Director of education for SEEK Investments Joshua Nester joins Martin Betts in conversation at the March HEDx conference in Melbourne. As an industry leader in ed-tech, Mr Nester gives a global overview of investments currently being made in private universities, ed-tech companies, management systems and content aggregators. He outlines how this is changing the competitive landscape of global higher education.

The conversation is followed by a panel led by Sue Kokonis, chief academic officer at SEEK's parent company, Online Education Services. She is joined by CEO of Edugrowth David Linke, pedagogical evangelist at Adobe Manuela Franceschini, deputy vice-chancellor (education) at RMIT Sherman Young, and dean of Macquarie Business School Eric Knight. Together, they answer the question: how will technology change higher education for good?

Ernst and Young (EY) Oceania education leader Alison Cairns told Campus Review their student surveys have shown digital transformation – using new technology to improve learning and teaching experiences – needs to be led by vice-chancellors and boards. (You can read a summary of EY's survey results here.)

"It is absolutely about leadership. The difference between transformations that are successful and transformations that fail is around leadership and bringing people on that journey," she said.

"The ones that don't do so well are the ones that are purely technology transformations, and then they follow up with change management and it's a little bit challenging."

"[Then staff] say, 'Well actually I'm not sure I signed up for this'. Or 'I don't like the way this works'. Or, 'this doesn't really suit my faculty, doesn't really suit how I want to do it,'" she said.

EY recommends university leaders put humans at the centre of any tech or digital learning upgrade, instead of placing new online resources to 'tick a box'. Their approach is to ask different questions of the different humans who will be benefiting from the tech transformation.

Ms Cairns said universities that have used this style of digital learning innovation have seen an uptick in student enrolments and engagement, along with higher staff and researcher satisfaction.

She explained one of the most important aspects of university study for students is quality of teaching. If students can pick which format best suits them, they are likely to think the quality of teaching is much higher.

Students also care about career outcomes – what is going to get me the qualification I need, for the least amount of money, in the shortest amount of time?

What are the tech innovation limitations?

Layers of leadership in bigger universities might be a reason for slow change, some education thought leaders say, but EY says it hasn't found a difference in the ability to adapt between small and large unis.

"I think our universities are very positive about change. They're very positive about what the education sector does for our country," she said.

"Some of these businesses and universities have been around for 500 years, so they do something right."

She said universities have already shown what they're capable of, through the rapid switch to online learning in 2020.

"Universities did a fantastic job of moving from classroom teaching to emergency response teaching [during the Covid-19 pandemic]," she said.

"I just want to be really clear, that's not digital learning. It was emergency response teaching. And they did that so swiftly with just the resources that they had just so that students could keep learning.

"But that took leadership from the top, right? Obviously there was technology involved in that, but we had staff leaning in, we had academics leaning in, we had research leaning in and the students had to lean in as well."

For example, posting recorded lectures and tutorial slides fits into 'emergency response' online learning, but doesn't represent learning operations that reflect digital competency.

Asynchronous education, where students access course material on their own time, is the required next step.

"I might be an under-served learner, you might be a particularly bright student. I might need my learning slightly different," she said.

"So I might be someone who does well in case studies, gamification or video as opposed to text. And you might be someone who actually prefers text.

"[Asynchronous education] means that we can have all of that information and we can actually consume it as students in a manner that suits us best."

This approach is a real asset to universities, Ms Cairns said, because it promotes lifelong learning and attracts different cohorts, something all education sectors are looking to achieve.

"[Students] need to have the option of being able to consume in the manner that maximises their learning because a lot of them have either got care responsibilities or they have to work," she said.

"Or if you look at people who are career changes or job upgraders or lifelong learners, they might have family commitments.

"They cannot commit to being onsite on campus all of the time, even if that's their preferred method.

"If you think to the Universities Accord report and the under-served learner, and making sure there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to go through higher education, this is actually having a significant change."

How can universities put people at the centre?

The ones who are doing it well "are consulting, bringing people in from the faculties, bringing people in from executive, bringing people in from their council and actually saying, what is our 10-year vision? Where are we going to focus first?" she said.

"We've actually seen great acceleration in learning, and we've been able to see the fantastic content that the universities have being able to be shared to a much wider audience."

However, some university staff say they don't want to teach to half empty classrooms, and if students choose a more digital learning method where they don't have to show up to class, that might become the reality.

But, Ms Cairns said, a drop in class numbers could actually result in more engaged students, and called on universities to track that engagement.

"If you are replacing [face-to-face classes] with engaging learning and personalised learning and things that you like to learn in a manner that you like to consume, you're actually going to get increased engagement," she explained.

"It's not one or the other, right? It is not classroom or online, it is now hybrid," she said.

"Some things will still be in classroom, some things will be online, some will be asynchronous, some will be deep engagement.

"And if you think in Australia [there's] remote and rural; it's not practical, particularly with cost of living for some students to have to come to the city or come to a big regional campus in order to learn.

"They need that flexibility."

Even if universities are large and established institutions, the education leader said, they should be looking to set themselves apart through tech learning.

"We don't want any university to be homogenous. We actually want them to have their uniqueness and differentiation," she said.

