Mannkal Logo
March 2015 

Mannkal's e-Focus

Greetings!

 

As summer came to an end, our 18 international scholars made their way back home from their international adventures. With endless stories to tell and a vast array of knowledge to share, they returned eager to assist in the dissemination of ideas.

 

Last night, Mannkal was pleased to host its inaugral Year Ahead Event. The annual event provides us with an opportunity to thank our supporters and to hear about our scholars' experiences abroad. With captivating video presentations and enthralling speeches, the night was an overwhelming success! 

 

To view Mannkal's Musings, please click here

 

Please feel free to forward this email or any of this material to your own contacts. To subscribe to this publication, please click here (for new subscribers only).    

 

 

Check out Ron's regular Mannerisms this month discussing Public Choice Theory with a Russian backdrop, "Memories of Moscow - The Usefulness of Public Choice Theory"  (please scroll down).

 

Paul McCarthy

CEO


Quote of the Month  

" If we allow scarce resources to be squandered on surveillance programmes that violate the very rights they purport to defend, we haven't protected our liberty at all: we have paid to lose it."

- Edward Snowden

 

Events

   Should University Fees be Deregulated?

"Will Online Learning Destroy universities or Save Them?" was the title of a Freedom and Prosperity Club event in February at which Steven Schwartz, a member of Mannkal's Board and former Vice Chancellor of Murdoch, Macquarie and Brunel(UK) universities spoke on the "cost disease" affecting universities.

 

Pointing out that the productivity of an hour-long university lecture has barely increased  since 1815, 1715 or even 1315, yet university wages keep rising, Steven concluded that the real cost of university education will continue to increase - particularly as universities tend to have more non-teaching staff than teaching staff. He identified a moral hazard in universities that are paid for student enrolments, not student outcomes, with the cost falling upon taxpayers. Pointing to a study that found no difference in student learning between online and university based teaching but a cost difference of over 1,000% percent, Steven believes that the online revolution will continue to make slow but steady progress in opening up the "craft industry" of higher education.

 

He was followed by Stephen Hurworth, Director of St Augustine's Classical Christian College, who derided the one-size-fits all approach to education and devotion to NAPLAN and the MySchool website and the lack of flexibility that results from government funding. The risk-averse, bland and often boring school curriculum fails to inspire students, to engage them in ideas or encourage their individual strengths. He praised the classical teaching model, cycling through the ancient, medieval and modern worlds and the 3 stages of a child's learning development, from grammar to logic to rhetoric. Declaring that "Latin is cool again" with the enrolment in Latin at UWA being the highest in decades and that students should learn about "Homer - not Homer Simpson", Stephen praised the Classical Christian teaching model for allowing students to participate and extend their learning in a way that suits them and for finding the right balance for each student in a way that allows them to focus on and develop their own strengths. 

 

Read All About It!  


    
You're fired!

According to Dr Bob Baur, Australia is struggling to compensate for dwindling mining investment as wages are too high and it is too difficult to let someone go. More > > >

 

    Are we knocking too many ideas?

Australia's federal Treasury secretary has accused Australia of knocking too many ideas without allowing them to be the subject of genuine discussion. To read more, please click here.

 


   Healthway VIP ticket scandal hits the fan
An investigation into Healthway found that in a sample of 58 sponsorship agreements "more than half of all tickets obtained by Healthway under its contracts were used for private benefit or could not be properly accounted for". More > > >

 

   

   Will HSBC ever change?

Although only at the beginning of a new year, it seems that HSBC is destined for yet another "annus horribilis". Read more > > >


Look Who's Talking

  

   Understanding the role of a mentor

A mentor is not your "career fairy godmother"! A lot of times you don't even realise that someone is your mentor. Instead, it is a natural phenomenon that you tend to only recognise in retrospect. More > > >
 

   Mannkal's 2013/14 International Scholars

See Mannkal's 2013/14 International Scholars discussing their think tank experiences here > > >

 

Apply Now!

  

Applications are now open for Mannkal's Australian Scholarships

 

   Liberty and Society Weekend Conference: 8-10 May 2015

"Do you like to challenge yourself, question the way decisions are made and think seriously about the future of Australia and New Zealand?"  

If your answer is "yes" then the Centre for Independent Studies' Liberty and Society Conference is for you. For more details on the Conference, please click here.

   Australian Libertarian Society Friedman Conference: 2-3 May 2015
The 3rd ALS Friedman Conference will be held in Sydney from 2-3 of May 2015. Check out the Facebook event page here.
 

 

To apply, please send a copy of your CV, academic transcript and cover letter outlining your interest in attending, to Becky Vidler ([email protected]).  

Scholar Blogs

 

To check out our the blogs of our scholars who recently returned from their 3-month internships, please click on the links below:

 

Sean Taggart

Fraser Institute, Vancouver

Isabella Hancock

Institute for Liberal Studies, Ottawa

 

Timothy Goodier

Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Halifax

 

Samuel Kitchen

Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Ottawa

 

Emma Dyce

Atlas Foundation, Washington DC

 

Conor Ransome

Atlas Foundation, Washington DC

 


 

 

Ruby Clohessy

Foundation for Economic Education, Atlanta

 

Tom Ledger

Lion Rock Institute, Hong Kong

 

 Lauren Tait

Institute of Economic Affairs, London

 

Alexandra Colalillo

Institute of Economic Affairs, London

 

  


 

Garrick Garvey

Institute of Economic Affairs, London

 


 

 

Rebecca Lawrence

Lithuanian Free Market Institute, Lithuania

 

Angelyn Seen

Friedrich Naumman Foundation for Freedom, Berlin

 

Michael Petrut

Institute for Public Affairs, Melbourne

 

Anjali Chopra

Menzies Research Centre, Canberra

 

Alexander Scaife

Menzies Research Centre, Canberra


 

 

 

 

Mark Maciolek

New Zealand Initiative, New Zealand

 

 

 


 Mannerisms

"Memories of Moscow - The Usefulness of Public Choice Theory" 


 

Find me on Facebook  (Ron)  

   Find us on Facebook (Mannkal)      

 

Click here to visit the Mannkal web site.