Opinions

Institutions in all sectors, including higher education, are shaped by, and in the image of their leaders.What leaders bring with them from childhood experiences and family backgrounds often frame their values, ambitions, and priorities, which can in turn shape their leadership goals, philosophies, and employer choices.

Two of the biggest questions facing the sector as it heads into 2023 are central to the new leadership agenda that has arisen over the last 3 years. Firstly, they concern how we can best fund our research and support a vision for the innovation eco-system that our nation, economy, communities, and society now need. And secondly, how we can make purposeful lifelong learning equitably accessible in a way that responds to the skills shortages we face and their differential impact on various demographic groups.

Our 40 or so Australian universities are not unlike those in other parts of the world in having distinct histories and legacies that shaped their evolution but are now parts of systems that have encouraged them to be more alike.

Public funding for higher education globally has almost certainly peaked as budget repair becomes widespread. The escape valve of endlessly increasing international student fee revenue might be closed permanently in Australia.

Until the recent global pandemic, university leaders had been engaging their institutions in developing strategic plans to define their niche and relevancy in a highly competitive higher education market. Different strategies were needed to find new sources of revenue to compensate for decreased government funding.

So how does a modern entrant make their mark in a system with a traditional way of operating and how would we measure their achievement?

Are calls for more diversity in higher education based in any real foundation that would make the sector better?

Skunkworks was the term given to a secret, small team of R&D engineers at Lockheed Corp in 1943 tasked with finding breakthrough innovations in jet fighter technology, in the heat of battle. They generated a new design in a month and built a new fighter in 143 days.

Now feels like a time of flux and re-examination of purpose in global universities. In the US, national political moves towards university loan forgiveness is occurring as fees rise, enrolments fall and the value of higher education is questioned. And adding to these challenges are cost of living rises not seen for decades, and national life expectancy falling for the first time outside of world wars.