Campus Review - Mar 2013

WWW.CAMPUSREVIEW.COM.AU | VOL. 23 | issue 3 | march 2013

The great fund hunt Catching the corporate dollar

MOOCs: Open learning’s big leap page 18

Vetting VET: Qualifying the credibility gap page 34

Donors: Broadening the alumni base page 32

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contents EDITOR Antonia Maiolo (02) 9936 8618 antonia.maiolo@apned.com.au

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news 04 Call for visa rethink

Graphic Design

Changing role for researchers

25 Professional profiles

Looking back at last year’s ATEM stars

05 Cabinet reshuffle

Bowen resigns as tertiary education minister

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faculty focus 26 Deakin’s success

06 Scholarship funding

Philanthropy may help VET students

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07 A Smarter Australia

Calls for more investment in higher ed

14

08 Super regional university

PUBLISHED BY

10 Sydney strike

tafe 30 Funding cuts

Staff and unionists fight for fair pay

Regional students disadvantaged in Victoria

12 Study debts surge

Unpaid loans cost government billions

13 Management awards

ATEM celebrates professionals

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policy & reform 14 Capital campaign

26

VC’s CORNER 32 Attracting donors

Get alumni to give more: O’Connor

VET 34 Guidelines ‘ignored’

Credibility of qualifications questioned

Institutions chase donations as funds flatline

18 Measuring MOOCS

36 Skills training

20 Supporting quality

38 Tertiary literacy

22 Global influx

noticeboard 39 The latest in staff appointments

Recognising the value to industry

Pros and cons of global learning

Students face new challenges

TEQSA chief gives her verdict 117,000 overseas students by 2020

23 Research threatened

v

Enhancing career success

28 Generation next

Curtin emphasises hands-on learning

Regional students hardest hit

Design by Cj Malgo Images Thinkstock

27 Value of MBAs

29 Law practice

09 Uni costs set to skyrocket

Cover

Courses gain international accreditation

Students build on leadership skills

Ballarat and Monash to join forces

APN Educational Media (ACN 010 655 446) PO Box 488 Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 ISSN 1037-034X pp255003/09504

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24 Leadership shift

Overseas students need support

Ryan Salcedo ryan.salcedo@apned.com.au

Audited 2,664 September 2012

11

Funding challenges endanger innovation

32

March 2013 | 3

news

Overseas students to jump by

Rapid growth in the international education sector will offer many new challenges.

By Antonia Maiolo

30%

T

he number of international students coming to Australia will rise 30 per cent by 2020, a new report forecasts.

The report estimates that the country will host about 520,000 students in the next seven years, worth $19.2 billion to the economy, with an estimated growth of 5 per cent per year.

The International Education Advisory Council proposed 35 recommendations, including addressing affordable student accommodation, access to transport concession and work opportunities to aid overseas students.

The report, Australia – Educating Globally, noted that whilst the international education sector is in good shape, Australia cannot become “complacent”.

Australia’s international education activities generate more than $15 billion of export income annually. This revenue supports more than 100,000 jobs, said International Education Advisory Council chairman Michael Chaney.

International education and training was Victoria’s top export earner, generating $4.82 billion in the 2010-2011 financial year. In New South Wales, international education and training was the second largest export earner, earning $5.82 billion in the same period.

“We cannot presume the sustainability of the sector is assured,” Chaney said, calling for “national leadership” in order to sustain one of Australia’s largest export industries.

The report, released by former tertiary education minister Chris Bowen on the opening day of a Universities Australia conference in Canberra, detailed the need to focus on ensuring Australia can manage the influx of students.

It recommended setting up a Ministerial Coordinating Council on International Education.

The ministerial council would tackle the major long-term issues facing the sector as spelt out in the report, and oversee a fiveyear strategy for international education.

The council calls for improved access to 4 | March 2013

work opportunities for overseas students involving stricter regulations on providers who would be required to establish processes to ensure international students maintain adequate English throughout the course of their study.

A review of off-campus accommodation is also recommended to investigate safer and more affordable living options.

To market Australia as a high-quality supplier of education, the council also called for the development of a communications campaign to articulate “the many economic and cultural benefits that international education and students bring to Australia”.

The chief executive of Universities Australia, Belinda Robinson, said UA supported the establishment of a ministerial council to coordinate government policy on international education.

“At around $15 billion each year, international education is Australia’s largest export earner after resources. It is crucial we get the policy settings right,” Robinson said.

TAFE Directors Australia also welcomed the report’s proposals and noted the council’s reluctance to “make many significant recommendations on the VET sector, as the sector is currently undergoing significant change and institutional structures are in the process of adjustment”.

However, TDA’s director of international engagement, Peter Holden, said the report did in fact make some significant recommendations for the VET sector.

These recommendations included the extension of student visa streamlining to

low immigration risk providers.

Holden said Chaney and the council highlighted the “fractured” nature of the sector in governance arrangements for VET which made it difficult to develop a national marketing strategy.

He said that VET had government policies and programs in the international education arena from at least four portfolios (immigration, tertiary education and skills, trade and investment, aid and development) plus two national regulators and a range of other programs.

“Many of these programs work either in isolation from each other or at crosspurposes, so a whole-of-government five-year plan under the auspices of such a council is an absolute priority,” Holden said.

He added the sector would like to see some financial investment aligned to the recommendations.

In a separate survey conducted for Universities Australia, researchers found more than 71 per cent of the public and 69 per cent of business representatives were positive about providing education for international students.

In addition, 80 per cent of business representatives surveyed and 72 per cent of the public said that international students should be encouraged to stay in Australia on completion of their studies, particularly if sponsored by an employer.

The government is now considering the council’s report, which will help inform the development of a five-year strategy to ensure the sustainability and quality of the international education sector in Australia. n See Devil in the detail, page 22

news

Chris Bowen

quits

© LUKAS COCH - AAPIMAGE

cabinet

T

ertiary education minister Chris Bowen has resigned from Julia Gillard’s cabinet in the wake of fallout from Labor’s unsuccessful leadership spill.

In a press conference at Parliament House, Bowen said: “This is what I regard is the appropriate and honorable decision for me.”

Kevin Rudd did not stand for the leadership last week, allowing the Prime Minister to retain the leadership unopposed.

Bowen, one of Kevin Rudd’s most senior

supporters, said he took the “difficult decision” that supporting Rudd was the best option for Australia.

“Twenty-five years ago I joined the ALP. Every day since then I’ve done what I thought was in the best interests of the Labor Party. Always,” Bowen told reporters in Canberra.

“The Labor Party would have done well to return him to the leadership. The party took a different view, hence my decision today.”

Bowen’s resignation follows the sacking of fellow cabinet member Simon Crean,

who initially sparked calls for a leadership ballot.

The Prime Minister said she expected a number of her cabinet members to resign following the leadership spill.

In his address, Bowen thanked Rudd for appointing him to the Cabinet and thanked Gillard for keeping him there.

Bowen said he will stay in Parliament and recontest his seat of McMahon (western Sydney) at the election. “I will fight hard ... and I will win it,” he said.

At print time, there had been no announcement of his replacement. n

Six of the best

A

ustralia is strongly represented in The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.

It is the third most represented country in the 2013 rankings after the US and the UK, with a total of six universities, outperforming Japan and the Netherlands.

“Australia is a country very much on the way up in terms of worldwide academic prestige. On the back of significant gains in 2012, it has had another great year in the (rankings),” said Phil Baty, the editor of the rankings.

The University of Melbourne, which has been Australia’s top representative since the rankings were first published in 2011, rose from 43rd place to 39th.

Newcomers to the list are Monash University, 91-100 group, and the University of New South Wales, 81-90 group.

The others are the Australian National University (42nd place – tied), the University of Sydney (49th) and the University of Queensland (71-80 tier).

The elite group of US and UK global “super-brands” still head the list.

At the top is Harvard University, followed by MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

However, Baty said new forces in higher education were emerging, “especially in the Asia-Pacific countries that are investing heavily in building world-class universities, so the traditional elite must be very careful”.

A university’s reputation was significant to its success in attracting staff, students and investment in a competitive global

www.campusreview.com.au

2012 Rank

2013 Rank

Institution

Country

43 44(tied) 50 71-80 -

39 42(tied) 49 71-80 81-90 91-100

University of Melbourne Australian National University University of Sydney University of Queensland University of New South Wales Monash University

Austraila Austraila Austraila Austraila Austraila Austraila

www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings

market. Different researchers believe that the brand or reputation of a university is the single most important consideration of prospective international students and academic staff.

Baty said the 2013 rankings show “how well poised Australia is to make the most of its geographical advantages; while it has strong links with the best universities in the West, it has also made the most of east Asia’s booming higher education scene”.

“Australia could be a serious beneficiary of the Asian century, which is great news for its economy and competitiveness,” Baty said.

The poll asked senior academics to nominate a maximum of 15 best institutions in their field of expertise, in terms of research, teaching and international outlook, among others.

For this year’s table, 39 per cent of the responses came from the Americas, 26 per cent from Europe, 25 per cent from the Asia-Pacific, 12 per cent from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. n March 2013 | 5

news

Move to support

struggling students

By ANTONIA MAIOLO

T

housands of students facing financial difficulty are expected to benefit from a new program of scholarships.

TAFE Directors Australia recently launched the TDA National Scholarships Foundation with the annual Mick Young Scholarships fundraising dinner in Sydney.

‘Mick’s Big Night Out’ attracted the support of the NSW governor, professor Marie Bashir, federal and state ministers and MPs, TAFEs, industry skills councils and businesspeople.

The night also celebrated the success of the long-running Mick Young Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students, which will form part of the new foundation. The initiative is part of the effort to promote corporate philanthropy.

Treasurer Wayne Swan (above) formally launched the new foundation, applauding TDA, which is the national peak VET body, on the initiative.

“Mick’s memory and passion lives and breathes through these scholarships and, now under the umbrella of the TDA National Scholarships Foundation, it will continue to thrive into the future,” Swan said.

Nicholas Hunt, the foundation chair, described the launch as “a great moment in the evolution of educational philanthropy”.

Hunt said the new foundation would be a vehicle for a new national charity, assisting students undertaking skills training around Australia.

“The vocational education and training sector has not always been at the fore when we think about corporate philanthropy for education and skills development.

“Rather, it has been the schools and 6 | March 2013

universities which have been more active in attracting support, but I hope that this initiative will help redress that balance.”

Martin Riordan, the foundation’s secretary and CEO of TDA, said given that COAG targets for equity and access to higher qualifications remain at risk, the foundation might help students experiencing financial difficulty complete their course.

Riordan said the federal government’s 2020 target of having 20 per cent of enrolments at the undergraduate level from a low SES background, is regarded as being at risk.

Currently there are 61 TAFE institutes in Australia – across 1300 campus locations in metropolitan and regional Australia, enrolling 1.7 million students a year. With the agreement between the

Commonwealth, states and territories of a National Partnership Agreement on Skills, and a new entitlement to training to be phased in between 2013-14, the sector expects to see many more students enrolling and seeking access to student loans, across public and private institutes and colleges.

Riordan said the foundation’s targets would allow for a wider approach, with plans to phase the scholarships across more city, suburban and regional areas.

“I am quietly confident that the $1 million target will be achievable by creating awareness in corporate Australia,” he said.

The previous Mick Young Trust allocated about $200,000 a year on average to scholarships for disadvantaged students enrolled at TAFE institutes, with 19 institutes taking part, Riordan said. n

From left: TDA CEO Martin Riordan, TDA deputy chair Diane Murray, NSW Governor Marie Bashir, Mary Young and Nicholas Hunt, the chair of the new foundation

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Education is central to the country’s future M ore investment is needed in the higher education sector to ensure the country’s economic future is optimised, according to Universities Australia.

Universities Australia recently launched a policy document, A Smarter Australia: An agenda for Australian Higher Education 2013-2016, in an effort to advance Australia’s international standing in higher education.

“We aim to make higher education core to the national vision for our economic future,” Universities Australia chair Glyn Davis said at the National Press Club in Canberra.

“More than half the jobs created in the Australian economy this year will require a university qualification.”

The policy statement coincides with a $5 million campaign by UA to promote the importance of higher education in the nation’s future.

Davis said this was a call for political leaders to recognise that higher education is an asset to the country.

The Smarter Australia document details how they want government and universities to work together over the next five years.

The policy framework addresses four key themes: increasing participation, global engagement, research and innovation to drive economic and social progress, and increased investment and improved efficiency.

Over the past two decades, investment in higher education and research has not kept up with the rest of

the world. While there has been an increase in the level of investment made in recent years, this has not been sufficient to lift Australia from the bottom 20 per cent of OECD nations for the level of public investment made in universities.

Many university leaders have backed calls by the UA for better policy agenda.

La Trobe vice-chancellor John Dewar said we must build our investment in higher education.

“Australia is a great country, but we have any number of challenges to face if we want to remain internationally competitive,” Dewar said.

Victoria University vice-chancellor, professor Peter Dawkins, said the policy statement is a “wake-up call”, while RMIT University vice-chancellor, professor Margaret Gardner, said investment is “critical” for Australia’s future prosperity.

University of Southern Queensland vicechancellor, professor Jan Thomas, has also thrown her support behind the policy agenda, saying that as a nation “we really need to do better”. n

Apprentice and trainee enrolments decline

t

rade and non-trade commencements in apprenticeships have declined, according to early estimates released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

The December quarter figures from Apprentices and Trainees 2012 — early trend estimates shows that from 23,900 trade apprentice commencements in the September quarter last year, the numbers dropped by 2500 to 21,400 in the December quarter.

This contrasted with significant growth in early 2012.

For non-trade commencements, the adjusted and smoothed estimates show a decline from 57,700 commencements in the September quarter to 44,000 in the December quarter.

NCVER’s general manager (statistics), Sandra Pattison, said the number of commencing apprentices and trainees

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was linked to the economy and what was happening in the labour market.

“When employers are uncertain about the economy they tend not to take on new apprenticeships.

“Indications from business confidence surveys undertaken by some of the banks show that business confidence is softening,” Pattison said.

She said government incentives saw some changes last year, primarily the removal of incentive payments to those apprentices and trainees not on the National Skill Needs List. The significant growth in non-trade traineeships until June and the subsequent decline was largely due to this change.

New apprentices would need to have started training before July 1 to receive the old subsidy, she said.

