Southern Cross U management adapts to hard  times and adopts block-teaching

After weeks of bad news (CMM June 5) Vice Chancellor Adam Shoemaker was on the front foot yesterday explaining where the university is and how it will start scoring runs. It’s “business as unusual,” he said.

Certainly, there was talk of savings that must be made but the big-policy news is that SCU will adapt what and how it teaches, to meet the needs of its communities.

Domestic applications for second semester are up 20 per cent and the university is introducing its own version of the Victoria U block teaching model, rolling out over two years. There will be a six-study period year, with people completing one or two subjects at a time.

As at VU, it is well-targeted to students who do not have strong academic backgrounds, but it is also designed for the re-training market SCU needs to build. The university is also reaching out with a message that education empowers people in times of crisis. Last month it launched a new recruitment strategy, “time to re-set” (May 7).

Which is what SCU is doing.