Darragh Murray

Category: Writing

  • Let the good times roll: March student visa statistics indicate continued growth in Australian international education.

    Just last week, it happened that I was sitting at home in front of my laptop with a glass of red wine in my hand when I noted the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had released their latest visa statistics on international students.

    This sounds a tad depressing in retrospect, but the mood did strike. I decided to boot up my trusty excel models to quickly cut up some of the statistics to see what insights might be developed from the visa numbers.

    Given that international student visa grant rates have a strong correlation with international student commencements, these … Read the rest

  • The Data Game: Building Analytics Capability in International Education

    [Originally published by IEAA’s Vista Magazine (Summer 2016/17) — I’d strongly recommend following them online and reading their publications if you’re interested in Australian international education!]

    Embracing an analytic mindset and capitalising on the technologies in the era of big data are key to reaching Australia’s strategic international education goals, writes Darragh Murray.

    A tale of prediction and teenage pregnancy

    In 2012, journalist Charles Duhigg came across a fascinating story concerning the power of prediction and teenage pregnancy. Writing for the New York Times, Duhigg told how an irate man confronted the manager of a Target department store … Read the rest

  • Adieu Rave

    On the 26 June, Brisbane’s best street press Rave Magazine abruptly ceased publication after 21 years and 1047 print editions. I had been contributing to the magazine for almost two years, signing on as an indie reviewer in August 2009.

    This started off a long, meandering piece lamenting the magazine’s death, but after reading Justin Edward’s great tribute, I’ll simply say that I was always very proud of having the opportunity to contribute to the publication.

    Despite not being able to be as prolific as many other contributors, I wrote nearly 100 record reviews, 9 video game reviews, conducted … Read the rest