Pattison said that traditionally the greatest intake of trade apprenticeships happened in the March quarter. “Our latest

early trend estimates are for activity to December 2012, so we will need to monitor the March 2013 intake to obtain a clearer picture of any impact.”

NCVER will release information on national and state/territory level intraining, completion, and cancellation and withdrawal data next month. n March 2013 | 7

&

news

Gippsland

diary Australian Academy of Science 2014 awards now open

Ballarat

join forces

By ANTONIA MAIOLO

t

he Gippsland campus of Monash University and the University of Ballarat plan to form one expanded regional university.

The proposed merger has in-principle support from the Victorian Minister for Higher Education and Skills, Peter Hall.

The new arrangement would see Monash “teach out” existing courses, with Ballarat eventually taking over the Monash Churchill campus.

But Monash said the Gippsland Medical School would remain part of Monash, and it would maintain an active research presence in Gippsland.

Monash University vice-chancellor, professor Ed Byrne, said that the expanded university could hopefully develop into “one of Australia’s best regional higher education providers”.

He said Monash University had been looking at ways to enable the Gippsland campus to better meet the needs of its communities, including improving university participation rates regionally.

The universities claimed that the proposal would also support the economic development of the Gippsland and Ballarat/ Wimmera regions.

“It’s about providing enhanced opportunities for folk to access university courses,” said University of Ballarat vicechancellor, professor David Battersby, who is also the chair of the Regional Universities Network (RUN).

“And at the end of the day, for those who live and work in regional communities, it’s about the enhancement of the broader community,” he said.

The new arrangement would also enable the range of courses being offered by both universities to expand.

New courses for Gippsland could include engineering, graphic design and multimedia, human movement and sports science, early childhood, metallurgy and health science.

For the Ballarat and Wimmera regions, new courses could include human resource management, criminal justice and criminology, bioscience, geomechanics, geohydrology and midwifery.

The universities said the new proposal would allow the Gippsland campus 8 | March 2013

Ed Byrne

David Battersby

to “pursue greater flexibility in entry requirements” and meant they could “respond more quickly and effectively to the demands of the local community, tailoring education to better meet the needs of students who live, work and engage in a regional setting”.

They also said maintaining close ties with regional TAFEs would be an important part of the plan, but the Gippsland campus would continue as a dedicated higher education campus.

Battersby said students currently enrolled in courses at Ballarat and at Monash would not be directly affected and that they would be able to complete the qualification in which they enrolled.

He also said there were no plans to cut staff, and that both institutions were obliged to adhere to the Fair Work Act, which would protect staff if the proposal went ahead.

Battersby said the two institutions had already talked with staff about courses currently offered by the University of Ballarat that could also be offered at Gippsland, and vice versa.

“This is about growth,” he said. “It’s about growth in numbers of students, it’s about growing the staff profile.”

RUN executive director Dr Caroline Perkins said her organisation would welcome the inclusion of Monash’s Gippsland campus into the University of Ballarat, which was already aligned with RUN. “The University of Ballarat has a very strong track record in delivering higher education and vocational education training in regional Victoria,” she said, “and it’s very much tailored and very good at teaching students who are perhaps … less familiar with higher education.”

The proposition would require approval by both state and federal governments and also TEQSA in order to proceed, “following completion of due-diligence work by both universities, and consultations with staff, students and key stakeholders”, the universities said.

Once approved, the new regionally focused university could come into existence as soon as January 1, 2014. n

The Australian Academy of Science’s 2014 honorific awards of medals and prizes for early career and career researchers and 2014 funding for research conferences, travelling fellowships for resident Australian and overseas scientists, and research on endangered Australian native vertebrate animals are now open.

Awards are generally open to all scientists resident in Australia.

Closing dates are the 29th July 2013 for honorific awards and the 31st August 2013 for funding awards.

Criteria and forms for each award are available here www.science.org.au/ awards

Education institutions are under increasing pressure to engage deeply at the international level while at the same time operating primarily as national agents within their domestic framework.

Achieving balance and sustainability in this context is often a significant challenge. Global and local educational, economic, and socio-political forces continually intersect, creating competing priorities but also fostering creative tensions.

This year’s AIEC will focus on the key global, regional and local drivers that influence and shape international education. What impact do these drivers have and how can we respond to them most effectively? Conversely, what impact does international education have on the world around us globally and locally? How do local realities affect our ability to respond to global imperatives and opportunities? How do we achieve balance between global imperatives and local realities?

How will international education influence and shape the future of the nation and the world?

AIEC 2013 will address these fundamental issues.

The program will feature major thought leaders, practitioners, researchers and other experts from Australia and internationally. Five conference streams reflect and build on the overarching theme.

Mark your diary now for 8-11 October 2013 – National Convention Centre Canberra.

To register your interest www.aiec.idp.com

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‘Frightening’

T

he cost of a university education is set to skyrocket in the next ten years.

Analysis by the Australian Scholarships Group estimated that yearly costs for courses such as accounting, law, veterinary science and medicine degrees would rise from $9792 this year to $15,545 in 2023.

Other popular courses, such as journalism, nursing, teaching and psychology degrees, are tipped to jump from $3447 to $9315 in 2023.

The ASG Cost of University study also predicted that living costs will increase by up to 46 per cent in the next decade for students who rent while at university, with a four-year degree estimated to cost $160,702 in living expenses alone in 2023.

For example, when university course costs and living expenses are combined, over the next decade a four-year law degree will rise from $74,855 to $227,433.

Students wanting to study medicine can expect costs to jump from $118,328 to $356,448 in 2023.

Regional students are expected to be hit the hardest by the rising costs, with many

figures

rural students facing more than double the living expenses compared to metropolitan students who are more likely to live at home during university.

Living expenses for a student living in shared rental accommodation with two other people in a capital city are $14,889 more than a student living in the family home in 2013.

ASG chief executive John Velegrinis said the predicted rise in education costs is “frightening”.

“Many parents plan for their children’s primary and secondary education, only to be blind-sided by university course fees and living expenses,” Velegrinis said.

“The cost of sending three children to university is the equivalent to a brand new family home.”

Velegrinis said that like any other significant life event, planning early is the key to be able to cover education costs.

“Both parents and students need to plan early how they will help cover the costs of university education as the investment is crucial,” he said.

Fees for a Commonwealth-supported

Union criticises reliance on

philanthropy

G

overnment funding, not donations, should be the main source of university income, said National Tertiary Education Union branch president Michael Thomson.

“Government funding should be the primary source of university funds,” he said, following the University of Sydney’s announcement of record-breaking fundraising results.

More than 10,400 individual donors gave about $80.3 million, making the philanthropic support for the university greater than any other Australian higher education institution in 2012.

This was the second consecutive year that the university attracted hefty donations, with 10 individual gifts alone reaching about $1 million.

Thomson said $80 million was “quite a bit of money, but it’s not a significant part of the university’s finances” and that it was not substantial compared with the university’s $1.6 billion business.

He said the university should be campaigning harder to get more federal funding instead of relying on private money.

“My concern is the whole privatisation of our

www.campusreview.com.au

The cost of some degrees could more than double within ten years. university place, transport, computers, study placements and rent were used to estimate the cost of a university education for the survey.

The impact of inflation was considered when calculating the 2023 figures. Third-party sources used by ASG included the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Real Estate Institute of Australia and various universities across Australia. n

education,” Thomson said. “The whole logic of what goes on at universities today is not judged on what’s good for student education, what’s good for research. It’s all about money.”

Vice-chancellor Dr Michael Spence defended the fundraising.

“The ongoing support of our donors plays a critical role in ensuring we remain a world-class institution. Government funding and income from student fees are unlikely to grow significantly as revenue streams for universities nationally in the coming years.”

Spence said the growing number of donors endorsed the university’s work. “Donors recognise that our people have extraordinary potential and make significant contributions to understanding and solving some of the world’s most critical issues.”

He said this high level of giving shows a growing trend of people who invest in higher education institutions. More and more people, he said, share the university’s vision for the future and are confident with its potential to trigger change.

However, Thomson said donations might affect the direction of research and teaching, rather than just allowing people to research and teach without being concerned where the money is coming from.

More than 1400 donors chose to support many of the 500 undergraduate scholarships at the university.

Major donations used in interdisciplinary research and education included $20 million from businessman John Grill and $2 million from David and Judith Coffey.

“Regardless of the dollar value, every gift makes a real difference in the lives of students. The funds raised in 2012 are providing more than 100 bursaries to support students in need,” Spence said.

He said this year would be another big year for fundraising. n March 2013 | 9

news

Sydney defiant in face of

strike action

The university says it needs to maintain financial responisbility.

By Aileen Macalintal

t

he University of Sydney has vowed that recent strike action will have no impact on its pay negotiations with staff.

Over 800 students, unionists and staff turned up to a lunchtime rally in the first week of classes. Protesters picketed the seven entrances to the main campus.

National Tertiary Education Union branch president Michael Thomson said NTEU members were fed up after months of failed negotiations.

“The campus itself was very quiet – the noisiest place was on the picket line with chants of ‘One struggle, one fight. Staff and students out to strike,’” Thomson said.

The large turnout at the university shows how fierce the determination of staff is to fight fairly in the current collective agreement negotiations, he said.

NTEU assistant national secretary Matt McGowan said that Sydney University management was attempting to use the 10 | March 2013

From left: Anne Gardner (CPSU/PSA general secretary NSW), Grant Wheeler (CPSU Sydney University branch president), Michael Thomson (NTEU Sydney University branch president), Matt McGowan (NTEU national assistant secretary), Senator Doug Cameron, David Pink (Sydney University SRC president), Alma Torlakovic (NTEU Sydney University delegate), Senator Lee Rhiannon, Genevieve Kelly (NTEU NSW division secretary)

negotiations as a means of cutting wages and conditions and sidelining the union.

“Sydney University management is obviously wanting to position itself for a possible Coalition government when it should be defending its staff and the university sector more generally,” McGowan said.

A University of Sydney spokesman said the university had already made concessions and that while staff deserved a pay rise, the university needed to be financially responsible.

“The unions were perfectly entitled to

protest, but their relatively small numbers included a number of people from outside the university linked to groups such as Occupy Sydney. Their protest will have no impact on the university’s bargaining position,” the spokesman said.

“The university recognises that our staff do deserve a pay increase, but it can only be a pay increase which is financially responsible and will not lead to the university having to increase revenue by enrolling many more students or putting off long overdue improvements to buildings

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and facilities,” the spokesman said.

“The university has already made a number of concessions and remains ready to continue negotiations with the unions, and is hopeful the unions will be willing to make some concessions to their log of claims, which to date have not been forthcoming.”

Speaking at the protest, federal Labor senator Doug Cameron described university management as “the Praetorian Guard for Tony Abbott”.

State Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, who also spoke at the rally, reflected on The Times Higher Education World University Rankings which saw the University of Sydney in the top 100.

She said the University’s international ranking would suffer. “If management persist with their heavy-handed push to downgrade staff working conditions, such changes would inflict great damage on ... student learning outcomes and research standards.”

Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon said other unions supported the strike both as an act of “solidarity with them but also because we believe in quality tertiary education. Australia faces stiff competition in the decades ahead as Asia develops www.campusreview.com.au

a flourishing middle class. Slashing the quality of our tertiary education is not in the national interest.”

Other speakers included PSA secretary Anne Gardiner, CPSU Sydney University branch president Grant Wheeler, Sydney students’ representative councillor David Pink and staff members.

The existing enterprise agreement expired in May last year. The NTEU logged enterprise bargaining claims near the end of last year.

“They’re treating us in an insulting way, we’re gonna fight,” said Thomson earlier.

He said the NTEU wanted an enterprise agreement that will enhance career prospects for staff and workforce participation among others.

Thomson also said that university management is “offering less job security and wants to reduce sick leave entitlements and cut academic workload provisions”.

He said that management refused to limit the number of academic casuals, “trying to wind back provisions for fixed-term staff to convert to ongoing positions”.

After the record votes gathered in February in favor of industrial action, University of Sydney spokesman Andrew Potter said, “It is extremely disappointing

that around one in ten staff have voted in favour of industrial action which will only hurt our students.”

Reaching an agreement in the best interests of staff and students is the university’s priority, he said.

Potter addressed a number of issues raised by NTEU members.

He said the university needed to make changes and budget responsibly to be a modern, competitive university that provided the best facilities for the staff and students. “A 7 per cent payrise as asked for by the unions would be totally irresponsible and completely at odds with community expectations.

“The university is certainly not lessening job security. This is a research-intensive university and the current 40:40:20 workload allocation will remain the most common arrangement for academic staff.”

He also said the university is proposing to replace casual appointments with more continuing and fixed-term positions.

As for the issue of sick leave, more flexibility for staff was proposed, enabling them to use their leave for carer’s leave, extra parental leave and extra compassionate or bereavement leave. n March 2013 | 11

news

HELP debt tops

u

$26 billion

npaid university debt is costing the government billions of dollars and will continue to increase, according to a research group.

The amount of debt unlikely to be repaid is accumulating yearly as more students take out loans under the HELP student loan scheme, said Connor King, the executive director of Innovative Research Universities.

“The total amount is always growing but that’s the nature of the system,” he said.

As of June last year, the HELP debt was $26.3 billion, according to data from the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

In 2011-12, former students made $1.438 billion in compulsory repayments and $260 million in voluntary repayments.

During the same period, $4.013

billion was reported as new HELP debt, according to DIISRTE. But King said that the rise in outstanding debts was expected, and “nothing we need to worry about”.

He attributed the rise to expansions in the number of students applying for study.

The Gratten Institute estimated that $6.2 billion of the $26.3 billion would never be repaid.

Under the repayment scheme, individuals are only required to repay their loans once their annual income reaches $49,095.

HECS repayments can be avoided by leaving Australia to work in another country, but further payments are due upon return.

“The debt is still there, unless you are planning to leave Australia for life,” King said.

Interest is not charged on higher education loans but they are indexed against inflation.

According to DIISRTE, the average amount outstanding for people with a HELP debt is $15,200.

King quashed the idea of an increase in student charges as a possible solution to reducing the debt. He said it would just increase the loans students take out and increase both individual debt and the total outstanding.

