NEWS
8
CHANGING NAMES
The university body responsible for recruiting and supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and delivering the Indigenous Knowledge major has recently changed its name. Formerly known as Wilto Yerlo, the body is now called Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal Education, to reflect the correct Kaurna spelling of the term. Wirltu Yarlu means ‘Sea Eagle’, which is the totem of Gladys Elphick, a South Australian Aboriginal community leader. Wirltu Yarlu was established by the university in 1996 in response to the development of Aboriginal teaching programs in the 1980s and increases in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the university. Wirltu Yarlu has also recently moved offices to level one of the Schulz Building, North Terrace Campus. Holly Ritson
SLIPPING DOWN THE RANKS
The University of Adelaide fell in the recently released Times Higher Education World University Rankings – from 176 to equal 201-225. After last year’s climb into the top 200, the University failed to successfully defend its super prestigious position. On top of this, the fall makes University of Adelaide the sole member of the Group of Eight that doesn’t hold a top-200 position in the rankings. The university also lost ground to University of Western Australia,
which was the only major winner in the ratings game, sliding upwards to number 168. Other universities in Australia performed similarly poorly. University of Melbourne remains the top performing Australian university, although dropping to number 34 overall. University rankings are heavily dependent on research output, which means good performance often has little to do with the quality of the education an undergraduate student would receive. Research ‘volume and funding’ and ‘influence and citations’ combined receive double the weight in the rankings calculations than does teaching. Stella Crawford
FONES ATTACKED
The iconic ‘Fones’ on the Barr Smith Lawns have been damaged, likely as a result of vandalism, with one of the three pieces of the sculpture being knocked from its base. The sculpture was attacked on Saturday October 12, in the middle of the afternoon. CCTV footage of the Barr Smith Lawns have been passed onto SA Police by the university. The Fones were installed in 1992 and created by local artist Johnnie Dady. The work was commissioned by both the University of Adelaide and the Adelaide University Union and is reportedly worth $10,000. The university is concerned that it might not be possible to repair The Fones. Casey Briggs