was brought to trial, he was responsible for the finances of the Vatican, would be allowed to continue in the Catholic Church.

60 magazines in Murdoch’s empire become online magazines

April 1st

Rupert Murdoch’s media company News Corp states that 60 of its regional newspapers will close the publication in print. The reason is the severe effects that the corona crisis has had for advertising in the newspaper industry. The decline in advertising is due to companies’ financial problems in the wake of the crisis, while the closure of society with restrictions on restaurants, museums, public gatherings and so on reduces advertising.

March

Entry bans for foreign nationals should stop covid-19

March 19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces that an entry ban will be introduced for people who are not Australian citizens or live in the country. The ban will hopefully help to curb the spread of the coronavirus and covid-19 disease. According to Morrison, four-fifths of all those infected have received the virus abroad or by someone who has been in direct contact with people who have been abroad. The spread of contamination that is not linked to international travel has not yet occurred to any greater extent. Australia has so far more than 600 cases of covid-19. The new border restrictions will hit hard on the important tourism industry and, by extension, affect the entire economy. To help companies and try to avoid mass redundancies, the government and the central bank have decided that the equivalent of over US $ 100 billion should strengthen the financial system.

January

Morrison Valley Support

January 13

Confidence in Prime Minister Scott Morrison decreases among Australians, new polls show. In a survey by Newspoll, 59 percent of voters are dissatisfied with the Prime Minister’s leadership, while only 37 percent are satisfied. The falling support is largely about criticism of Morrison’s handling of the forest fires in recent months. The annoyance grew among many when Morrison in December, when the crisis surrounding the forest fires was at its worst, traveled to Hawaii with his family sneakily. But he also initially claimed that local authorities had enough firefighters and resources to fight the fires and that the volunteers who participated did not do so because it was compulsory but because they wanted it, offended. Many were also upset by his statements that Australia was doing enough to reach its climate goals. Although Morrison later changed and put more and more support in the form of money, military and volunteers in the fight against the fires while making promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it was not reflected in the results of opinion polls.

The forest fires are worse than ever

January 5

The season of forest fires began in September and the forest fires that are raging in the southeastern part of the country have been going on for over a month. The states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are among the worst affected and areas twice as large as the whole of Belgium have been ravaged by the fires. At least 24 people have been killed because of the fires and the consequences for wildlife are devastating. In addition, hundreds of residential buildings have been destroyed. According to Gladys Berejiklian, head of government in New South Wales, the crisis is the worst ever, “this is nothing we have been through before”. Military has been deployed to assist the many firefighters who are trying to get the fires under control. In cities near the fires, the air is thick with smoke and, according to measurements, the air quality in Canberra is worse than in any other city in the world.