A spokesperson for the Tertiary Education Minister said the HELP debt was expected to increase as more students took advantage of the government’s uncapping of Commonwealth-supported places at public universities. n

ATAR bonus system

s

‘out of control’

set centrally by the outh Australia’s use admissions centre and of bonus points, uniformly applied to all used to boost institutions. In South a student’s Australian Australia, a student might Tertiary Admissions Rank, is get different bonus points “out of control”, according to from each university the University of Adelaide’s for exactly the same vice-chancellor, professor achievement,” he said.

Warren Bebbington.

Bebbington, who “The aim of bonus is board chair of the points is usually to South Australian Tertiary make adjustments that Admissions Centre, assist students from said students and their disadvantaged backgrounds parents would benefit if to compete on a level Warren Bebbington university entry scores playing field, or else to and admission criteria encourage students to enrol were more transparent. South Australia in neglected but important subjects,” is not as accountable as other states, Bebbington said. “In South Australia, they where tertiary admission centres publish are being used so widely and freely, it is the “clearly in” ATAR and the admission difficult to see what objective is achieved. percentage below that score, as well as “In other states, bonus points are

12 | March 2013

the mean ATAR. SATAC is prevented from publishing such information.

Bebbington said the lack of transparency, such as publishing course cut-off scores that include bonus points, leading students to believe their ATAR is inadequate, would negatively influence students’ decisions about what and where to study.

“It’s not helpful to someone who wants to apply for a course to see a published cut-off score that’s 40 points higher than it really is,” he said. “They would change their preference to something else, and potentially miss out on their program of choice because they didn’t have the right information.

“It’s now up to us – the university sector in South Australia and SATAC, with government support – to make sure the system works better for the benefit of students and their families.” n

international news

Recognising management professionals

By PAUL ABELA & ANTONIA MAIOLO

b

ehind every great researcher, lecturer and well-run university, TAFE, polytechnic, wananga or private-sector institution is a huge team of managerial professionals who perform a crucial role in ensuring smooth operations.

For 37 years the Association for Tertiary Education Management has been at the forefront of nurturing and encouraging these professionals.

ATEM has always sought to recognise the achievements of its members and to encourage best practice. In 2012, ATEM, together with Campus Review, held its first awards as part of the Tertiary Education Management Conference in Adelaide, starting what we believe will be a great tradition.

We are therefore delighted to announce that applications are now invited for the 2nd Annual ATEM/Campus Review Awards for Best Practice in Tertiary Education Management.

ATEM members work in student

administration, customer service, research and financial management, human resources and IT. Some also take up leadership roles at faculty and chancellor levels. These days, with an increasingly diverse student body, efficient and capable professional administrators are critical to the support of both academics and students.

Professional staff contribute to the quality of students’ learning experiences and to their educational achievement.

Administrators’ long-term experience gives them invaluable expertise that lends understanding, innovation and consistency to the daily operations of institutions.

ATEM and Campus Review want to recognise administration professionals through these awards. They celebrate not only the winners but all who seek to excel in their profession.

As a lead-in to the 2013 awards, Campus Review will be featuring the winners of the 2012 awards in an effort to highlight best practice in tertiary education management.

See Winning ways, page 24

Participation

The awards this year are: • The LH Martin Award for Excellence in Leadership • The Dragon Naturally Speaking Award for Excellence in Innovation • The Research Master award for Excellence in Research Management • The Higher Ed Services Award for Excellence in Financial Management • The Knowledge Partnership Award for Excellence in Marketing, Communication and Public Relations • The CPSU General Staff Union Award for Excellence in Community Engagement • The HR Global Innovations Award for Excellence in Human Resource Management • The Campus Living Villages Award for Excellence by a New Entrant in Tertiary Education Management • The Award for Excellence in Student Administration and Customer Service • The Award for Excellence in Information Technology Management

up for

disadvantaged students

A

ustralia may be closer than previously thought to its target for higher-education participation by underprivileged students, according to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

In 2009, the federal government said it wanted to raise the proportion of undergraduate students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds to 20 per cent by 2020. In the latest ACER Joining the Dots briefing, principal research fellow Dr Daniel Edwards estimated the current figure at 18.5 per cent.

Edwards used a new measure of SES that is based on students’ residential address prior to attending university. He used data from the 2011 census, which has information on residence five years prior to the census date.

Currently, the official

www.campusreview.com.au

measure of SES in Australian higher education factors in current residential address as well as Centrelink benefits.

By this measure, about 14.3 per cent of undergraduate students are from low-SES backgrounds.

“While this [new] exploratory measure is still a relatively blunt instrument,” Edwards said, “the findings here suggest that prior address may offer a more accurate indication of the SES background of higher-education students, given that many of this cohort move house to

attend university, and that the SES of their residential area once enrolled at university may not reflect their original SES background.”

University students were more likely to have moved in the previous five years (with 46 per cent moving) than the overall Australian population (38 per cent), based on 2011 census data.

While the new measure suggests Australia may be closer to the target than expected, the proportion has in fact barely changed since 2006, despite the large growth in university enrolments in recent years. Between 2006 and 2011, the growth in the number of low-SES students (24.7 per cent) was actually slightly less than the overall growth in the sector (25.1 per cent).

“Achieving the 20 per cent target by the end of the decade is still a big challenge,” Edwards said. n March 2013 | 13

policy & reform

The

hunt for

funds Universities need to speed up the search for alternative sources of finance. By Louis White

14 | March 2013

policy & reform

I

t was back in 1986 when the federal government introduced a $250 Higher Education Administration Charge to help offset the cost of tertiary education.

Fees for post-graduate courses soon followed, and in 1988 the Higher Education Funding Act passed the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, which took effect in 1989.

Those fees have risen steadily since, with Commonwealth Supported Places ranging from $5000 upwards and full-fee paying students facing up to $100,000 for a degree.

But that, and the rise of international students, who bring in billions of dollars, is still not enough for universities to adequately cover costs and reinvest in their tertiary institutions.

The Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education’s 2011 finance report revealed that revenue for Australian universities totalled $23.658 billion, of which $13.3 billion (56 per cent) came from the Commonwealth (including research funds).

A further $5.45 billion (23 per cent) derived from fees and charges, threequarters of which was from overseas students. Investment income was the next largest category, accounting for 3.6 per cent in 2011, while the remaining 17 per cent came from a wide range of sources each with their own characteristic features in terms of fundraising.

The pressure to raise external funds is increasing with the likelihood that federal government funding, no matter which political party wins in September, will either stagnate or face heavy cuts.

All universities across Australia are now focusing heavily on external fundraising and restructuring administration to better coordinate efforts and to make it a priority.

“At the Queensland University of Technology, the top-level academic organisational units are the faculties, and they have primary responsibility for bringing in the revenue to support their operations,” said the university’s acting vice-chancellor, professor Carol Dickenson.

“There is also central university activity to provide leadership for particular aspects, and for whole-of-university fundraising campaigns, such areas are typically known as development in universities.

“There are many different approaches taken by different universities. At QUT we have not undertaken structural change based on fundraising needs, but there are incentives built in to various management processes, which encourage nongovernment income generation. These can include targets or specific activities in individual performance agreements for senior managers,” Dickenson said.

QUT has approximately 42,000 students,

www.campusreview.com.au

It is becoming increasingly important for universities to dedicate resources into attracting nongovernment funding.

Jeanette Hacket

including 6000 from overseas (16 per cent), and an annual budget in excess of $750 million. While the national average of overseas students is 17 per cent, it varies greatly and is as high as 33 per cent at some universities.

QUT’s other sources of nongovernment income include the alumni and development team that facilitates philanthropy at QUT, acting as the key fundraisers for various university causes.

These include scholarships, bursaries, prizes and endowments that support QUT students, research funds, community projects and the growth of QUT facilities and infrastructure.

The corporate partnerships and development team has responsibility for coordinating and facilitating improvement in QUT’s activities in the provision of education, primarily at postgraduate level, to corporate clients.

“In the case of Commonwealth recurrent, or block, funding (which is used to cover the salaries of most staff as well as contribute to a range of other activities of the university), grants are indexed at an amount below that of cost growth, and so over time this puts greater pressure on that part of university budgets derived from base grant funding,” Dickenson said.

“It is therefore very important for universities to seek other forms of income to provide flexibility and options for deriving surpluses that might be reinvested.”

At Curtin University in Western Australia, income received from overseas students totals 22.8 per cent of their income while ‘other research’ and ‘investment income’ total 2.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent respectively. The university’s total income for 2012 was $792.4 million.

Curtin has been active in seeking alternative funding arrangements for

a decade, believing that this is the key to university survival in the future.

“It is becoming increasingly important for universities to dedicate resources into attracting non-government funding,” said Jeanette Hacket, Curtin’s vice-chancellor.

“In particular, Curtin has invested in developing its fundraising capability and the university has a dedicated Office of Advancement, which harnesses Curtin’s growing reputation to provide advice and support to university groups seeking philanthropic support from individuals and the community.”

Curtin University has received gifts from the Curtin Foundation, which was created to drive philanthropic activities.

The foundation was established with an inaugural gift from Gordon Martin, a former Curtin chancellor.

Curtin FM, Western Australia’s largest community radio station based at Curtin’s Bentley campus, received a Lotterywest grant of $712,871 to enable it to upgrade infrastructure over the next two years.

“Curtin prides itself on its industryrelevant courses and career-ready graduates which are based upon strong industry partnerships with BHP Billiton, Shell, GE Oil and Gas, Chevron and Woodside,” Hacket said.

“These industry partnerships also contribute to Curtin’s research expertise.”

In 2011, the Curtin engineering pavilion complex stage I was successfully initiated with the support of industry partnerships.

“This engagement has continued with completion of stage II in 2012. The complex received $20.5 million in round two of the federal government’s Education Investment Fund. Curtin committed $9.5 million of its own funds and attracted $2.5 million from industry partners including Woodside, Rio Tinto, BHP and Clough.”

March 2013 | 15

policy & reform Curtin has already invested in its intellectual property commercialisation, and this will only grow in the future. The Office of Advancement is within the portfolio of the vice-president, corporate relations and development.

But they are aware of the need to continually seek outside funds from traditional sources, especially if the Australian dollar remains high and competition from other countries intensifies.

Mark Barnaba is one person who is fully aware of the need for universities to diversify their fundraising activities. As chairman of the Macquarie Group, Western Australia, he is attuned to the need for alternative sources of capital.

Although it is not just in business that Barnaba is a leader. He is chairman of the University of Western Australia’s business school board and an adjunct professor in investment banking and finance there.

“It is a great challenge for universities going forward to seek alternative streams of revenue as I believe that federal government funding will either stagnate or be reduced throughout the next five to 10 years,” Barnaba said.

“Australia is way behind the United States when it comes to seeking funds from sources such as alumni, philanthropists

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and working more in conjunction with business, and I think within balance it is a good thing because it will make universities more efficient and focused.”

Barnaba is no slouch himself when it comes to academic study. He won the JA Wood University medal for top graduate for his Bachelor of Commerce degree at UWA before graduating with a high distinction as a Baker Scholar with an MBA from Harvard Business School.

The University of Sydney seems to be well ahead of most universities in Australia when it comes to diversifying revenue streams. According to its 2011 annual report, 16 per cent of income comes from private sources, 29.8 per cent from research and consultancy activities and only 17 per cent from Commonwealth operating grants.

“It is very important to dedicate resources into attracting non-government funding especially as government operating grants have been steadily decreasing as a percentage of overall revenue,” a Sydney University spokesperson said.

“In 2002, the Commonwealth operating grant was 19 per cent and in 2011 it had slipped to 17 per cent.”

The University of Sydney does not provide a breakdown of income derived

from overseas students, merely classifying both local and overseas students together, which equates to $548 million or 34 per cent. It is believed that the overseas student component is about 50 per cent of that revenue but the university knows it needs other sources.

“Tim Dolan is the director of development and is in charge of the portfolio of fundraising, but each of the 16 deans and the academic leadership have clearly defined fundraising key performance indicators,” the spokesperson said.

“A big part of the University of Sydney’s recent success is derived from this model of shared responsibility around building a university-wide culture of philanthropy.

“In 2011, the University of Sydney raised over $79 million in philanthropy and in 2012 more than $80.3 million – more philanthropic support than any other Australian higher education institution each year.

“As universities have become more successful in securing private support, fundraising teams have been steadily increasing. Still, that personnel growth has been fairly modest in comparison to the augmented philanthropic revenue.

“In 2009, the University of Sydney’s development office was staffed by approximately 40 people bringing

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We are at the forefront of developments in traditional areas, such as civil, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering, as well as emerging fields like food, pharmaceutical engineering, healthcare, renewable energy, water and climate change.

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policy & reform

Monish Paul

in revenue of $33 million. Today our development team consists of around 50 people, but we now raise around $80 million in revenue.”

Professional services firm Deloitte Australia believes that universities have three ‘value creation’ levers at their disposal.

“These are firstly, ensuring revenue growth and diversification; secondly,

focusing on their operating margin; and thirdly, putting in place initiatives to ensure asset optimisation, all supporting a clear and differentiated teaching and research strategy,” said Monish Paul, Deloitte Australia’s lead partner, education sector.

“Successful universities are those that look at all three levers from a holistic perspective, and have executable strategies targeted at optimising each of them.

“Universities continue to face ‘margin squeeze’ as costs increase whilst revenues remain flat. Universities need to constantly look at optimising their cost-to-serve base by improving all professional services functions such as human resources, student administration, research and academic administration and technology, to name a few. Successful initiatives are those that are looking at transformational models around the service delivery, process re-engineering, optimising technology to automate processes and increased focus on people capacity and capability,” Paul said.

He also points out that universities are way behind the commercial world when it comes to asset optimisation as most have massive land and infrastructure holdings.

“In the higher education sector, it is fairly standard to see returns of around 1.5 per

cent to 2 per cent on capital assets which are significantly less than in the commercial world,” Paul said. “Those looking to increase their rate of return are looking at ‘on campus’ commercial developments such as student and/or residential housing, the creation of commercial precincts or industry specific hubs that are linked to key research areas of strength.”

Deloitte is a big believer in business becoming more involved with universities, believing that both parties would benefit.

“Whilst there is much activity in this area, more can be done,” Paul said. “Whether it is through scholarships, partnering in research projects, engaging academics as consultants or contributing towards capital assets, such as school buildings and facilities (and in turn owning a share of the asset as an investment or through different financing techniques such as PPPs).

