HEDx

In this episode, Professor Jennifer Whyte of University of Sydney joins the HEDx podcast to reflect on culture, leadership and partnerships as an AUstralian Head of School in a Go8 compared to her experiences at Imperial College in the UK. She outlines opportunities for Australian universities to take advantage of new modes of connections, in particular a forthcoming Olympic Games in 2032, to reintegrate with the rest of the world by harnessing technology and global perspectives.

Denice Pitt CEO of online learning pioneers OES joins Karl and Martin to reflect on the 10 year journey of her company supporting universities in bringing high quality online learning to non-traditional students. She outlines the culture and technology combination, and novel approach to partnership, that makes it possible and has allowed student experience levels to be maintained through the disruption of the pandemic. And she shares a vision and forecasts to where our world of online learning is heading globally.

Professor Alwyn Louw joins HEDx as Vice Chancellor of Torrens University to tell of its growth to close to 20,000 students in seven years. As a US-owned private university operating across Australia, the Torrens story is one of fast growth, differentiated strategy, and a unique set up of governance and executive roles. It has a focus on innovation and growth with balanced ambitions for new domestic and international students, onshore, offshore and online. And with a model for funding research that is independent of government policy, is this the future for Australian higher education?

Sandra Harding, as Australia's current longest serving VC of a single Australian university at JCU in Townsville, joins the HEDx team. She reflects on how the sector's leaders and staff are feeling and of the culture change that is needed for a very different future than that she anticipated as UA Chair in 2013. She tells the story of how JCU was created and positioned to be unique as a university of the tropics. And she outlines ways in which differentiation could be possible for other new leaders and universities in the period ahead through pursuing teaching excellence and online opportunities. And she sees wisdom in turning these into the best of times and foolishness in thinking former times will ever return.

Patrica Davdson the new VC of Wollongong University in NSW joins HEDx to outline the compassionate approach to leadership she has brought to her first 90 days. She outlines the challenges she perceives for the sector, its staff and its students. As she prepares the new strategy for Wollongong she celebrates the people, the community and the history. She sees genuine opportunities for universities to differentiate through digital disruption and with how technology and empathy for people can allow new expectations to be met by a sector whose time she sees as full of opportunity.

This episode has University of Newcastle VC Alex Zelinsky join HEDx to outline the 5 year strategy called Looking Ahead. A leader with CSIRO and Defence Scientist backgrounds dismisses the prospect of research commercialisation replacing lost international student revenue. He instead outlines a future path based on community engagement and blended student experiences and fully recognises the importance of shaping culture and getting staff on board with change at these most difficult of times.

Guy Littlefair, PVC International at Auckland University of Technology joins HEDx to share insights into transitions between university and business environments and the importance of partnerships. He gives great pointers to how universities and businesses can best work together in addressing local and global issues. In the week that Mark Scott takes over at the University of Sydney, and foreshadows a focus on partnerships, forging them is emerging as a priority for all in the sector.

This episode has Margaret Sheil join the HEDx team to outline where QUT is up to in refreshing its blueprint strategy. As the university with the most well known brand position in Australia, promoting that in a post-COVID era is a priority for Margaret as VC. She outlines where a significant organisational change is up to and how the focus now is on rebuilding the culture at QUT to allow the strategy to be delivered, and her concern for staff in adapting to change. The episode illustrates the importance of alignment of brand and strategy. And it demonstrates clearly the critically important place of culture shaping, alongside leadership development, in allowing a brand and strategy to be delivered and experienced.

This interview with the new Chair of our peak body Universities Australia, sees Vice Chancellor of La Trobe John Dewar assess how we are doing as a sector and interpret the gauntlet thrown at us by Minister Tudge in his recent speech. John gives a rich picture of the complexity of the commercialisation and campus return issues. He outlines how moves to differentiate on function and by discipline will continue to provide an opportunity for place-based strategies and major forays into the very competitive global online markets. But his message to the sector, in one of his first public statements as UA Chair, is to pay tribute to the culture change and skills development that has taken place sector-wide whilst recognising how much further there is still to travel.

This episode has Karl and Martin joined by Professor Lynn Bosetti of UBC in Canada who gives insights into how Australian leaders in universities encounter academic workforces using incivility as behaviour to resist change and attempts at strategic direction. She draws on experience in both countries as an academic leader and her research of VCs and Deans around the world, to outline how the emotional labour of leading universities is exposed to smart bullying upwards by independent academics that has accentuated during the pandemic. A topic of great interest in many Australian universities as change programs, returns to work, and continued financial pressures make these the most difficult times to lead. They contrast with different experiences in Australian business which offer lessons university leaders might need to learn from, and quickly.