LEADERSHIP: Dr Denis White on being 'education people''

Dr Denis White served as Executive Director of Trinity College’s Foundation Studies program from 1991 to 1998, during the program’s foundational years. Denis’s vision for the program and thoughtful leadership played an integral role in setting our Pathways School up for the success it has enjoyed for the past 30 years. Here, we share Denis’s forward-thinking process and leadership philosophy when he took on the directorship.

BY EMILY McAULIFFE

Denis White took up the position of Executive Director on 1 January 1991, having been told that there were 70 overseas students lined up to start Trinity’s new foundation program in February. When he studied the offers that had been made, however, he discovered that there were only 35 actual acceptances, and that all the other offers were dead in the water. ‘This was a nightmare discovery,’ he says.

To boost enrolments at the eleventh hour, Denis joined the Careers Exhibition in Singapore. He sat in the Trinity booth from 10am to 8pm for four days, while 250,000 people passed through the exhibition. He noticed that all the other exhibitors had seemingly endless boxes of brochures to give away.

‘We only had 20 brochures in total, so our prospects did not look good,’ says Denis. ‘But early on the second day, I made eye contact with a man who was looking towards our booth.

He came over and said, with some acerbity, “They are just used car salesmen.” I must have looked startled, because he waved at the nearby booths and said: “Look at them, they look like used car salesmen.” I must have still looked startled, because he then said, “You are different, you look like an education person.”

I sensed this recognition signalled a turning point in our fortunes.’ (The man’s daughter, Yu Lin, did indeed enrol, and went on to live at Trinity College as a resident. Then, the man himself, Anthony Cheong, and his wife, Isabel, became great supporters of the College and are both Oakleaf recipients for their services to philanthropy.)

Isabel and Anthony Cheong have been strong supporters of Trinity College since Anthony met Denis White at an exhibition in Singapore in 1991

Denis says that he has always felt that being seen as ‘education people’ was the key to Trinity’s success.

On top of that, he had the advantage of being a university academic, as well as a keen reader of Asian literature, philosophy and politics. Being the former director of the prime minister’s private office in the early 1980s, and having been present at many of Malcolm Fraser’s meetings with the heads of government from countries including China, India and Malaysia, certainly helped too.

‘My familiarity with Asian cultures helped me recognise the style of program that we would need to appeal to and develop young international students coming to Australia with aspirations of studying at the University of Melbourne.’

Denis firstly noted that a disciplinebased curriculum (including subjects like Accounting, Mathematics and Chemistry) was going to be important to the success of Trinity’s foundation program.

‘I regarded this as essential for Asian students who had, by their own admission, been brought up on rote learning,’ he says.

‘I also understood that international students generally want to move fast, so we developed accelerated programs for students who could make it to Melbourne University faster. We then devised extended programs for students who could make it to Melbourne if given some extra teaching, and offered a range of starting dates and mid-year intakes to fit in with overseas education timetables.’

But then there were some things that the students didn’t necessarily know they would need to succeed in the Western tertiary and corporate environments – like the skills and confidence to speak up, share their opinions, and challenge the ideas of others, including their teachers (something many would never have dared do in their home country). This is where somewhat left-of-field subjects like Drama and the History of Ideas came in. They helped students look inward to find their confidence, then outward to engage with the people and world around them.

‘The self-confidence of the Foundation Studies students received its finest expression in a valedictory speech when one of the student speakers said: “We are the future leaders of Asia. But we are also the black sheep of Asia, because Trinity has taught us to think for ourselves”,’ remembers Denis.

A lot of it was about identifying what Trinity’s target market both wanted and needed, then moulding a program to suit.

However, Denis knew Trinity couldn’t operate in isolation. He understood that building a strong relationship with the University of Melbourne would be integral to the program’s success.

‘I put a prodigious amount of time into this relationship and ensured we provided the type of students that the University wanted,’ says Denis. ‘We matched our supply with their demand. And while students may have come to Trinity because it gave access to Melbourne University, few of these students would have made it to Melbourne without going through Trinity.’

At its simplest, Denis says that much of the program’s success came from having a clear focus.

‘Our job was to enable our students to get into the University of Melbourne. I blocked ideas that did not contribute to this objective; this streamlined many things and saved a lot of money.’

Throughout Denis’s tenure, student numbers jumped from 53 to 560, but he is quick to point out that he can’t take all the credit. ‘One of the greatest strengths I had as Executive Director was a superb board of management. This board, long since abandoned, was head and shoulders above any other board I have known or heard of.’

And, because of them, Denis can look back on those early years with fondness and gratitude. It’s proof that being a great leader is one thing, but being part of a great team is really something else.