Opinions

When times are tough, one of the best coping strategies is to leave the past behind, move out of your current predicament, and focus on the horizon ahead.

There has been much to think about in universities in the last 18 months, adjusting to short-term emergencies such as campus closures, shifts online and revenue hits. There has also been cause to reconsider how universities are set for the medium term regarding what they stand for, their reputation and how they look after their people.

Now semester 1 is over. We had hoped we would be back on campuses with our students, and some were, in part. But is any university, or its staff group, any more certain of what will happen next semester than they were before this one started, in any state in Australia?

Leading an Australian university just got even more difficult. Minister Alan Tudge clarified in his UA conference speech what many feared. There is no new public funding for the sector. 

Despite the strong evidence, well-known benefits and fit with our values, the data on how we are tracking in terms of gender and other diversity in the sector is ambiguous at best, and poor at worst.

The conversations about higher education were never more listened to, or diverse. But what do we hear, what sense do we make of it, and how do we respond?

Imagine a university taking advantage of this seismic disruption triggered by a global pandemic to not tweak, but completely transform, how it provides student experiences.

The current time is a curious mix of short-term, mid-pandemic adjustments that will be temporary, and long-term seismic shifts that will change the game forever. The million-dollar question is knowing which is which.

Micro-credentials bring an ability to deliver smaller collections of rapidly changing and emerging new knowledge to a growing learning community, whose commitment to formal qualifications, as a sole education goal, is in decline. 

The increase in tree and sea changes, the move to the regions, and the retro movement and growth of local communities, are all major drivers for universities right now. I hear an increasing number of vice chancellors talk about 2021 being a year of forging stronger links with their internal and external communities and giving greater credence to local context.