Opinions

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.

They say that time flies when you are having fun. It is difficult to judge whether that is the case for our government or university leaders right now. When a new Albanese government was returned in May, we entered winter with a pre-occupation with pandemic recovery, forthcoming economic uncertainty, and universities hoping for a change in support from government.

Something special, even unique, took place this year – an Australian university was recognised by a global award scheme for business nous. That EY Entrepreneur of the Year Australia 2021 judges would choose the CEO of an Australian university was a surprise. It meant a leader from our sector standing alongside EY’s top 40 entrepreneurs as finalists for the EY global awards. Quite unique really.

We have seen sustained, rapid and substantial growth in rates of participation in global higher education and correspondingly in the size of university providers over the last 20 years.
Most of the impactful achievements by organisations can be likened to sustained journeys by communities of people that are thriving together. The Arizona State University (ASU) story over 20 years is very much one of everyone being aligned to a charter of making high quality higher education accessible to all, on the foundations of user-inspired research, in a setting that that serves real community purposes.

We have seen sustained, rapid and substantial growth in rates of participation in global higher education and correspondingly in the size of university providers over the last 20 years.
Most of the impactful achievements by organisations can be likened to sustained journeys by communities of people that are thriving together. The Arizona State University (ASU) story over 20 years is very much one of everyone being aligned to a charter of making high quality higher education accessible to all, on the foundations of user-inspired research, in a setting that that serves real community purposes.

We have seen sustained, rapid and substantial growth in rates of participation in global higher education and correspondingly in the size of university providers over the last 20 years.
This has largely been to serve expansion in local domestic markets and parallel developments of international education. The global model of a university has been built over 1000 years and started with a focus on being elite, small scale and research-intensive centres of excellence.

Just about every global university switched to almost entirely online delivery as a crisis response during the lockdown years of the pandemic itself. But not all were equally prepared for such a rapid switch and not all are equally well placed to extend and build from the lessons learned and the experience gained.

The emergence of hybrid academic and professional roles in more complex teaching and learning and research settings has the potential to either add to or reduce this level of specialisation.

Recent events have given a demonstration of how empathy, compassion and authenticity have become paramount in leadership. This shift in emphasis has been a feature over a longer period during the pandemic and the wider current global uncertainties and challenges.