Opinions

John Dewar and Dionne Higgins are experienced leaders of Australian universities now leading a higher education consulting practice at Korda Mentha. They have recently published an annual report showing Australian universities under significant financial pressure to be able to invest in the digital transformation they desperately need. They see it as a time for courageous leadership to cut through the red tape and bureaucracy increasingly stifling the sector. And they see great value in leaders taking inspiration from international pioneers and thinkers like Sir Chris Husbands who they, and others, are helping HEDx bring to Australia later this year.

John Dewar and Dionne Higgins are experienced leaders of Australian universities now leading a higher education consulting practice at Korda Mentha. They have recently published an annual report showing Australian universities under significant financial pressure to be able to invest in the digital transformation they desperately need. They see it as a time for courageous leadership to cut through the red tape and bureaucracy increasingly stifling the sector. And they see great value in leaders taking inspiration from international pioneers and thinkers like Sir Chris Husbands who they, and others, are helping HEDx bring to Australia later this year.

Professor Kristian Widen is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cooperation and Innovation at Sweden’s industry-engaged Halmstad University, after a distinguished career at its leading research university in Lund. In describing the diverse landscape of a well-funded and stable Swedish university system, he observes that many if its staff and students are happy and calm, including regulators. With little loss of social license they are under little pressure to disrupt. But in his role he is mindful of how this pervaded in Swedish retail and entertainment sectors before Ikea and Spotify emerged. Where will the most likely disruption of global higher education come from, by incumbents or new entrants, and where in the world offers greatest promise to nurture it?

James Cook University VC Simon Biggs highlights AI’s role in personalising learning, widening access for remote communities, and supporting student wellbeing.

Bill Shorten, now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, calls for lifelong learning, tech-enabled skills pathways, and sector-wide collaboration over competition.

At the Engagement Australia conference, leaders from Universities Australia, Engagement Australia and the Robert Menzies Institute debated the social licence of universities—why it’s been lost, how to regain it, and how success will be measured—following a keynote by UQ Vice-Chancellor Debbie Terry.

Kelly Palmer led global corporate learning at LinkedIn, Degreed, Yahoo and Sun Microsystems. Inspired by the audacious gaols of Silicon Valley, her mission is to change the way the world learns. She has spent a career pursuing that mission in corporate learning settings before bringing the expertise to bear as Chief Strategy Officer at Southern New Hampshire University. She coined the term The Expertise Economy in a book that outlines how learning in the global economy has shifted from degrees or credentials to skills and expertise. The move from ‘what we know’ to ‘what we can do’ is now widespread in a world transformed by AI as Kelly outlined as a keynote in the recent Singapore applied learning conference where we first met.

Soon Joo Gog, Tracey Donnery, Patrick Kidd, and May Sok Mui Lim join the podcast. Skills Future Singapore, SkillsNet Ireland and FSO in Australia are skills initiatives within national tertiary education systems. Ireland has the world’s highest productivity and Singapore ranks second in global competitiveness. As Australia’s competitiveness is challenged by national economic productivity being unchanged in 20 years, should we develop national skills strategy alone or learn from the best? This panel from the recent Applied Learning Conference at Singapore Institute of Technology compares national approaches in Singapore, Ireland and Australia.

Sarah DeMark is an assessment expert leading education and workforce outcomes as Vice Provost at Western Governors University. This is the worlds largest university, is online, and soon turns 30 years old. Its education model is competency-based, equity-oriented, and based in Utah. It pioneers recording and demonstrating the future-work skills of its learners through an achievement wallet. It is in the vanguard of a tech-enabled global skills agenda. And as co host Mike Hale from VitalSource argues it provides a scalable foundation for external partnerships that are serving WGU students and alumni and others in the lifelong learning ecosystem.

Professor Duncan Ivison is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester where staff members including Alan Turing defined the concepts of algorithmic and computational automation. Duncan draws on his global experience from Canada, the US, Australia and the UK to revisit the purpose and future of universities in the fastest period of computational advancement to date. How has the global landscape of higher education evolved and where will it develop next?