“UNE is not heading in a positive direction, or at a pace that keeps the institution ahead of an ever-growing set of competitors”

Vice Chancellor Brigid Heywood sets out the university’s circumstances and what she intends to do about them in a restructure proposal to staff.

some of the problems she identifies

curriculum: “UNE’s declining competitiveness is linked in part to the relatively slow design and delivery of an innovative, updated, academic curriculum, as well as the development of a modern multidimensional online offering”

research: “UNE has a relatively small number of high performing research staff upon whom rests the burden of our entire research identity and credibility. This is not acceptable”

workforce: “best described as ‘static’, lacking in capacity for adaptation and creativity, and is largely defined by operations which support individual domains of expertise.”

leadership: “the current leadership model is compromised by examples of poor visibility at executive level, evidence of limited engagement beyond immediate portfolio responsibilities and demonstrable deficits in performance”

some of  her solutions

admin: “UNE needs a root and branch review of the use of general/professional and technical staff across the university”

teaching: “re-scope the nature of academic work and promote a scholarly teaching-focused, student-centric faculty model that promotes a ‘whole of university’ approach rather than a model where ostensibly ‘discipline’ and ‘faculty’ outcomes carry greater weighted benefit than aggregated institutional performance.”

structure: “a new organisational structure that supports the achievement of iterative net savings is crucial”

how much?: “a managed workforce reduction” to save $15m per annum

new ways

leadership: a five-member executive leading portfolios supporting, “student success, academic excellence, operational resilience and functional partnerships”

academic staff: “employed to design and deliver education and/or research within an agreed framework. They will be employed primarily for expertise in an academic or research discipline area along with evidence of an ability to work in a team-based model”

general support services staff: “recruited to provide support in the administration and management of all coordination functions … may involve delivery of education/research-oriented tasks under the direction and quality assurance oversight of an academic leader”

core professional/technical services: “UNE must migrate to a whole-of-institution focus on the delivery of all services and move away from a model of local application”

what’s next

academics: “appropriate and managed reduction of core academic staff numbers”

professional staff: “rationalise professional resources across the business to secure efficiencies”