Curtin U’s outgoing VC is moving to Uni Queensland. She talked to the Australian Technology Network’s Luke Sheehy about where universities are and where they are heading
On teaching in plague times: Universities moved courses on-line “quite quickly” and they should be “absolutely commended” for the way they have embraced the “technological advances that have occurred,” she says.
But “we are not doing it in a particularly joined-up way,” and “it’s caused us at Curtin U to reflect on what we could do a lot better in terms of on-line delivery.”
The move to on-line learning also raises the “value-add of the campus experience and how you deliver … genuine blended learning.”
“We will come out of this period better able to ensure our educational offerings are absolutely driven by what is available from a technical perspective” to create “a better experience for students in the future”
Community respect for research: COVID-19 has created awareness of research by government and media. “The community has understood why our research endeavour, particularly in health is a good thing,” Professor Terry says.
“Our challenge now, working closely with government, is to have the same impact across the broad range of areas that our universities and research institutions engage in. We have got to get better at telling those stories.”
And that means “narratives the community understands,” for example, on climate change.
On courses and quals for the times: “We are all concerned by the numbers of people in different sectors who are facing uncertain employment, everything we can do to ensure there is hope for the future is absolutely critical,” Professor Terry says. And that hope includes the opportunity to up-skill, re-skill and cross-skill. “The ATN is very well positioned to play a really critical role as we move into a recovery phase.”
And for the future: “Universities will continue to play to their strengths and this will inevitably lead to more specialisations – whether there will be more mergers more partnerships will be in the medium term.