Nation Branding, Cultural Relations and Cultural Diplomacy at Eurovision: Between Australia and Europe

This chapter explores Australia’s Eurovision history – and its ‘Asiavision’ future – as an articulation of the nation’s complex and ongoing relations with Europe. It considers the ideological dimensions of Eurovision’s own history and the impact this might have on the contest’s future in Asia. While Australia’s participation in Eurovision was tolerated as part of the sixtieth anniversary in 2015, its return performance in 2016 was greeted with some ambiguity, and even outright hostility. The announcement that an Australian broadcasting service (SBS), together with the European Broadcasting Union, would be collaborating on the establishment of a song contest for the Asia-Pacific region brought some commercial sense to the engagement, but also foregrounds a particular conceptualisation of Australia as a bridge between Europe and Asia

Public Expenditure and Institutional Review for ARMM Basic Education

The project builds on support to DepEd ARMM through the Australian Aid Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) activity, and further initiatives by the World Bank and partners. Chapter two of this report proceeds with an introduction to ARMM’s development context, including the evolution of regional institutions and the basic education system. Chapter three describes the unique ARMM Public Expenditure Management ‘syndrome’ that contributes to the weaknesses analyzed in this report, and in turn informs its policy recommendations. Chapter four analyzes pub¬lic expenditures for basic education in terms of aggregate spending, expenditure composi¬tion, and specific challenges that the ARMM PEM syndrome poses for budgeting. Chapter five assesses budget execution and frontline delivery aspects of basic education resources, incorporating findings from the facilities survey. Chapter six summarizes the findings on public expenditure management for education in ARMM and derives recommendations both for reforms to ARMM institutions and for consideration by the transition commission and other stakeholders in the preparations for a new Bangsamoro political entity

Is Indonesia Producing Enough Business Graduates to Assist its Development Aspirations?

Business plays an important role in most economies around the world, but businesses rely on the higher education system to supply an adequate number of qualified business graduates. In nations such as the USA, the UK and Australia, business degrees are the most popular university qualification; and the growth in the number of Chinese students undertaking business degrees in universities outside their home country over the past decade has been astronomical. In contrast, for Indonesia there has been a decline in the number of business degrees being undertaken abroad and at home. Indonesia has set a number of ambitious development goals and if these are to be achieved, there will need to be increasing activity from the business sector. Therefore, it is argued, questions should be raised about the current declining rate of student numbers in higher education business degree courses, and about whether the trend will have a detrimental impact on the future development aspirations of this highly populated country