The surprise in this year's HSC

At 12:30 pm on Thursday, 70,000 pens dropped on tables around NSW.

'Not a quitter': championship swimmer's HSC challenge

As 77,000 NSW high school students sit their first HSC exams this week, this 17-year-old is doing double duty.

Outrage after principal uses 'inappropriate, offensive' image during speech

The principal of a NSW Catholic school has come under fire for using an "inappropriate and offensive" image during a speech to high school graduates and their families.

Commando Steve's Sage Institute of Fitness loses battle to silence government department

A fitness college empire heavily promoted by Biggest Loser star Commando Steve has attempted to gag a federal government department from speaking about its operations in public during a hearing in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

One of Australia's largest colleges goes into liquidation

One of Australia's largest private colleges has gone into voluntary administration leaving up to 16,000 students in limbo.

Taxpayers foot the bill for $9 million diplomas

Taxpayers paid $9 million per graduate in one year at a private Sydney college, an analysis of Department of Education data reveals, as the full cost of the government's failed vocational education program looks set to be revealed in the wake of its decision to shut down the scheme.

An end to the country's largest get-rich-quick scheme

• COMMENT

The party is over for the cowboys, shonks and shysters who grew rich on billions of dollars in public funding through the government's terminal vocational education scheme.

Top Sydney university drops in prestigious rankings race

A top Australian university has dropped four places in the world's most prestigious university rankings list, the latest report from Times Higher Education has revealed.

NSW government ditches $55m a year children's reading program

A reading program that has been used in up to 960 schools for more than 30 years has been abandoned.