Podcast

Professor Alwyn Louw, Vice Chancellor of Torrens University of Australia and Jodie Davis, Registrar of Griffith University, join the HEDx podcast co-hosted by Ben Hallett of Vygo to discuss what is required for universities to comply with new legislation to support our pushes for student support to allow equity goals to be achieved. Data and systems are vital for immediate action. And renewed purpose, leadership and culture change are the opportunity to do more than stir the pot.

Overcoming the barriers to student equity in higher education has much to learn from research and best practice. Professor Sarah O’Shea of Charles Sturt University and newly-promoted Professor Paul Harpur of UQ and Universities Enable share insights into five principles that inform how we seek greater equity and inclusion for all of our students. At their heart is the issue of changing our culture.

Alessandro di Lullo as Co-founder of global EdTech investor Supercharger Ventures joins Dr Nora Koslowski of MBS on the podcast.  They outline the mindset changes needed by higher education leaders to embrace technology such that it becomes mainstream in future education offerings.

Professor Paul Harpur of UQ, leader of Universities Enable and member of the Accord Ministerial Reference Group, joins HEDx. He makes the case for role models with lived experience to lead the debate about achieving real inclusion in higher education. In common with this week’s referendum on a Voice to Parliament, the importance of listening to those with lived experience who have a real stake in policy changes, as we seek to undo disadvantage, are the changes to governance we need if a higher education system is to become truly equitable.

Roger Smyth shares his experiences from the New Zealand Ministry of Education in joining an episode of the HEDx podcast with Professor Giselle Byrnes, Provost of Massey University as co-host. As our Australian Universities Accord final report responds to debate among our providers over what form of Tertiary Education Commission to recommend, what can we learn from experience and lessons across the ditch about how such a commission should be set up and operate?

Professor Clare Pollock as Provost and Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor at Western Sydney University (WSU) outlines how a university at the centre of Australia’s growth is pursuing a mission based on local partnerships. Her story and the WSU story are at the heart of the accord process and it’s issues. They provide a great example of a university in serving a local community can make a world-leading contribution on a global stage.

Jason Tabarias of Mandala partners shares details of a new report for the Coalition for Digital Learners of what students of today and tomorrow are looking for in their learning experience through technology. Students clearly have an appetite for more effective technology support to personalise, augment and self-pace their learning and engagement. Is our ability to give equity students in particular, the experiences they need, in danger of being the baby we throw out with the bath water of compliance?

Dr Nadine Zacharias as Managing Director and Founder of Equity by Design, joins Co-CEO of Vygo Ben Hallett as my co-host in exploring the technical, operational and leadership issues associated with responding to the unfolding picture and details of the Support Amendment Bill. With consultation open for a further week or so this is a critical conversation for the sector to ensure it is ready to support growing numbers of students we seek from equity groups, to succeed from as early as January 2024 or face significant penalties.

Caitlin Gleeson, Global Leadership Development Lead at Canva joins Dr Nora Koslowski of MBS as co-host to discuss the changes in lifelong learning for leaders and graduates entering innovative workplaces such as Canva. The increasing scope for horizontal discipline and knowledge needs to be augmented by vertical capabilities in managing ambiguity and change. The case is made for different approaches by employers and new roles for and partnerships for higher education facilitators in meeting these needs.

Professor Rose Luckin of UCL and EDUCATE ventures research, joins with Dr Ant Bagshaw of L.E.K. Consulting as HEDx co-host in this episode. It dissects responses to the recent breakthroughs of AI technologies. It surfaces global best practice in being vulnerable, experimental and proportional in finding higher education problems as starting points to explore how AI will impact us all. It offers a roadmap for practitioners, leaders, institutions and policymakers for the sector in exploring a future for higher education. In doing so it addresses a significant gap in the Universities Accord interim report.