Campus Review

Guy Littlefair, PVC International at Auckland University of Technology, joins HEDx to share insights into transitions between university and business environments and the importance of partnerships. He gives great pointers to how universities and businesses can best work together in addressing local and global issues. In the week that Mark Scott takes over at the University of Sydney, and foreshadows a focus on partnerships, forging them is emerging as a priority for all in the sector.See...

This episode has Margaret Sheil join the HEDx team to outline where QUT is up to in refreshing its blueprint strategy. As the university with the most well-known brand position in Australia, promoting that in a post-COVID era is a priority for Margaret as VC. She outlines where a significant organisational change is up to and how the focus now is on rebuilding the culture at QUT to allow the strategy to be delivered, and her concern for staff in adapting to change. The episode illustrates...

Amid a precarious world where old jobs are disappearing and new ones are emerging, the idea of lifelong learning has morphed into something more of a must rather than an intellectual hobby or pursuit. But how will lifelong learning advantage Australians and which industries will most benefit from it? To discuss these issues and other topical points, I spoke to Australia and NZ regional director of D2L, Tony Maguire. According to Maguire, young Australians will embark on five to six careers...

The teaching of phonics in the early years of reading has been a contested issue for decades now. While all teachers believe an understanding of the area provides a critical foundation for beginning readers, the ways in which it is taught by different teachers - the blended approach versus commercial synthetic phonics programs - has led to the oft-quoted "reading ways". However, with states such as NSW and SA implementing mandatory Year 1 phonics screening checks, it's clear that phonics -...

This interview with the new chair of our peak body Universities Australia, sees vice-chancellor of La Trobe John Dewar assess how we are doing as a sector and interpret the gauntlet thrown at us by Minister Tudge in his recent speech. John gives a rich picture of the complexity of the commercialisation and campus return issues. He outlines how moves to differentiate on function and by discipline will continue to provide an opportunity for place-based strategies and major forays into the...

This episode has Karl and Martin joined by Professor Lynn Bosetti of UBC in Canada who gives insights into how Australian leaders in universities encounter academic workforces using incivility as behaviour to resist change and attempts at strategic direction. She draws on experience in both countries as an academic leader and her research of VCs and Deans around the world, to outline how the emotional labour of leading universities is exposed to smart bullying upwards by independent...

Professional placements are in many, if not most, university courses these days, with the goal being to strengthen the students’ industry knowledge and links. But what is the price of these placements, particularly when students have to forgo their usual paid work to complete them? Could another solution be found? To discuss this I’m talking to Olivia Armitage, whose petition to end unpaid placements has now garnered nearly 10,000. In this podcast, Armitage talks about how the idea for the...

Professor Marcia Devlin joins Martin and Karl to discuss her new book, Beating the Odds, on sexism in Australian universities in the week it is launched. Marcia outlines the inequity as well as the financial, cultural and performance disadvantages that arise from a lack of diversity in leadership teams and how this can be changed by women, men and all leaders following different strategies. The episode gives a sharp, specific and timely insight into the importance of leaders building great...

As the 2021 Australian university year is in full swing, new research commissioned by Studiosity revealed that 38 per cent of students were feeling stressed due to their studies at least once a day during 2020. More distressingly, a further 40 per cent of respondents said they were stressed about their studies every week, and only one per cent of students said they never felt anxious about studying. To discuss these findings and their deeper implications, I spoke to Professor Judyth Sachs,...

Leading learning technology innovator Dr David Kellermann is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering at UNSW in Sydney. He joins Martin and Karl to share his thoughts on the journey he believes all universities must take towards a new hybrid learning model of teaching. As a pioneer of learning technology and innovation he was well prepared for the acceleration in this in 2020 and applied his commitment to equitable access for all students in doing this well. He fears many other academics were less...

Recently Education Review wrote an article on the importance of assessing students learning and progress accurately and in a way both parents and students can easily understand. The story was based on an article by Professor Geoff Masters that drew attention to major US study. It found there were significant differences between how well parents thought their children were achieving and their children's actual achievement level. In this podcast, A/NZ regional director of D2LTony Maguire...

PricewaterhouseCooper's(PwC)Chief Data Scientist Matt Kuperholz joins Karl and Martin to discuss the evolution of the industry and the role of data in shaping the future of higher education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of HEDx , Brigid Heywood outlines her journey into the role of VC and CEO at Australia's oldest regional university in New England before she was plucked from a planned retirement in Easter Island. She outlines a new strategy for UNE built on a long tradition of distance education and on recent advances and radical ambitions for personalised learning journeys at the heart of differentiated student experiences. And she outlines how her unique approach to leadership, and the...

The COVID-19 pandemic tore a hole in the Australian university sector, highlighting just how dependent many of our institutions have become on international student revenue. Now, roughly a year later, the sector is still adjusting to challenging conditions and many experts have questioned how universities will need to operate in the future to remain viable, trusted and valuable institutions. In this podcast I discuss this issue with Professor Andrew Jaspan. He is the director and editor of...

In this week's HEDx episode, Karl and Martin are joined by their first international guest: Professor Giselle Byrnes. Giselle is the Provost with responsibilities across research, commercialisation and teaching and learning at distance learning innovator Massey University in New Zealand. She gives pointers in her interview to some of the differences in culture, tradition, priorities and practice in national jurisdictions and reflects on the implications of these for the way disruption might...

This week on HEDx, Karl and Martin speak with the leaders from one of Australia’s leading technology companies REA Group: Henry Ruiz and Mary Lemonis. They explore the relationship between REA Group and the higher education sector and what progressive organisations need from universities as the world moves on from COVID-19. Going from $500M to $17B in 15 years only happens through brilliant strategy and cultural excellence. The mandate for culture to evolve in universities has never been...

Helen Bartlett ,VC of University of Sunshine Coast, joins the HEDx podcast to outline her new university strategy. It has a strong focus on her people and the culture of the university and how that relates to the context in Southeast Queensland. Her language is of opportunity and partnerships and a strong focus on how her region is growing, with the added ingredients of an Olympics in her backyard on the horizon. In the same week that Mark Scott is announced as the next VC of Sydney, are we...

Jack Goodman, founder and executive chair of Studiosity, joins the HEDx podcast in describing how his business, which began by partnering with public libraries to deliver online study help for high school students, has emerged as a dominant place for academic literacy support for students at close to 70 per cent of Australian universities. He foresees a global market for higher education based on the personalisation of service and that technology will be a driver for transformation and...

In this episode DVC Education at the University of Wollongong Theo Farrell joins Karl and Martin on HEDx to describe AFR award-winning staff engagement at his University that helped 99.9 per cent of teaching to move online in a fortnight. A former war studies professor, he outlines the difference between strategy and planning, reflecting on his experience advising international forces in Kabul. He celebrates the momentum to digital learning practice that requires focus on the student...

In this week's HEDx podcast, Karl and Martin are joined by Lloyd Lazaro of The Executive Chair. They explore how search consultants are seeing how leaders are selected and what it means for graduate recruitment. They believe that most employers cannot distinguish between graduates from different universities and that they have no preferred source of which graduates to hire. The episode explores the increasing importance of soft social skills in job readiness and the challenge of how...