HEDx

In this week's HEDx episode, Karl and Martin are joined by their first international guest in Professor Giselle Byrnes. Giselle is the Provost with responsibilities across research, commercialisation and teaching and learning at distance learning innovator Massey University in New Zealand. She gives pointers in her interview to some of the differences in culture, tradition, priorities and practice in national jurisdictions and reflects on the implications of these for the way disruption might be led from different parts of the world. She makes a call for more compassionate leadership by Vice Chancellors in these times. The episode gives insights into how variabilities in cultural starting points impact how culture change and leadership will need ideas from outside the sector to be aligned with the practices we have established within if we are to find new ways of serving increasingly diverse student needs.

This week on HEDx Karl and Martin speak with the leaders from one of Australia's leading technology companies REA Group. They explore the relationship between REA Group and the higher education sector and what progressive organisations need from universities as the world moves on from COVID-19. Going from $500M to $17B in 15 years only happens through brilliant strategy and cultural excellence. The mandate for culture to evolve in universities has never been greater.

Helen Bartlett VC of University of Sunshine Coast joins the HEDx podcast to outline her new University strategy. It has a strong focus on her people and the culture of the university and how that relates to the context in Southeast Queensland. Her language is of opportunity and partnerships and a strong focus on how her region is growing, with the added ingredients of an Olympics in her backyard on the horizon. In the same week that Mark Scott is announced as the next VC of Sydney, are we starting to see a divergence in leadership focus between our global players and those serving particular local needs?

Jack Goodman Founder and Executive Chair of Studiosity joins the HEDx podcast in describing how his business, which began by partnering with public libraries to deliver online study help for high school students, has emerged as a dominant place for academic literacy support for students at close to 70% of australian universities. He foresees a global market for higher education based on personalisation of service and that technology will be a driver for transformation and disruption. He sees a step change in the balance between digital and physical infrastructure investment, and that student expectations will drive much of that transformation. He describes our current landscape as "39 peas in a pod" and agrees how wonderful it would be if just one of them tried to stand apart as a university for the student experience. What would that take I wonder?

On this episode DVC Education at Wollongong Theo Farrell joins Karl and Martin on HEDx to describe AFR award winning staff engagement at his University that helped 99.9% of teaching to move online in a fortnight. A former war studies professor, he outlines the difference between strategy and planning, reflecting on his experience advising international forces in Kabul. He celebrates the momentum to digital learning practice that requires focus on the student experience if it is to win in the higher education battlefields. He makes a case for academic work having changed irrevocably and argues that university executive teams should not back off from seeking outside help in transitions to support business recovery.

In this week's episode, Karl and Martin are joined by Lloyd Lazaro of The Executive Chair. They explore how search consultants are seeing how leaders are selected and what it means for graduate recruitment. They believe that most employers cannot distinguish between graduates from different universities, and that they have no preferred source of which graduates to hire.

Geraldine Mackenzie VC of University of Southern Queensland joins Karl and Martin on HEDx to reflect on how her strategy, that was nearing completion when COVID hit, has been delayed, revised and is reorienting USQ to work even more closely with industry partners on translation, and even more closely with technology in transforming learning practices. She applauds how the sector is working together, at least in its respective parts, but acknowledges all in the sector are yet to have clarity on whether the short-term adjustments to regional living through tree and sea changes will have prominence over digital disruption in determining the nature of the seismic changes to come for the sector. A time when all in the sector need new thinking, new solutions and new places to get help from.

This episode sees Karl and Martin joined by Chris Eigeland the Chief Revenue Officer of GO1 an Edtech start up. The episode explores how new entrants are moving at warp speed to disrupt business models for lifelong learning as a route to democratising access to education and knowledge. The implications to universities are profound with the clearest argument yet that the days of expensive 4-year degrees are numbered. The case is made for the need to be prepared to give up the short term gains of current offerings if long term benefits from a disrupting business model are to be secured before new entrants do.

In this episode of HEDx Karl and Martin are joined by Sarah, a second year student at Monash University. She applauds the way they helped her through the challenges of 2020 and looks forward to some greater social interaction and some return to campus for 2021. The episode raises the prospect of the sleeping giant of disrupted value propositions in all of our universities for both international and domestic students and the need for third horizon planning to focus on the new business models that will be required. The clearest picture yet of the challenge the sector is facing.

The HEDx team talk with Professor Duncan Bentley after his first 90 days as Vice Chancellor at Federation University in regional Victoria. He shares his thoughts about how to get to know a new place, its culture and its staff, students and partners, in trying times. He also focusses on the need for care for all in a university community. Duncan speculates about the role of regional universities in 2021 and how a focus on their external communities can set them apart. He presents this as a differentiated strategy, at times when some think all universities look the same.