“Unique investment vehicles are being explored in some overseas countries such as social bond, which may need further analysis in an Australian context.”

The search will continue to seek alternative avenues of revenue outside federal government funding and international student fees. That search needs to be at a quicker pace. n

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March 2013 | 17

policy & reform

Teachers without

Borders How much will MOOCs transform education?

By Leigh Wood and Sherman Young

M

assive Open Online Courses are free university-level courses that are open to students around the

globe.

While they have a longer history built around a pedagogy of participant collaboration, the term has been captured more recently by institutions that have emphasised their Massive and Open nature.

The starting point for this most recent form of MOOCs was Peter Norvig’s free 2012 Stanford class in artificial intelligence, which attracted more than 100,000 enrolments.

Since then, several universities worldwide have created a number of MOOCs, with their key selling points being the institutional brand and charismatic, and often celebrity, lecturers. The number of MOOCs available is rising exponentially – every day seems to bring a new one.

Over the past year, a number of companies have sprung up with platforms to support MOOCs, the biggest being Udacity, Coursera and edX. Each of these has partnered with prominent universities to deliver courses in topics which traverse the range of disciplines.

Although courses are mushrooming, at present the majority are UK- and UScentric and presented in English but their students appear to come from around the world.

The MOOC format encourages students to engage with the material in their own way – setting up forums in different languages; organising location-specific meet-ups; and crowd-sourcing the production of subtitles 18 | March 2013

in other languages.

Despite the investment and the institutional reputations involved, production values are variable.

Some courses provide videos of existing face-to-face lectures, while others provide more broadcast quality content; the course may be a direct copy of one taught on campus or a course designed specifically for the MOOC. Much of the teaching activity revolves around the building of communities of learning using discussion forums. These are sometimes supported by the teaching staff, but from a learning perspective a positive feature of MOOC learning is that students have tended to take over the forums and answer each other’s questions.

Assessment requirements vary as well, although many of the tasks are quizzes where marking can be automated.

Others, particularly in the humanities, are assessed by peer review and participants are required to mark submissions in order to have their own papers marked.

In some courses, a certificate is available for those who complete the required assessment tasks.

The opportunity, or threat, is clearly in the Massive descriptor. Enrolment numbers in MOOCs to date have been vast, commonly in the tens of thousands and sometimes more than 100,000.

As an example of the scale we are talking about, Coursera (https://www.coursera. org/) has around 2.5 million students with 215 courses from 33 universities.

While enrolments have been huge, completions have not been as substantial.

The courses clearly state the expectations, typically about 10 hours engagement per week, and the prior knowledge required to engage with the course.

Herein lies one of the problems with education: learning takes time and effort and, like a New Year’s resolution, is hard to follow through. Many people sign up for MOOCs and few complete. There is no penalty for not completing, there is no filtering of participants and rewards are nebulous.

Despite the low completion rates, there are still thousands of students participating in MOOCs which previously would have been available to only a few hundred on campus.

But before MOOCs can be heralded as a panacea for more open global learning, there are concerns that need to be addressed.

For example, some argue that it is impossible to authenticate the identity of participants – how do we know that Max Smart is actually doing the work? For us, this is not a new question – even in face-toface courses, issues of identity have been problematic – and it is an unresolved one.

MOOCs are no different.

Also, teaching at this scale is not easy.

Not only are there concerns about the capacity of infrastructure – it is little wonder that many of the new MOOC companies have close ties with Silicon Valley – but there is nowhere for a teacher to hide when you have 10,000 students.

Good teaching is good teaching, however it is delivered, and while it may be a small cost to deliver per student, it is

policy & reform not cheap to develop an excellent online offering.

Education is about learning, about expanding and developing individuals and peoples of the world. The number of people, young and old, who need learning is enormous.

The current university models are expensive and labour intensive, combining the creation of knowledge through research with the dissemination of knowledge through teaching and learning. Instead, MOOCs put learning out there for anyone with access to the internet and English language ability.

The rising adoption of smart phones and tablets suggests that developing countries may leapfrog older technologies of online access, just as mobile phones have become ubiquitous in some regions which never had landlines.

The big question is, though: why are top universities distributing their courses for free?

At the moment, there is no clear answer.

There are advertising benefits because students participate in these courses and then may wish to enrol in the institution.

There are social benefits since good students from disadvantaged backgrounds can access knowledge; and there are research benefits as educators can

gather extraordinary amounts of data on participants and their engagement with learning.

How money can be made from this is still being explored, as is how to use all that data.

For traditional universities, MOOCs pose an intriguing threat to centuries of entrenched practices and a strong business model.

Physical universities will probably persist because of the research agenda and because they work extremely well for those students who are privileged to be able to attend.

But MOOCs offer a way to disseminate higher education around the globe to enable learning for groups and individuals who have not previously had access.

We will all have to engage in one way or another. Open online courses will expand and the quality of production and learning activities will increase dramatically.

The data collected from participants will help the design of better online learning and also benefit students studying on campus.

Advances in platform development and learning design will spread quickly around the globe and, as content becomes ubiquitous, universities will respond by

focusing on areas of strength.

Some may offer assessment-only programs where students will do their learning online using free resources, and then be tested by the university to qualify for an award.

One of the key challenges of 21st-century university education is to sustain the motivation to engage effectively and deeply with learning.

There is a lot to learn and our problems are not simple. We need deep and effective learners to tackle the issues of the planet and our place on it. MOOCs can be part of the solution.

In the end though, we believe universities are supporting open learning because they can.

The technology is available and staff are willing and energised. The possibility of disseminating your discipline and research around the world is thrilling and the interaction with large numbers of students is invigorating.

Watch this space! n Professor Leigh Wood and Professor Sherman Young are associate deans at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University.

The 2013 ATEM/Campus Review Awards for Best Practice in Tertiary Education Management ATEM and Campus Review are seeking entrants to the 2nd annual Best Practice awards.

The categories are:

These exciting awards will once again showcase the wonderful work being achieved by our professionals in tertiary education management

u Excellence in Student Administration and Customer Service

The awards will be presented at the Awards ceremony of the TEMC conference in September 2013 in Hobart.

To find out more phone: 9351 9719 or visit: www.atem.org.au/awards Join ATEM and check out our catalogue of professional development courses.

Bulding professionalism and advancing your career.

u The LH Martin Institute Award for Excellence in Leadership

u The Knowledge Partnership Award for Excellence in Marketing, Communication and Public Relations u The DragonNaturally speaking Award for Excellence in Innovation u The Research Master Award for Excellence in Research Management u The HES award Excellence in Financial Management u The Global HR Innovations Award for Excellence in Human Resource Management u Excellence in IT Management u The CPSU award for Excellence in Community Engagement u The Campus Living Villages award for Excellence by a New Entrant in Tertiary Education

www.campusreview.com.au

March 2013 | 19

policy & reform

Onwards and upwards for

TEQSA

The agency aims for a flexible approach to allow providers to adapt and thrive in response to changes in the higher education market.

By Carol Nicoll

T

he Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency has been in existence as Australia’s independent national regulator of higher education for just over a year.

In that time, TEQSA has collaborated closely with the higher education sector and other key stakeholders to build the foundations of an effective and efficient regulatory agency. Our focus is on protecting both the interests of students and the health of Australia’s fourth-largest export industry.

The TEQSA regulatory model is without precedent either nationally or internationally. Based on our experience to date, we believe our approach is robust.

This year, we will focus on consolidation and ensuring we remain expert and fair, and vigilant in reducing the impost of regulation on providers.

We regulate against the national set of quality standards, the Threshold Standards, and apply careful judgement to ensure that every decision made by us is informed by our regulatory principles of risk, proportionality and regulatory necessity.

We have also commenced important work to fulfil our mandate under the TEQSA Act to conduct quality assurance.

Our first two quality assessments focus on third-party arrangements and English language proficiency. We see quality assessments as an important way to support the sector to improve quality, n ot only to meet minimum standards.

We recognise the critical importance of transparency and consultation in our approach.

For the first time, students and the community have access to a national register of higher education providers, currently listing 170 registered providers and 1041 TEQSA accredited courses. It is a central, authoritative source of information

20 | March 2013

about providers and the courses they offer.

We will soon be consulting on the provision of further information about a provider’s regulatory history through the national register.

We are committed to clear lines of communication and dialogue with the sector. In the past year, we have consulted with the sector on our approaches to regulatory risk, data collection, register guidelines and fee thresholds. We have adjusted our approach, where possible, to take account of issues raised by providers.

I have personally met with numerous vice-chancellors and CEOs across the sector to discuss the ways we can work together to strengthen the delivery of higher education.

My fellow commissioners and other senior staff have spoken at many conferences and forums to explain TEQSA’s role and regulatory approaches.

We have established three reference groups: data and information; regulatory risk; and regulation and quality assessment. Membership of these groups draws on experts from the sector and from other industries, giving TEQSA access to in-depth experience and expert opinion.

We also use external experts to ensure we can access specialised knowledge where this is required.

Our case management approach, whereby each provider has a designated case manager as a point of contact for regulatory matters and information, is strongly supported by the sector.

We are now completing risk assessments that will deliver information about all higher education providers.

TEQSA will be consulting the sector for feedback on our regulatory risk framework when we review its operation later this year.

The agency is committed to streamlining our processes to reduce the regulatory

policy & reform impost on providers. We take seriously evidence-based critique of our approaches or suggestions for streamlining our business processes or policies.

As well as implementing improvements identified through consultations and our internal business reviews, we are working closely with the Australian Skills Quality Authority to streamline processes for multisector providers.

A key area for attention is reducing duplication in the parallel processes for accountability presently required by the TEQSA Act and the ESOS Act. In the interests of regulatory certainty, we will avoid making piecemeal changes, but will announce a package of revised processes later this year.

The tertiary sector is moving towards greater integration. In July last year, we took on delegated responsibility under the ESOS Act for all CRICOS obligations, not only for higher education providers but also for 28 ELICOS providers and two foundation program providers. We now have the capacity to take a holistic view in relation to the quality of higher education, and its regulation.

The agency recognises that it has a significant role in instilling confidence internationally in the quality of Australian

higher education. Our international strategy has three main objectives: fostering cooperative relations with overseas regulatory and quality assurance agencies; extending TEQSA’s capacity to conduct regulatory activities overseas where Australian institutions are active; and building confidence in Australia’s higher education sector.

In late February this year, TEQSA signed memoranda of cooperation with the United Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency and Singapore’s Council for Private Education, to formalise existing ties, particularly in the areas of information sharing, dialogue on best practice and joint projects on quality assurance and regulatory matters.

TEQSA encourages innovative approaches to teaching and learning, research and business operations in higher education. The standards-based approach is flexible enough to allow providers to adapt and thrive in response to changes in the domestic and international higher education market.

A particular topic of interest in the sector is the emergence of new forms of online technology, such as multimedia, video and online conferencing tools, podcasting lectures and ‘online only’ courses. When designed effectively,

eLearning is recognised for its potential to enhance learning and to increase student accessibility to higher education.

The TEQSA Act supports multiple means through which higher education can be delivered. Providers are required to demonstrate that outcomes for students will be achieved, whatever the chosen method of delivery. Our focus remains on ensuring the interests of students are protected.

The evidence supplied by providers to demonstrate compliance will be different to other delivery modes, but the standards remain constant. TEQSA will be issuing an information sheet shortly to explain our approach to the regulation of providers currently employing or contemplating the use of online technologies.

Australia’s higher education sector continues to change and evolve in response to the dynamic context of domestic reform and international competition. TEQSA is an essential part of the higher education architecture, supporting the ongoing delivery of quality education and a strong advocate for the sector in many forums. n Dr Carol Nicoll is TEQSA’s chief commissioner.

Vice-Chancellor and President The University of Western Sydney (UWS) seeks to appoint a successor to Professor Janice Reid who will conclude her term in December 2013 after successfully leading the University since 1998. Professor Reid has overseen the significant development of UWS into a vibrant and large metropolitan university with a rapidly growing profile and reputation in the sector. The new Vice-Chancellor will embrace UWS’s mission, vision and values, bringing the leadership, commitment, energy and vision required to deliver on its promise to the students, staff and region.

Founded in 1989, UWS is uniquely the inheritor of Greater Western Sydney’s diverse historical traditions and the aspirations of its people. The University is committed to an academic focus that is contemporary, interdisciplinary, creative, innovative and international in its outlook.

UWS has a number of outstanding areas of research concentration which have an excellent reputation nationally and internationally. The University is also performing strongly in national competitive grant income and national research assessments.

With over 40,000 students enrolled across its campuses in a comprehensive range of academic disciplines, UWS is a substantial and influential institution.

As the academic head and Chief Executive Officer of UWS, the Vice-Chancellor will have (among other attributes): • doctoral level academic qualifications, a strong

understanding of what constitutes excellence and innovation in teaching and demonstrated success in research and research leadership; • a highly engaged, broad and strategic

understanding of the nature and context of, and challenges for, the higher education sector nationally and internationally;

• an understanding of, and demonstrable

support for, the University’s mission, values and commitment to the Greater Western Sydney and Asia-Pacific regions; • demonstrated successful leadership of a

complex organisation, including experience in managing human, physical, technological and financial resources; • experience in strategic leadership including

Application Process

• demonstrated strength in building effective

networks, which may be with business, governments or the community, together with evidence of standing and impact as a public intellectual; and • outstanding communication, collaboration and

negotiation skills, the capacity to inspire others and the ability to interact authentically with people from all walks of life.

leading successful institutional innovation;

Potential applicants should direct their enquiries to the consultant advising the University on this appointment: Elaine Connor Managing Consultant, Jo Fisher Executive Search Email: vcuws@jofisher.com Phone: +61 2 8569 4900 An information booklet is available for prospective candidates. Applications close 15 April 2013

www.campusreview.com.au

March 2013 | 21

policy & reform

Devil in the detail Australia’s international standing depends on careful implementation of the Chaney report’s goals.

By Helen Zimmerman

I

t is with mixed emotions that those of us who have worked in the international education sector for many years read the International Education Advisory Council’s report – Australia – Educating Globally . At last we have the whole-of-government recognition that our sector has been lacking. Yet a great deal of goodwill will be required to ensure that the governance and strategy implementation challenges are now realised.

