news
Give it away now
Business couple bestow millions to help
disadvantaged students study at university.
A
philanthropic husband and wife have donated $30 million
to the University of Melbourne to fund scholarships for the
next four decades.
Paul Little and Jane Hansen, who built a fortune through real
estate and developed the Hansen Little Foundation in 2015, gifted
the university the money to build a student residence and establish
a scholarship program in their names.
QILT finds student
experiences patchy
While most tertiary students are satisfied
with their educational experiences,
learner engagement is still low.
I
6
t’s mostly a higher education good news story: providers, for the
fourth consecutive year, scored highly in the national Student
Experience Survey.
campusreview.com.au
It is the largest donation of its kind in the university’s history.
Twenty students will be selected as Hansen Scholars each year,
starting in 2020, and will receive free accommodation at the new
building, named Little Hall.
They will also receive financial and career support throughout
their time at university.
The scholarship will provide unparalleled opportunities
and support for students whose personal circumstances
may otherwise have denied them the chance to study,
Hansen said.
“I firmly believe that an individual’s life trajectory should be
guided by their determination to achieve their ambitions,”
she said in a statement.
“The Hansen scholarship program will significantly expand
the horizons of its recipients – enabling and emboldening them
to reframe their dreams and re-imagine their futures.”
Little Hall will be designed to house 669 students.
“Little Hall will be an exciting addition to Melbourne, a unique
and outstanding architectural statement that establishes a new
benchmark for student living in a distinctive academic and
intellectually rich environment,” Little said.
In 2015 the couple donated $10 million to the university’s history
department, and in 2017 they pledged $3.5 million to help upgrade
Victoria’s state library.
In donating monies to a university, they follow in the charitable
footsteps of many others, including the Tuckwells, who have gifted
ANU $150 million, and the Lamberts, who gave $33.7 million to the
University of Sydney. ■
Administered by ANU’s Social Research Centre on behalf of the
government, and published via the Quality Indicators for Learning
and Teaching (QILT) website, the survey found over 77 per cent of
all students across 99 institutions – including all 41 universities –
were satisfied with their experience.
The 218,569 responses from both undergraduate and
postgraduate students diverged in some respects. Undergraduates
rated their overall experience three percentage points more than
postgraduates. Additionally, while learner engagement lagged for
both – just 52 per cent of postgrads were engaged, compared
with 60 per cent of undergrads – both greatly appreciated their
institution’s resources (83 per cent of undergrads and 82 per cent
of postgrads).
Campion College, a Sydney-based Catholic liberal arts
institution, topped the undergraduate league table, scoring
96 per cent. Bragging rights were also afforded to Western
Australia’s Edith Cowan University: the top public university in
Australia. Yet others weren’t as fortunate. Group of Eight stalwarts
UNSW and the University of Sydney placed 3rd and 5th last in the
undergraduate ratings.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson, however,
was positive about the results generally.
“[They] are a tribute to our world-class higher education system,”
she said, using them to argue against the government’s plan for
university performance-based funding.
The survey was developed “to help ensure the ongoing
improvement in the quality of teaching and learning in Australian
universities”. However, the fact that results have roughly flatlined for
four years suggests this doesn’t seem to be happening. ■