High Wired update: Great moments in bureaucracy GETTING in the way of magnificence; caught out by the Asian century; and flat-earthism in education. Greatness from regulation: If TEQSA is stony silent in defeat, its critics aren't exactly magnanimous in victory. UNSW boss Fred Hilmer wasn't pulling any punches yesterday at a Sydney gabfest, despite education minister Chris Pyne's decision to nobble the regulator with its own red tape. TEQSA was "misconceived," Hilmer told the lunch crowd. A regulator's core business was to ensure minimum standards and then get out of the way, as competition and pride inspired institutions to strive for magnificence. "There is no example I can think of where greatness came from regulation," Hilmer said. Geography lesson: The dinkum Aussie workforce has been caught with its pants down in the Asian century, judging by a debate last night at the UNSW. The student-centric Left Right Think Tank, which is keen on empiricism rather than ideology, put up the debating question whether or not Australia has "successfully prepared itself for the Asian workforce century." HW was among the naysayers, who triumphed in the popular vote. Memories: Left Right fellows also launched a policy paper which included among its ideas an extension of the Indonesia BRIDGE program to build people to people links. Like many others, they got all fired up last year by the Gillard government's Asian Century white paper. That document has gone into the dustbin of history with countless other such Asia uplift reports. Go to the old Australia in the Asian Century website, and a note says the report was archived on September 20. Efficiency dividend: Two cheers for La Trobe University's John Dewar. For too long too many universities have had a profligate number of faculties. A reduction of La Trobe's five to two would be a start but why stop there? Surely, Australia is ready for its first institution with a single faculty, which would be called "the university." Illiteracy: Three cheers for Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan, who in The Australian today castigates the failings of the so-called "whole language" approach to the teaching of reading. It is flat-earthism at work in education. No pedigree: The American University of London is bogus, so bogus that the BBC was able to enrol a dog in its MBA program. HW is not surprised by this. Some cats may be up to higher learning, certainly not dogs. Uncanny Ex-FM: Former foreign minister Bob Carr pronounced a lack of political "canniness" in Labor yesterday. The context was a controversial one: his resignation as a senator after a very fleeting term. Yesterday also saw Carr's appointment as a professorial fellow in Sydney University's Southeast Asia centre. Let's hope that proves a canny decision. How thoughtful department: A sign on campus, complete with the Monash University logo, reads: "Please hold breath when walking past gas leak."