Michael Chaney and his council are to be commended for undertaking a genuine consultation process with the breadth of stakeholders in the international education sector. The council’s discussion paper, published in April last year, was distributed widely and generated 51 written submissions.

The final report was somewhat delayed, allowing the council to incorporate many related issues raised in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper released by the federal government last October. The delay also permitted the council to factor in the latest available DIAC and AEI international student visa applications and enrolment data. This assisted the report in providing some initial tracking of student visa trends subsequent to the new regulatory reform framework that institutions commenced implementing early last year.

While early days yet, the Chaney report maintains that its “best estimate” is that Australia can expect to be hosting an additional 117,000 international students by 2020, a 30 percent increase on current enrolment figures. The potential for more young Australians to travel overseas to gain greater intercultural perspectives and experiences and the focus on increased online and offshore delivery are also regarded as cause for optimism.

As is so often the case, however, the devil will be in the detail of this report’s seven key issues and 35 recommendations. The establishment of a Ministerial Coordinating Council on International Education chaired by the minister for tertiary education and including ministers from relevant portfolios together with other stakeholders is a very welcome initiative.

Given that this “high-level” council is only expected to meet twice per year, the challenge will be how to ensure consistent advocacy and policy input from key industry stakeholders and how to ensure coordinated and integrated government, business,

22 | March 2013

regulator and industry strategy implementation, which up to now has not been a hallmark of our processes.

The fact that one of the first tasks of the MCCIE will be to “formulate a work plan” for a five-year international education strategy that will be based on the recommendations of the Chaney report, suggests that an overarching strategy for our sector is still some way off. Hopefully, much of the nuts and bolts policy work will devolve quickly to working groups established from within the ministerial council.

Those working in the sector will also be relieved to hear that there should now be a “settling in period” for the new regulatory agencies. The implementation of the separate Baird and Knight reviews has posed enormous challenges for institutions. Reform fatigue has become a catchcry. This will not mean, however, that TEQSA and ASQA will be able to anticipate business as usual. The Chaney team is keen to ensure that these somewhat controversial new gatekeepers have their progress monitored “in refining regulatory processes, including the course approval process”.

The gatekeeping role of the Genuine Temporary Entrant Test will also be subject to a review after twelve months – a date which is upon us!

Deserved praise has been forthcoming for the report’s focus on enhanced student service delivery. The theme of this important section is that, wherever possible, international students should be treated in an equal way to domestic students. In welcoming this aspect of the Chaney report, the Council of International Students of Australia was, with IEAA and other stakeholders, quick to point out that many of the student services referred to such as transport concessions, access to public hospitals, off-campus accommodation and meaningful welfare support are currently mostly within the jurisdiction of the state and territory governments.

It can only be hoped that the ministerial council will play a key role in facilitating the achievement of the report’s goals.

One section of the Chaney report that came in for particular media attention was a recommendation to consider increasing the bonus points available from five to ten for an Australian education qualification in the skilled migration points test.

Before commentators get too excited over this proposal, they need reminding that ten migration points out of the total of sixty points now required is a long way short of the 50 per cent of migration points that used to be awarded to hairdressing and cooking course graduates. Clearly, much has been learnt along the way and the proposal is a sensible and moderate one that will see Australian-educated graduates on a path that brings benefits to Australia and their global careers.

The international education sector now waits with interest to see how the federal government and the new portfolio ministers will respond formally to each of the report’s 35 recommendations.

Hopefully, Chaney and his fellow IEAC members will have time to reflect on a job well done but with a significant work plan now envisaged to be put into effect. Our sector deserves nothing less than concerted effort in the interests of all of our students and our quality education institutions.

Australia’s international standing depends on it. n Helen Zimmerman is president of the International Education Association of Australia, and has served as a director of the NSW VET Board, the National ELT Accreditation Scheme, English Australia and is a senior executive at Navitas Ltd.

policy & reform

Survival

of the

T

fittest

he relief felt by the research community late last year when the freeze on Commonwealth research grants was lifted should not blind universities to the real message of the extended funding pause.

The higher education sector has been well supported over the past decade, an investment which has enabled Australia’s universities to climb the world ranking tables such that we now have one of the best tertiary education systems in the world.

Which major industries, other than mining, can Australia claim to have the top seven performers in the world (2012 QS World Rankings)? Like our banks, but unlike many US universities, our universities are financially sound with strong balance sheets and spend within their means.

The 2012 research funding pause signalled that the ommonwealth budget is going to be tight for years to come and universities will need to be more proactive and adaptive if they are to continue to maintain or grow their international status.

The higher education sector is facing powerful forces of change. First, the move to a demand driven system for enrolments has increased competition and created greater uncertainty around future student numbers.

Second, the pausing of research funding indicated that the federal budget does not have the capacity to maintain funding of the sector as it has over the past decade.

Third, the traditional modes of teaching and structure of award courses are outdated; digital media and the internet are transforming teaching methods, both on and off campus.

Fourth, competition for international researchers and students is increasing from Asian universities which are also climbing the world rankings.

The Australian higher education sector has great growth potential given its world-

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class research capability and status, growing student market, and bipartisan support as an industry of national strategic priority. However, with constrained funding, increasing competition and profound change in education needs, our universities must find ways to adapt and be more selfreliant, which they can do by considering three broad options to grow revenue.

Increase industry research income Research income accounts for 13 per cent of revenue in the $24.4 billion sector, with flow-on Research Infrastructure Block Grant funding contributing another 7 per cent. The Group of Eight universities, however, have the major share, accounting for two-thirds of all research income, and three-quarters of Category 1 of the Australian Competitive Grants Register.

There is major opportunity, especially for the non-Go8 universities that often find it difficult to compete for Category 1, to grow funding from industry which, unlike Commonwealth funding, is not limited to a legislated pool.

Rather, industry funding is typically predicated on the development of compelling business cases for research projects which offer increased market competitiveness for the sponsor. There is great room for improvement in how the research sector approaches the private sector for funding of research projects.

Increase revenue streams from consultancy, contract research and commercialisation of intellectual property $1.1 billion or 5 per cent of industry revenue comes from consultancy and contracts and that amount can be grown through stronger industry links. In 2011, 12 out of the 38 public universities did not report any IP revenue and only six reported IP income more than $5 million. This result can be

A prosperous future awaits for universities prepared to adapt to a changing landscape, writes Craig Lofts improved through earlier engagement with industry partners to guide universities’ choice of R&D programs and to stimulate a dialogue around IP commercialisation arrangements that can benefit both research and commercial interests.

Increasing student numbers to grow Commonwealth grants and course fee revenues is now a greater opportunity under the demand-driven system Three ways to increase enrolments are: capture market share from other Australian universities; attract more international students; and create innovative courses to attract new segments of students.

Each of our universities needs to ensure that it has a focused strategy which it is organised to implement, and that means asking itself some key questions. Which academic disciplines will it be above world class at? What industry links and partnerships will it develop? What revenue streams will be grown for research, IP, consultancy, and teaching? How will it differentiate through innovation in learning and teaching? Which student segments will it position to attract and educate?

How will it focus the organisation of human, knowledge, physical and financial resources to realise the strategy?

Hard strategic choices and the focusing of the university organisation is the true challenge of a sector facing unprecedented uncertainty and constrained Commonwealth funding.

There are exciting futures for those which innovate and proactively adapt to the changing landscape. n Craig Lofts is a consultant at Consulting & Implementation Services (CIS) Pty Ltd (www.consultingis.com.au), a management consultancy with extensive experience in the Australian higher education and research sector.

March 2013 | 23

policy & reform

Big picture C

hanges to the assessment of research are having profound effects on the demands of research leadership.

The shift in emphasis from the quantity of publications to the quality of publications has sharpened the focus of the individual researcher and the research leader to produce fewer, higher quality publications.

Furthermore, those leaders of research concentrations are seeing greater expectations to lead a group accessing resources from multiple sources and growing levels of academic accountability.

In the face of these changes, there are many research leaders struggling with the new leadership roles thrust upon them in this new and rapidly changing environment.

This view is supported by professor Paul Gollan, associate dean (research) in the faculty of business and economics at Macquarie University, who said: “Research leadership is riding a wave of change that has the potential to leave many academics in the shallows. University senior managers are now realising that it is research groups, that is, centres and institutes, which will drive a critical mass of research excellence rather than the sole academic. However, in many universities the leadership of these groups is problematic.”

While the Ernst and Young report University of the Future focused largely on teaching, technology and new business models, the essential and changing role of research leadership was largely ignored.

Whereas the focus of the past was individual performance, now we are seeing a shift to ‘building capacity’ through the establishment of research groups within universities. Many research academics will struggle with this change. We are seeing a fundamental shift of emphasis from ‘the leading researcher’ to ‘the research leader.’

This shift in emphasis, combined with tighter research funding, demands new skills for individuals who lead research groups.

24 | March 2013

Professor Jim Piper, deputy vicechancellor at Macquarie University, discusses the concept of the ‘self-limiting researcher’ as someone who wants to control the agenda so much that they cannot or will not pursue broader goals through others. “Research leaders need to develop the skills to see a contribution that lies beyond their own direct capacity to an outcome that will rely on the work of others. This bigger picture or research vision inspires young researchers to orient their careers in that direction,” Piper said.

Professor Nadia Rosenthal, director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, also challenges the status quo of research leadership. “The world of the research leader has changed; like a business, a research group with a strong future now often needs to have diverse income streams,” she said. “Today’s research leaders must oversee the attraction of resources from multiple sources. Strategic and ongoing relationships with industry and government that do not compromise the research, are critical for sustained research funding.”

Professor Rosenthal elaborates that this drive for strategic partnerships must be supported by a research vision that goes beyond personal interest.

At a recent session of the Ethos Research Leaders Forum, she encouraged participants to craft a vision that captured the “really big picture, the contribution to society beyond the research papers.

Get this vision right and you will help attract research funding from international sources,” Rosenthal said.

Gollan expands this concept by seeing major challenges for senior researchers with a background in writing research grants to clearly and concisely communicate the benefits of the research to people who do not have a background in their discipline. “This concise message

Leading researchers need to become research leaders, writes Mark Douglas

must be in a polished two- to three-minute pitch and supported by a one-page written pitch,” he explains.

Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, director of NICTA, sees the organisation culture of the research group as one of the key challenges facing research leaders in today’s universities. Durrant-Whyte called on research leaders to “build a culture of generosity and support within their research groups to confront the competiveness between colleagues.

“A research team that understands, supports and advocates for each other’s research is a great place to work and is impressive to visiting researchers and some potential funders,” he said.

Gollan believes universities need to upgrade the skills of their research leaders in strategy, research communication and measuring research impact, and to complement these new skills with performance measures that are more broadly based to reflect growing demands from the public, politicians and industry while also emphasising that pure (not just applied) research is important and forms the basis and foundation of practical research.

While the number of undergraduate students is responsible for much of the income to universities, the international reputation of universities lies in the research expertise of the academic staff. As we look forward to a vision of 10 Australian universities in the top 100 international universities by 2025, it’s clear that this will be achieved in large part by our universities taking increasing responsibility for the development of their leading researchers into effective research leaders. n Mark Douglas is the director of Ethos Australia Pty Ltd and founder of the Ethos Research Leaders Forum.

policy & reform

L

Winning ways

Past winners of ATEM awards come from Australia and New Zealand.

Here Campus Review profiles two of last year’s winners as we lead up to this year’s awards.

ast year two organisations shared the Oracle/Right Now award for Excellence in Student Administration and Customer Service. The award was won by the University of Melbourne’s Student Service delivery team and Otago Polytechnic’s IT Service Help Desk.

The University of Melbourne

In 2011, the Student Service delivery team in Melbourne embarked on a mission to improve customer service throughout student services, led by Tammy Fitzgerald and Zane Sadat.

The key strategy for achieving improvement was engaging hundreds of staff across faculties, graduate schools and central services in developing and implementing a student service commitment.

Other important initiatives included the establishment of a Contact Centre for the university; training programs and materials (printed, online, videos featuring their own staff) which developed individual and collective capacity in handling enquiries; the negotiation of agreed referral protocols; ongoing professional development, including an annual conference and networking opportunities for front-line staff; and a monthly service commitment award which recognised high performance.

Through a Students @ Work initiative to employ Melbourne students on campus, more than 100 students have been employed as part-time enquiries staff, which has informed the university’s customer service practice as well as providing students with valuable employment experience.

The exercise was informed by the CBSA benchmarking program which involves the random calling and assessment of staff.

The university was ranked 4th throughout Australia in the 2011 benchmarking survey. (ATEM and CBSA conduct benchmarking surveys each year prior to the Student Services Centre Conferences in May.)

What the judges said

“This is an exemplary, comprehensively consultative, substantial change program effecting a very large institution. Clients participate in service delivery, notably affirming people with impairments and outlying social positioning. It employs overtly high-level implementation to encourage support. The single student service notion is extended from classic internal functional locations to any internal and external point where students receive service.”

Otago Polytechnic

Colin Armstrong and his team at Otago Polytechnic were confronted with a problem. Student feedback was showing clearly that students were unhappy with the level of technical service offered by the Dunedin institution.

More and more students were learning at a distance and this perception of service was affecting student retention and completion rates.

Otago had moved through a phase of consolidation, which involved all aspects of the operation but which put pressure on the IT section to have an exemplar service.

“Removing the technological support barriers our students have to their learning, means getting on and doing what they need to do,” explained Armstrong, the IT Service Help Desk support manager. www.campusreview.com.au

Top: Peter Castleton, chair of the judging panel and Meaghan Ford, from Uni Promo, present the marketing award to David Crai and his team from ACU Bottom: Daniel Harrison from Oracle, Tammy Fitzgerald and Zane Sadat, from the University of Melbourne, Denise Adamson representing Colin Armstrong, and the highly-commended recipients

The IT Service Help Desk was developed in 2009 and consisted of a very small team.

The desk works on an 0800 number and as people ring in they are placed in an automatic call distribution queue system. Each call is logged, allowing for tracking later. The installation of a remote control access system allows the team to take control of a client’s machine, where problems are usually fixed easily and often.

The aim of the team is to close a job on the first call and to have a philosophy of doing the best they can, as fast as they can, and to give clients options.

The Otago Polytechnic has witnessed a shift in the emphasis of the ISS area which has become people-friendly, more collaborative and empathetic.

The service is IT-based and, as far as Otago Polytechnic knows, is the only ITP in New Zealand offering this service free to both its staff and students.

What the judges said

“This is a compact IT service group, intelligently using limited resources, to provide lively personal first-aid support. It responds 7/7 to rationally appraised needs of dispersed students – with supportive referral to local commercial advanced service providers.

It shows creative, insightful, quality administration providing speedy, high-value support, responsive client feedback.” n March 2013 | 25

faculty focus

Deakin courses

A+

receive an

MBA and bachelor of commerce accreditation is keeping this university internationally competitive. By Aileen Macalintal

d

eakin University’s MBA and bachelor of commerce have been accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development’s evaluation program.

The EFMD’s Programme Accreditation System evaluates the quality of business and management degrees at a global level.

Pro vice-chancellor professor Gael McDonald, from Deakin University’s faculty of business and law, welcomed the recognition. “We are very proud of achieving EPAS accreditation. This was a rigorous and lengthy process, which required widespread support within the faculty and from industry partners and alumni.”

McDonald said the accreditation shows the long-term commitment to a quality agenda and programs by staff and students.

She said the business programs were successful in gaining the EFMD accreditation for a number of reasons.

“Both the MBA and bachelor of commerce have been running for over 30 years and are the faculty’s flagship programs. EPAS validates that our MBA and bachelor of commerce are high-quality programs in a global context.”

She said their success can also be attributed to their digital frontier, which is part of a mission to drive educational innovation in tertiary business education to engage students.

Teaching is also an important component in their success, she said.

“The EPAS reviewers commended our

26 | March 2013

programs for their flexible, blended learning teaching environment, pedagogical development and innovation, student support programs and responsiveness to students, and the balance between academic and practical inputs within the curricula.”

She said everyone in the faculty contributed to the two flagship programs and their accreditation.

“The delivery of the MBA and the bachelor of commerce is a complex task and involves many people and it is because of their efforts that we have achieved this prestigious accreditation.”

The faculty and university also recognise that processes like this are needed “to remain internationally competitive in an increasingly challenging educational environment.

“In addition to the international recognition, accreditation has shone a spotlight on the entire portfolio of program activities from strategy to academic staffing, program design and delivery, quality assurance processes, internationalisation and our corporate connections.”

The accreditation also enables Deakin to review its activities. An integrated evaluation ensures that strategies are aligned with implementation, as well as an embedded culture of continuous improvement, she said.

McDonald said the accreditation would better help students evaluate the

strengths of Deakin’s business courses.

“Students can have confidence that our programs are ratified by a prestigious international accreditation body and that they will graduate from a program that has a global reputation for quality.”

“EPAS accreditation also ensures that our students have met key graduate outcomes that equip them to operate in an international business work environment.”

The accreditation also invests in the current and future reputation of the programs, which is also valuable to Deakin’s alumni network’s support for their programs.

She said the accreditation process reinforces the faculty’s strengths in leadership, academically qualified staff and its local and regional reputation among employers for developing business-ready graduates.

“Participation in accreditation is multifaceted and an institution’s participation should foremost be about quality improvement. However, as most institutions would agree, the aim of accreditation is not an unfettered rise in enrolments, but instead is to attract greater interest from students in our target markets,” McDonald said.

EPAS accreditation is renewed every three to five years.

McDonald said this means a constant review of the programs for their responsiveness to stakeholder needs and for quality teaching and curriculum innovation. n

faculty focus

The

importance of an

MBA t

he value of an MBA is increasing in an ever-changing world.

“There is no doubt the MBA degree has value today, perhaps more so than ever,” said Dr Jane Craig, the MBA program leader at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Craig said an MBA degree is more important now because we live in an environment of increasing change, challenges and opportunities.

“Strategic and critical thinking skills, the ability to analyse, reflect and make considered and informed decisions are keys to success in the business world and the development of and exercise of these skills is a crucial part of an MBA program,” she said.

USC’s MBA, for example, gives opportunities to participate in an international study tour and to study global management practice and businesses, including those within the region.

Under the program, athlete-turnedbusinesswoman Vivienne Golding was given a chance to go on a 10-day study tour to Germany. She visited factories, the European Central Bank and a business school.

“We work with a lot of different firms, such as Virgin Blue, ANZ Bank, Mission Australia, KPMG, Mirvac Hotels and Resorts and Sundale, so I was pleased my MBA allowed me to think outside the square about the people and culture of companies,” Golding said.

“The USC program was challenging

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and required a certain level of discipline to achieve while working and maintaining family life, but I would do it again tomorrow.

“I believe self-empowerment and education are keys to success,” said Golding. “I’d been self-employed since 1995 so when the opportunity to study my MBA came along, I jumped at the chance to expand my knowledge and skill base.

“USC has brought to the fore how businesses have to compete on a global scale,” she said.

In 2000, the USC’s MBA program had its first graduates. In 2009, the university commenced its executive MBA program, with the first graduates in 2011.

Asked how different an MBA at USC could be from that of other institutions, Craig said the smaller class sizes and easy access to teaching staff were factors.

She said the university receives positive feedback from graduates in terms of the platform that USC’s MBA program provides for their ongoing career and business success.

“Most of our domestic MBA students are studying part-time while still working and it is quite common for our MBA students to receive a promotion with their current employer during or immediately following their MBA studies.

“Our students value the smaller class sizes and easy access to their teaching staff, which provides an environment that fosters positive results,” she said.

Students could study online or on campus and switch between the two if they had to travel for work, for example, Craig said.

USC MBA graduate, scientist Ben Starr, said USC’s executive MBA fees were “competitive compared with others and offered the same or better quality of lecturers”.

Starr has referred others, such as his employee Kyle Robson, to the university’s program. He identified Robson, who recently enrolled, as a key candidate for an executive role in their expanding group of companies.

“I saw real value in Kyle’s attendance in the program to establish a requisite base knowledge for this position,” he said.

Craig said they also had good reports from their full-time international students, who commended their employability after graduation.

MBA at USC

According to the USC’s website, the four-course graduate certificate in business administration may be taken to complete the graduate diploma.

An eight-course graduate diploma builds on the graduate certificate and may be taken to complete the masters.

MBA courses include decision-making, economics, marketing, management, law, ethics and informatics.

The suite culminates in the 12-course MBA, which is now globally considered the standard for graduate business qualifications. n March 2013 | 27

faculty focus

Creating

leaders

A new MBA has a practical approach to developing the next generation of business leaders. By Aileen Macalintal

t

he new MBA program at the University of Sydney is connecting to businesses to enhance students’ career prospects.

The flagship degree, run in partnership with the executive recruitment and talent management firm Korn/Ferry International, is expected to have a significant impact on corporate leadership in Australia.

The course was designed to build on leadership skills that companies are looking for and began earlier this month with an excellent quality cohort and a new state-of-the-art campus in the CBD. “You may not need an MBA to succeed, but with this MBA, your chance of success is certainly higher,” said associate professor Nick Wailes, director of the business school’s master of business administration program.

Wailes said that prior to starting the course, a lot of time was spent talking to companies to find out what critical skills graduates require to be successful.

“They were looking for people who can exhibit leadership skills at all levels of their career and be very effective in leading their organisation,” he said.

Wailes said the new approach involves students knowing what they’re good at and working on those skills. “Our program is ideal for people who are working full-time, who are ambitious and who want to accelerate their careers,” he said.

He said there is a number of collaborative activities in the program, where students can share skills needed to be effective leaders in the workplace.

“We started the program on the first weekend of March and one of the activities is that students had a coaching conversation with people in their teams.”

Wailes said the university spent a lot of time and effort in the selection process. The main criteria for those selected was that students would be able to enhance the learning of other people in the class.

Co-dean, professor Tyrone Carlin, said: “We have filled all of the available places in the program with an excellent quality cohort and we have a waiting list which reflects the business school’s outstanding reputation in executive education.”

Another facet of the MBA, said Wailes, is practical learning, where students are given the opportunities to solve real problems in real settings. There is also a China-based component where students have the opportunity to spend two weeks working in Shanghai.

Wailes believes the contemporary nature of the program will give students an advantage in a dynamic business environment. The MBA program has 12 subjects, including courses on leadership development practice, strategies in innovation marketing, financial management and managing people in organisations. n

28 | March 2013

faculty focus

From left: Professor Christian Porter; chief justice Wayne Martin; Michael Kirby; Curtin vice-chancellor, professor Jeanette Hacket; and professor Paul Fairall, the foundation dean of Curtin Law School

From left: Curtin law students Liem Vo, Ricardo Napper and Lisa Favazzo; Curtin vice-chancellor, professor Jeanette Hacket; Michael Kirby; WA governor Malcolm McCusker; chief justice Wayne Martin; professor Paul Fairall; and professor Christian Porter at the launch

New school’s WA’s latest law program will establish closer links with industry.

C

urtin University’s new law school aims to produce “job-ready” graduates, according to the institution’s vice-chancellor, professor Jeanette Hacket.

The launch celebrated the work done to bring the school to fruition and acknowledged leaders from within the legal profession and academia who had contributed their time, knowledge and skills to establish WA’s newest law school.

“The dedication and commitment by all those involved in establishing the Curtin Law School will ensure our students will receive exposure to industry professionals and a program focused on the needs of industry,” Hacket said.

Former justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby launched the law school in the presence of chief justice Wayne Martin, who will chair the school’s advisory board.

The new school will offer a four-year Bachelor of Laws, designed to give www.campusreview.com.au

job focus

students flexible study pathways, including the chance to complete the course in a shorter time.

Foundation dean of Curtin Law School, Paul Fairall, said that the previous law program served the needs of the business community, but did not extend to the professional entry qualifications for legal practice.

“The Curtin Law School is based on the assumption that a law school cannot and should not function in isolation from the profession.

“By strengthening the critical partnership between the academy and the profession, we expect to derive tangible experiential benefits for law students,” he said.

Fairall said a law school well-integrated into practice is important in identifying research opportunities relevant to current issues.

This integration is also important in transition, or “preparing students for the reality of the modern legal workplace”.

To achieve this connection between

academia and practice, Fairall said the school sought to develop strong practicebased programs and to secure the services of qualified practitioners.

Members of the legal profession will act as teachers, mentors and research fellows, joining six professors and associate professors attached to the school.

The school also wants to develop university chambers for practising lawyers, a legal clinical specialising in small business matters and offer professional subjects such as civil procedure in conjunction with the profession.

The school’s location within WA’s largest business school is advantageous for students.

“Situating the Curtin Law School within the Curtin Business School provides opportunities to continue to build on a strong base of law and law-related studies in areas of relevance to the Western Australian business community,” Fairall said. n March 2013 | 29

TAFE

Stop short-changing regional areas VET in regional Victoria has been particularly hard-hit by policy changes.

By Dr Peter Whitley

30 | March 2013

R

egional Australia is the home and workplace for approximately 29 per cent of the Australian population, with people in the bush contributing very positively to Australia’s overall economy.

Indeed, the most recent statistics indicate that a significant portion of Australia’s economic wealth is generated in Australia’s regions. We can only wonder why it is – given the regions’ contribution – that they are so poorly supported for choice and diversity when it comes to the provision of vocational education and training.

In recent months, there has been significant change to the delivery of VET throughout Australia but perhaps none more so than in Victoria, and its impact has been felt most dramatically in regional Victoria.

Media outlets over recent months have ran many stories that have described the effect on regional Australians of increased costs of fees required in order to undertake their education of choice, and in a similar theme there has been a marked reduction in the types of courses offered throughout regional Australia. In other words, choice and diversity have been reduced.

Of greater concern for those passionate about the implied and implicit value of vocational education is the damaging effect of regular policy changes which see vocational education and training regularly reshaped, redefined and revalued.

While there is no doubt that vocational education, through its training package regime, is aimed primarily at creating ‘job ready’ people, there can be no denying that vocational educational is, for many, more than about job readiness.

For many, vocational education is an alternative path to that provided through university study while for others vocational education is an expression of personal desire and achievement, and for others it is a thirst for applied knowledge that prompts them to engage in vocational education.

While there is little doubt that all Australians

recognise vocational education as a part of the tertiary education landscape, its value and role is often in question by policymakers, funders and the community.

The community often argues that vocational education is a second educational option; industry argues for vocational education to be focused on increasing skills for the workplace; governments are attempting to direct training and education toward skill shortage areas; and lastly, individuals are seeking a vocational education experience that provides personal interest, employment and future opportunity.

In each circumstance the prevailing political and social influences determine vocational education’s perceived value, which is then manifest through governments’ commitment of resources and the credibility of VET espoused by society.

While the university sector is minimally affected by policy changes (in comparison to TAFE), the TAFE sector is expected to gyrate to many different and changing tunes. One of the consequences of this is increasing confusion in the community about the value of the VET sector and is reflected through the lens of government.

In a global environment where the nations of the world are using their vocational education sectors to stimulate and promote growth and industry productivity (witness China’s and India’s expressed desire to enhance and expand their respective VET sectors), Australia is making participation in VET courses and subjects a costlier option than that of attending university.

In an environment where increased productivity is critical, where employee decision-making needs to be innovative and entrepreneurial and our workforce demands higher skill and knowledge sets, Australia needs to be engaging with the population of regional Australia, expanding and encouraging participation in VET and not reducing its availability to a minimalist approach.

While our policymakers and funders argue for

TAFE

changes and dilly-dally about determining the ‘right’ course for VET in Australia, the momentum for meaningful change subsides.

An example of the lack of support for VET by our policymakers is the decision around international student visas where VET and universities are treated distinctly differently.

Indeed, the visa situation has seen an erosion of the VET international student market. For further examples recently in Victoria, we need look no further than the take-up of VTAC preferences for TAFE (the public VET provider) to truly understand that the community’s confidence and choices in TAFE have been severely degraded.

Australia’s regional areas are traditionally faced with a lack of critical population mass, increased travel costs and a generally larger geographical spread.

While approximately 25 per cent of Victoria’s population is located outside of the metropolitan centres, they lack opportunity and choice in terms of VET courses and location.

Even the new digital and technological advancements are limited by cost of service provision, areas unable to be connected to the digital highways and sheer lack of viability and choice of courses designed for delivery in the new format.

Coupled with these challenges, save for the large mining and infrastructure economic zones, regional Australians are the recipients of lower average wages/salaries than their metropolitan counterparts, and, therefore have less capacity to participate in VET educational provision.

Faced with a lack of choice and diversity and generally higher costs for education and training, these potential students leave regional Australia and/or fail to participate to their fullest capacity, the result of which is that Australia does not take advantage of our entire human capability.

Many endeavours have been initiated and deployed by educational providers to overcome the distance and isolation experienced by students living in regional Australia, such as distance education solutions, video conferencing and online www.campusreview.com.au

learning, and establishing regional campuses.

While many great advances have been made in respect to online and distance learning, there is still some way to go in order for students to have a ‘digital’ experience that’s as satisfying as attending a campus.

Regrettably, while digital technologies are rapidly improving, we are currently challenged by the limited amount of engaging digital learning materials available.

Equally and unfortunately, many of our teaching and lecturing staff still have a deficit knowledge in respect of the digital teaching and learning experience, and often, our regional campuses are unable to offer the ‘full suite’ of programs wanted by regional students.

We often hear that Australia and Australians must participate in the creation of a more productive and smarter community, to the benefit of all; only then can Australia aspire to a more prosperous community.

At the heart of increased productivity and enhanced innovation is a vocational education experience that is dynamic, contemporary and, above all, designed not only to fulfil a skill need for today but prepare students for the world of tomorrow.

Many commentators talk of regular occupational changes throughout our working lives and the emergence of new occupations not yet considered - our vocational educational experience needs to play a major role in developing and preparing people for that future.

As responsible VET providers, we must challenge the role of the national curricula (that is, training packages) and ask whether we are teaching students to be innovative and knowledge adaptors for the future or are we entrenched in the here and now?

Unfortunately, I believe that there is much to be done in the training package space to ensure the vocational student gains those skills that are necessary to improve the Australian position.

In regional Australia there is a much greater imperative not only to reshape training package outcomes but also to

provide the diversity and learning choice necessary to support the development of innovation, adaptability, entrepreneurship and future decision-making.

Regional Australia remains underserviced in terms of vocational educational choice and diversity and while many different attempts are made to counterbalance the inequity between metropolitan and regional communities, these initiatives often fall far short.

Australian governments of all persuasions, at both the state and federal level, should accept that to have a prosperous Australia, regional communities must be better catered for and that this will incur increased costs.

To maximise Australia’s potential, VET policymakers must re-evaluate the importance of VET in communities and its impact in both metropolitan and, particularly, regional areas.

Vocational education and training has the potential to increase educational levels, to bridge the gap between tertiary education providers, to provide the hope of finding employment through increased knowledge and skill, as well as the benefit of increasing confidence in personal abilities.

To achieve these goals and to make our nation richer, our policymakers must embrace and engage regional communities more substantially through the provision of quality vocational education.

It seems that there is a continuing lack of vision by successive governments in ignoring and not addressing the VET needs of regional Australia.

Metropolitan-centric decision-making will continually short-change regional Australians and by implication we deny ourselves opportunities for prosperity.

Moreover, we continually denude regional Australia of the workforce it needs and the opportunities for our regional youth to positively participate in innovative vocational education and training. n Dr Peter Whitley is the CEO of the Central Gippsland Institute of TAFE, more commonly referred to as ‘GippsTAFE.’ March 2013 | 31

VC’s corner

Billionswould

make a

difference Universities need to reassess their alumni culture if they want to get more donations.

By Ian O’Connor

32 | March 2013

A

lumnus Graham Tuckwell’s gift of $50 million to his alma mater, the Australian National University, for a scholarship program made headline news for days recently and earned the donor a meeting with the prime minister.

The gift “dwarfed” (said the press) a previous gift of $20 million from University of Sydney alumnus John Grill.

Motivating Tuckwell was a desire to help bright kids, including those learning at a disadvantage, while Grill funded a leadership centre aimed at improving Australian knowledge of handling big projects such as the NBN. One of the pleasing things about higher education fundraising is that we are starting to see more of these US-scale gifts from individual Australian graduates. If we could convince all to “give back” in the American way – US graduates donated $7.7 billion to their alma maters in 2012 – things would be very different for Australian institutions. Travelling cap-in-hand to successive governments seeking a lift in base funding would be less of a forlorn drill.

But big donors are not the whole answer. We need to broaden the donor base in Australia, which is not, as many feel, impossible. The University of Toronto is a public university in a culture not very different from ours, yet is currently shooting for a $2 billion campaign result – its first billion was surpassed in January. Britain’s HEFCE 2012 report into philanthropy in UK higher education found a rise in the number of donors, cash in and new funds raised over the past five years, following the British government’s 2004 report on how to increase voluntary giving to higher education. It recommended legislative, taxation, cultural, budgetary and organisational changes if UK institutions were to crack the formula.

We have tried here. We have launched appeals, campaigns, hired professional fundraisers and data-based our alumni. Some universities have hired gun ‘advancement’ professionals from the US, only to see their prize recruits depart in frustration after giving it a try for a few years, then announcing that where there is not a cultural will, there is no way to get blood out of a stone.

As Andrew Norton famously pointed out in his Graduate Winners report, “It’s not as if graduates don’t benefit from their time with us. University transforms them. They notch up personal benefits at some expense to the country’s accounts, and then proceed into the world to put their training and skills to work. We could question why they don’t see fit to give something back but it would be wrong-headed.”

Of course, graduates of Australian universities return the favour every day – engaging in every field of human endeavor, influencing employers, governments, community groups, friends, colleagues and their younger brothers and sisters about the value of Australian education, often at one particular university.

They ooze competence, knowledge, skill and ability, and put some critical thinking into what they do, which could be anything from fixing your child’s appendix to marketing fast-moving consumer goods.

At Griffith, we think of Philip Di Bella, the coffee entrepreneur, opera star Lisa Gasteen, Clinton Dines, the business pioneer and president of BHP Billiton China for 21 years. Australian university graduates are also largely responsible for so-called “track two diplomacy”, the alternative way for a country to win over another by pursuing people-to-people relationships formed at universities. Without this soft inter-governmental outreach from graduates, we’d be reliant on formal missions and trade convoys – and probably stuck fast on our island home, girt by sea and negative terms of trade.

Our problem is being top-of-mind as our graduates go about their professional lives, working, driving, buying a home, meeting new people, changing jobs, volunteering in communities and looking after children and ageing parents. It’s not that we haven’t asked for loyalty: check with any of the hundreds of hardworking advancement staff in

VC’s corner

Australian universities who churn out events, newsletters and “asks”. Yet little of this presses the button that says, ‘Lend us a hand financially and we’ll enrich your life through your own generosity.’

In a country where ordinary people give to disadvantaged children offshore, we have trouble selling the idea of giving an academically advanced, first-in-family 17-year-old kid next-door a crack at life with a university degree. Ask those alumni office staff what’s missing here and I’d be surprised if it varied – we don’t have an alma mater culture here, because grads just don’t know why they should support us at all, let alone from lecture theatre to grave.

Individuals in Australia claimed nearly $2 billion in charitable gifts in 2009-10, according to the ATO. We don’t know how much went to education, but donations from private ancillary funds showed education per se was about 10 per cent. It is unlikely much of that went to higher ed.

When universities talked about how much they raised from individuals that same year, they mentioned 10, 15 or, in www.campusreview.com.au

one case, 30 million dollars, less than three per cent. It’s reasonable to guess that the rest goes to high schools, where education tribalism has been nurtured for years through inter-school rivalries, sporting contests, old boys’ and girls’ networks and pride in the school anthem, uniform and motto. Good work, schools.

Perhaps we should concern ourselves less with the fact that fundraising has produced a pale result in Australia and more with the gains. We have the start of major alumni giving. We have infrastructure – welldesigned, professional fundraising units like the 2004 British review recommended. We have conference networks and knowledgesharing initiatives to back that up.

It won’t be enough. We’ll need all of the British reforms and will have to take a grassroots approach and make hard decisions. Do we build accommodation in an era of growing online education and

encourage students to live on campus? Do we launch our own football teams, sponsor local sporting heroes, support our high school debating societies? Do we treat our students like members of the family and build them into tribal followers who understand the value of what they have gained? Certainly.

Otherwise one thing is guaranteed – in 20 years’ time we will still be looking across the Pacific to the sports stadia, research centres, business towers and glowing, mascot-clutching graduates with their giving forms in hand, wishing we had started years ago. n Professor Ian O’Connor is vice-chancellor of Griffith University.

March 2013 | 33

VET

Qualifications The length of study required for qualifications varies hugely – and AQF guidelines are being ignored. By Felicity Dunn

34 | March 2013

T

he National Skills Standards Council is stoically working towards its directive from COAG to strengthen the VET sector. However, its current review of standards for the regulation of VET providers may prove a little pointless. The elephant in the room is the standards for VET qualifications – the Training Packages – which have been approved with an equally stoic (or stubborn) commitment to ignoring one of the Australian VET sector’s most significant flaws.

Qualifications accredited in the senior secondary and higher education sectors, and pretty much everywhere else in the world, have a concept of ‘volume of learning,’ for both qualifications and the units/subjects/modules that make them up.

By volume of learning, I mean the time involved in learning and being assessed.

But in Australia VET units of competency have no defined volume measure when the qualifications are designed and accredited. It’s not until after the qualifications are accredited and endorsed that units of competency are allocated nominal hours by states and territories, which are a measure of the teaching time for funding purposes.

Training Package developers, without a concept of the volume of learning for each of the units in their qualifications, use number-of-units as a way to define the minimum completion requirements for their qualifications.

For example, a qualification might specify that students must complete eight units from a core group, and another 16 from an elective group.

The problem is that units in VET qualifications can – and should – vary enormously in volume, from two nominal hours (AURV233163A: Remove and install rear-vision mirrors) to 500 hours (HLTAHW517B: Prepare for and manage childbirth). Training Package developers and accrediting authorities, as they don’t know the volume of each unit, don’t have anything to add up, and hence don’t know how big the qualification is that they are accrediting.

Consequently, qualifications of the same type vary enormously in terms of the amount of time it takes a student to complete. Consider diplomas – at the North Melbourne Institute of TAFE, for instance, a diploma in business takes

la

VET

ack credibility six months full time, while the diploma in community services takes two years full time.

As a way to address the variation in terms of size of qualifications of the same type, the Australian Qualifications Framework was revised to include a duration component. It hasn’t caused any problems for the senior secondary or higher education sectors because their qualifications were, and continue to be delivered, within the duration ranges specified by the AQF. However, it hasn’t had any impact in VET yet, because no-one has noticed. Or if they have, they aren’t saying anything!

By-the-by, the AQF stipulates that diplomas should be at least one year full time in duration and provide one year of credit into a three-year bachelor degree.

Given the vast difference in volume of learning for diplomas, such as the examples mentioned above, it is little wonder that there is a lack of trust between VET and higher education when providing credit.

Late last year, the AQF council released an unambiguous paper, Volume of Learning: An Explanation, detailing its expectations about duration: “The volume of learning determined for a qualification must fall within the range provided in the descriptor for the qualification type. The www.campusreview.com.au

concept of ‘typically’, used (in the AQF handbook) to describe the volume of learning … is not intended as justification for not applying the requirement.”

It goes on to explain that a full time year involves about 1200 hours of learning, an internationally accepted standard. The provider I found on the internet that delivers a Diploma in Business in six days spread over nine months would, I suspect, have a difficult time justifying itself. To further illustrate the point, that provider’s (at best) 48 contact hours compares with 288 contact hours for one year of a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne. Admittedly, the former qualification might have a considerable amount of private study involved, but so too does the bachelor program.

I found another provider that was quite precise about its expectations for private study – a certificate IV delivered in seven days plus about 15 hours of home study.

According to the AQF, certificate IVs should be at least six months in duration.

This new level of specification from the AQF might just provide regulators with the teeth they need to challenge providers who are delivering certificate IVs over a week or two – and yes, there are plenty of actual examples of this – but it is unfair to blame providers when the problem, in the first instance, lies with the design of the qualification itself.

There is a simple solution, and qualification designers in every sector, including VET in other countries, have been using it for some time – a measure of volume for units. Maybe it’s time our VET sector got on board too. n Felicity Dunn is an education and training researcher.

March 2013 | 35

VET

Macro view is needed

in analysis Policymakers need to consider how much value TAFEs add to industry. By Dr John Mitchell

T

he director of a TAFE institute said to me recently that the problem with policymakers in Australia is that they focus solely on the cost of TAFE and not the value it adds. Meanwhile, those policymakers are busily taking advice from Treasury officials around Australia who prefer to scrutinise the cost per student hour of delivering routine lower-level certificate courses, rather than consider the benefits of customised TAFE training for industry clients. This is the micro view of VET instead of the macro.

Those policymakers and Treasury officials will not want to read a new publication I was commissioned to prepare

by TAFE Directors Australia, the body which represents 61 public providers in Australia. TDA commissioned me to interview industry leaders from Australian organisations and then prepare five case studies of TAFE institutes effectively working with industry clients.

Each of the resulting five case studies shows how TAFE training meets one or more of these business and government goals ‒ increased productivity including global competitiveness, flexible workforces, highly qualified staff building careers, skills for the new economy and regional growth.

These demanding goals were identified as the focus of the case studies, following an examination of the priorities of COAG in relation to workforce development. Most of these priority topics were reiterated in a statement by the prime minister in early 2012 in which she called for the VET sector to deliver “a better qualified and flexible workforce” that will “help to lift productivity and competitiveness”.

These challenging foci for the various TDA case studies were deliberately selected in order to provide evidence that

36 | March 2013

TAFE institutes not only meet and exceed industry expectations but also meet important government policy goals. TDA invited me to independently select the five case studies but asked me to ensure they were examples of leading practice and covered five different industries and five different states or territories.

I make the point near the start of the TDA publication that this new set of five TDA case studies adds to the existing body of more than 75 case studies I have prepared since 2007, for ten other publications. Those earlier case studies profile the positive views about TAFE of representatives from Telstra, Optus, Qantas, Cochlear, BHP Billiton, BlueScope Steel, Sydney Water, Housing NSW, EnergyAustralia, Royal Australian Air Force, AirServices Australia, Ramsay Healthcare Group, Royal Perth Hospital and St John of God Health Care.

The published case studies describe TAFE working with companies overseas, from Qatar to Bangladesh and the Philippines, and with regional organisations such as Bega Cheese, Hyne Timber, Country Energy, Northparkes Mines and the NSW Rural Fire Service. The case studies also describe TAFE assisting manufacturing companies, automotive servicing companies, plant nurseries, supermarket chains, IT companies, disability organisations, Aboriginal organisations, local governments, aged care homes, children’s services organisations and area health services.

In all case studies, representatives of the companies were interviewed, the interviews were recorded and the interviewees validated the accuracy of the published interview. Hence the five case studies set out in the new TDA publication now take

to 80 the number of companies, from BHP Billiton through to small and medium businesses, which have publicly attested to the value delivered to their companies by TAFE. In all those case studies, none of the industry interviewees mentioned low-cost delivery as a priority goal. Some of them said they appreciated TAFE’s competitive pricing, but they all focused on the value TAFE brought to their businesses and were able to elaborate in detail about the value they sought and obtained from TAFE.

Flexibility is valued most

In the TDA case studies I asked the industry interviewees what they most valued about TAFE. Flexibility was the word used by four of the five key industry interviewees, and the fifth interviewee chose a related term, innovative. In explaining what they meant by flexibility, all of the industry interviewees noted that TAFE understands their industry and their company, and used this knowledge to design and deliver relevant services.

In the first case study, Redarc Electronic’s production manager Shane Wreford said of their partner, TAFE SA Adelaide South Institute: “One of the things TAFE offers is flexibility; the training is scheduled to suit our business needs, and so the standout feature for me is their flexibility.” CEO Anthony Kittel added: “It’s customised to what Shane needs on the shop floor, it’s customised to our operations; the timing is flexible. Most importantly, it’s training on the job.”

In the second case study, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia’s Bruce Chellingworth said of their TAFE partner in Queensland, SkillsTech Australia: “What we get from them is flexibility in the geographic location of the training; and we also get flexibility in content. They are accessible to us as their partners and they listen to our feedback about what we need in the training.

The best practice is simply the working

VET relationship; how we work together.”

In the third case study, Apache Energy’s Stewart Allan, in Perth, didn’t use the word flexibility, but implied it. In response to the question, What is best practice about Challenger Institute of Technology’s work with Apache, he said: “I’d sum it up as innovative. And we look at problems together; we work closely together… The training that is required in an offshore facility and the resources industry needs to be understood, and that’s what Challenger gives me.”

In the fourth case study, Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia CEO Jo-Ann Kellock, in Melbourne, said that Kangan Institute staff “are definitely flexible and that’s to their credit… Kangan has given us flexibility they’re accessible, the training is tailored to the needs of industry, and their people are well qualified and/or very willing to learn.”

In the final case study from Albury, Murrumbidgee Local Health District CEO Susan Weisser complimented TAFE NSW Riverina Institute’s “flexibility and their willingness to work with us around what we need”. Riverina TAFE is willing to work with her organisation to make sure that “the projects and things that they work on are actually tailored to and linked to our organisation and give us benefits in terms of quality and improvement projects”.

All five industry interviewees indicated that flexibility is the result of TAFE taking a customer-centric approach and being willing to develop an in-depth knowledge of the client’s needs, collaborate strategically and continually review training products and services to suit the client.

In the Riverina case study, Weisser articulated a suite of attributes about TAFE NSW - Riverina Institute. She indicated that TAFE is innovative and willing to customise, able to monitor, review and modify services offered, provide a network of campuses and experienced trainers, is a collaborative and strategic partner that will be around for the long-term, and assists her organisation’s goal of “growing our own

www.campusreview.com.au

workforce locally”. Also, TAFE staff were good listeners who understand the client’s industry, and are locally based, not fly-in, fly-out.

Reinventing service delivery

While all the industry clients in the case studies use the term ‘flexibility’ to sum up TAFE institutes’ attributes and to explain their impacts on industry, the summary term ‘flexibility’ may not capture in full the ability of TAFE institutes to meet the needs of the customer.

A careful reading of the case studies in this publication shows that flexibility by TAFE institutes involves them reinventing their service delivery to create more value for their customers, demonstrating contemporary business approaches described by Ramdas, Teisberg and Tucker in the December 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. The term ‘flexibility’ is shorthand for TAFE institutes reinventing their service delivery.

Redefining service delivery is uncommon, making these TDA case studies all the more significant, as Ramdas and colleagues note that companies that “radically redefine the delivery of a service are relatively rare”, because it requires deep insight into clients’ needs.

Ramdas and colleagues spent four years studying innovations in health care and finance, two sectors that have substantially redefined or reinvented service delivery.

This research enabled them to identify four dimensions on which service organisations can focus

to improve service provision. First, service organisations change the conventional way of interacting with clients. Second, they allocate specialist tasks to staff. Third, they integrate complementary services. And fourth, they change the delivery location.

For instance, case study number four shows that Kangan Institute has worked on all four dimensions, in creating the Textile and Fashion Hub with the TFIA in a warehouse in Melbourne. It has changed the conventional way of interacting with clients (dimension 1), by making learning materials available online to all clients of the Hub, regardless of whether the clients wanted to undertake a conventional accredited training program. It has integrated complementary services (dimension 2) including the provision of hands-on learning and advising textile workers about how new technologies can be used for niche tasks. The institute is helping to create a shared learning space and community of learners, not just delivering skill-sets or full qualifications.

Kangan has also allocated specialist tasks to its staff (dimension 3) based on their specialist knowledge and interests, their commitment to the Hub environment and their willingness to learn new skills.

And Kangan has changed the delivery location (dimension 4) not only from the institute to the Hub, but also the staff continually deliver learning resources direct to the office or home computer of the Hub clients, using digital learning techniques.

The TDA publication describes how all five TAFE institutes in the case studies were not only focusing on these dimensions, but also modelling them. But do policymakers and treasury officials know about or appreciate the value industry places on such responsiveness by TAFE? n See the report Reinventing Service Delivery at www.tda.edu.au Dr John Mitchell is a VET researcher and evaluator www.jma.com.au

March 2013 | 37

VET

Time to tackle tertiary literacy Many students have insufficient language skills for study – and not just because they’re from overseas.

By Stuart Middleton

I

t never ceases to make me wonder whether we have become daft when I see constant references to this or that kind of “literacy”.

We see that “financial literacy” is needed by those who struggle with money – actually this seems largely to be a euphemism for “managing without much money”. To use computers well you must be “computer literate” by being steeped in “digital literacy”.

In fact the web tells me there are myriad varieties of literacy: scientific literacy, cultural literacy, mathematical literacy (this could be numeracy, perhaps), global literacy, visual literacy, media literacy.

And thus it all becomes clear: having literacy no longer means being literate in the old sense of the word. A literate person was one who could read and write – long ago, this meant a little bit of both; these days, the expectation is that these skills will be at a high level. It was once the purpose of schooling to make people literate and that of tertiary education to make people elegantly literate.

Now, “literate” and “literacy” simply mean being able to do something, or knowing about it or having learnt the appropriate behaviour.

It is a simple truth that those who can read, write and be articulate can tackle most things. Literate people – genuinely literate – have the tools to be good at all those other things without too much initiation into the secret societies of managing money, working a computer, getting along with others and seeing through the media. If our education system was turning out literate people across the board, because it clearly does this with many young people, it would not be necessary to add the complications of all those spin-off varieties.

Of course, each new literacy that comes along creates another area of specialism that protects the turf, and this might be behind the tendency to see each area of knowledge and activity as a “literacy”.

For a period of my life I had a block

38 | March 2013

of land where I kept sheep, bred ducks, had an orchard, grew flowers and vegetables, and had all the other trappings of ‘the good life.’ My neighbour would laugh at me, saying: “You’re always reading a book to find out how to do something.” He never understood the pleasure that this observation brought to me. Of course I would do this – a literate person uses the tools of their literacy to acquire further knowledge.

And there’s the rub. As access to tertiary education expands, there is growing evidence that increasing numbers of students are arriving ill-prepared for the tasks that face them. This is not to say that they are illiterate, but that they have not developed the skills of literacy to a point where they meet the demands of study at university level.

So tertiary institutions have to accept that they are increasingly in the business of literacy, and get on with deciding how this is going to be tackled.

Early responses saw the establishment of learning centres and academic assistance programs, but these carry with them the issue of relating what is being taught to what needs to be learnt. The best of such approaches are adequate but no substitute for delivering elements of literacy development right inside the courses.

Embedded literacy is the current favoured approach.

It’s not a new idea. Remember the language-across-the-curriculum approaches developed in the 1960s?

They spawned a whole lot of books and programs focused on English for academic uses. Some of these may have worked, but you can’t cope with issues that have become mainstream by clipping stuff on at the edges.

Presenting even more of a challenge is the change in student demographics, with increasingly diverse ethnic backgrounds

and an exponential increase in international students in classrooms, for some of whom English is not a first language. Bi-literacy is another kind of literacy to consider – being literate in two languages – though to a very large extent being literate in one language transfers to the skills of literacy in another, provided that the other language has a presence in the teaching setting.

Students seeking to understand a second language continually ask themselves the question: “In what ways is this new language the same as or different from the language I already know?” Having teachers and tutors who have facility in the languages students bring into the classroom helps with this. You do not learn English as a second language by ignoring the first language! We are very slow to recognise this, and it is as much an issue for tertiary as it is for school education.

There has long been a saying among linguists: “If you speak many languages you are multilingual; if you speak two languages you are bilingual; if you speak one language you are English.” Issues of multiple languages do seem to trouble education systems in the English-speaking West rather more than they do others.

Psychologist Lev Vygotsky put it nicely: “Thoughts are not merely expressed in words but come into being through them.”

If our education institutions are in the business of increasing the capacity to think, then they have to accept that they are in the business of language development – at all levels and across all disciplines. n Stuart Middleton is director of external relations at the Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand.

noticeboard Universities Australia’s next leader

Professor Sandra Harding, vicechancellor and president of James Cook University, will take over as Universities Australia’s next chair, after University of Melbourne’s professor Glyn Davis.

“Not only has professor Harding exhibited exceptional leadership qualities and knowledge of the sector, her unbridled enthusiasm for everything higher education has been nothing short of infectious. Simply saying that Universities Australia is in safe hands is under-selling what she will bring to the role,” Davis said.

Harding has been a member of the UA Board since January 2009, serving as deputy chair for the past two years. She was elected unopposed and will take up her position on May 2.

Her academic leadership experience includes senior roles in universities and memberships or directorships of various local, national and international boards and councils.

Harding is an economic sociologist with a keen interest in markets and organisation survey methodology.

She also takes professional interest in education policy and management.

Professor off to Tokyo

strictlyspeaking

University of Sydney associate professor Catriona Elder has been appointed a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo. Every year the Centre for Pacific and American Studies at the University of Tokyo hosts a visiting professor in Australian Studies at their Komaba Campus. This is supported by the Australia-Japan Foundation, a non-statutory, bilateral foundation in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which aims to strengthen Australia-

2012 Words of the Year

Japan relations. Elder is a prominent scholar in the area of 20th-21st century Australian cultural identity. She takes particular interest in relations between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of Australia. She will tackle Australian society and culture at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, while researching and promoting Australian-Japanese crosscultural exchange. Elder starts the visiting professorship in October.

Leading journalist as a professorial fellow

The Age’s political editor Michelle Grattan will teach and do research in her new role as professorial fellow at the University of Canberra. In recognition of her contribution to journalism, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 1994. She is one of Australia’s most respected and awarded political journalists, and has been a member of the Canberra press gallery for more than 40 years, covering all the most significant stories in Australian politics. She is the author, co-author and editor of several books and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2004 for her service to journalism.

Curtin vice-chancellor to retire

Curtin University vicechancellor, professor Jeanette Hacket, will not take up reappointment at the end of her second term in February next year.

Hacket said that for more than 30 years at Curtin, she had been greatly inspired by working with a number of highly talented professionals. She believes the university has challenging days ahead but that these are going to be exciting. Curtin chancellor Colin Beckett said Hacket’s integrity, initiative and vision had characterised her outstanding career. “Under her leadership, Curtin has seen an increase in student numbers, research has intensified, multi-

million-dollar capital works programs have been completed and the university’s national and international reputation has grown remarkably.” Appointed in 2006, Hacket will retire in August, taking service leave until next February.

UNSW COFA’s new dean

The University of New South Wales has appointed professor Ross Harley as dean of the College of Fine Arts. Harley’s art has been in international exhibitions such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Ars Electronica in Austria and the Biennale of Sydney. He has been head of the School of Media Arts at COFA since 2008, and has won significant funding through the Australian Research Council. Currently he is the deputy director of the National Institute for Experimental Arts and co-chair of the International Symposium on Electronic Art. Harley will start his new role in April.

ACU’s new Education dean

Australian Catholic University has appointed professor Claire Wyatt-Smith to be the Faculty of Education’s executive dean. WyattSmith was group dean (academic) at Griffith University’s Faculty of Arts, Education and Law, where she held responsibilities across a wide range of schools. Previously she was dean of the Faculty of Education and research director of the Centre for Applied Language, Literacy and Communication Studies.

She has also worked at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. Several program initiatives at undergraduate and postgraduate levels have been led by Wyatt-Smith and she also generated new conceptual and applied knowledge that was influential in literacy education assessment and curriculum policy, such as the provision for students with learning difficulties.

The Macquarie Dictionary recently announced its winners of word (or phrase) of last year. Those chosen by the selection committee and the general public to represent the zeitgeist reflected a similar theme. The committee’s choice was phantom vibration syndrome, or PVS. It describes the obsessive conviction that your phone is vibrating because of an incoming call, when actually it isn’t. This comparatively new syndrome might be regarded as a symptom of a broader malaise encapsulated in the winner of the People’s choice: First World problem. The phrase has been around for a while, to describe genuine social issues that arise in developed countries, such as obesity or industrial pollution, compared to those typical of the Third World, such as famine, poverty and overpopulation.

Gradually First World problem has come to reflect the decadence and triviality of our society. Examples range from having to drink plunger coffee when your espresso machine has broken down, to losing the TV remote, or constantly worrying about whether your phone is delivering you a message.

By Adam Smith, senior research assistant at the Centre for Language Sciences, Macquarie University. www.campusreview.com.au

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