"We're at the end of the industrial revolution, which was about mechanising labour. We're at the beginning of the information revolution. Where does information live? It lives in universities.

"How do we take the best of that into transformation and use the best and brightest minds to take education forward into the next century?"

Many professions with skills shortages require a VET qualification gained from TAFE or another registered training organisation (RTO), such as builders and other trade apprenticeships.

A $1.3bn scheme to get more people into apprenticeships will also be reviewed after data revealed half of apprentices that undertook the scheme's offer dropped out.

The Interim report also says only half of NSW TAFE students complete their training.

The NSW VET Review Interim Report has seven recommendations that aim to boost vocational education enrolments to address the state's worsening skills shortage.

1. The NSW government should clarify TAFE's role and purpose through a TAFE NSW Charter
2. TAFE should develop and implement a revised operating model that aligns educational delivery with industry needs, prioritises local engagement and enhances support for teachers
3. TAFE should work with the NSW Department of Education to pilot self-accreditation processes across selected qualifications
4. The government should streamline and increase funding
5. The government should review the TAFE advisory board, advisory bodies and the NSW Skills Board Act 2013
6. The government should prioritise expanding the VET trainer workforce and converting casual staff to permanent roles
7. The government should audit existing TAFE infrastructure and assess whether its age, condition and location are suitable

The Interim report recommended changes to be immediately implemented, with the final report, to be released mid-year, to recommend longer term reforms.

The TAFE NSW Charter

The most immediate recommendation is the proposed TAFE NSW Charter, which NSW Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education Steve Whan said the government has already begun working on.

The Charter would clearly outline outcome expectations of TAFE through clarifying its role, purpose, agreed measures of success, ways of working, governance and values – all of which is currently undefined.

No clear overarching reason for existing, the report says, has left TAFEs operating in a less effective way, with no medium to long term enrolment or growth goals.

The Charter would also clearly communicate that TAFEs should be industry aligned to meet workforce needs – and local, to serve the needs of regional and remote communities particularly.

Funding overhaul

A lack of funding certainty has prevented medium and long term goal making efforts for TAFEs, the review found.

The current Smart and Skilled program, which subsidises in-demand qualifications for students up to a Certificate III, has actual costs that are significantly higher than its predicted costs.

The review found since the implementation of that program in 2015, TAFE pushed itself into a market competing with private RTOs and other skills institutions, whilst still attempting to meet its equity and access goals.

Trying to "play every role" has left the skills trainer falling short in most areas, the report says, on top of the burden of funding 70 per cent of courses under the Smart and Skilled scheme.

Private RTOs can opt-out of offering qualifications that cost more than their actual cost, whereas the public TAFE is a 'last resort', and has to offer that skill course for free.

'TAFE NSW estimates losses on several high-enrolment qualifications due to the mismatch between Smart and Skilled prices and its actual costs of delivery,' the report said.

“It cost us $28,000 at a minimum to put a trainee through over two years and the only funding we’re eligible for is $5,000 through Smart and Skilled. So every time we sign up a trainee, it’s a financial loss to our company," a primary industries roundtable member said.

TAFE also has to negotiate funding agreements with the state's education department every year, preventing the skills provider from planning long term or creating goals.

The review recommends TAFE be removed from the contestable funding market, and Smart and Skilled program costs are reviewed and managed through the proposed charter.

The report also says both TAFE NSW and the NSW government should up their funding commitments in the 2024-25 budget, and adopt a 'direct appropriation' funding model, where a lump sum of money is set aside to take care of TAFE costs.

Better trainer conditions

The NSW Teachers Federation said funding certainty is key to improving TAFE outcomes, and called for changes to appear in the 2024/25 budget so trainers can reap its benefits from 2025, not mid-way through 2026.

"Our students can’t wait and nor can our communities. The skill shortage is getting worse and threatening critical national priorities such as in construction, nursing and the clean energy transition," deputy president Amber Flohm said.

"The NSW economy needs a revamped, revitalised TAFE."

The federation also called for an end to significant administrative burdens – currently a full-time TAFE trainer spends one hour on admin for every hour spent in the classroom.

VET trainers and teachers should also be put on permanent full-time contracts more often than not, the review says.

Although NSW TAFE offers above average wages compared to other states, part-time contracts and admin burden have dulled the appeal of the profession.

The review found between 20-50 hours of NSW Education and Authority Standards (NESA) accreditation admin per week is deterring teacher applicants, along with too much of a focus on compliance training instead of valuing current and competent industry knowledge.

Declining infrastructure

Stakeholders that wrote to the review said even if they wanted to offer TAFE's full suite of qualifications, they don't have the facilities to.

Old equipment, a lack of digital learning resources (despite the Covid-19 pandemic) and low digital literacy in students have undermined student experience and lowered staff morale, the review found.

Most TAFEs are still using digital infrastructure that has not been upgraded since its implementation in 2009, the report says, reflecting the gap between VET infrastructure and industry needs, especially in regional and rural areas.

"The issues currently faced by TAFE around its infrastructure and assets are also reflected in NSW public high schools that offer VET to their students," the review said.

"Participants noted that this limits the ability of schools to offer VET to their students, even if they have the workforce to deliver it."

A lack of long-term vision stemming from funding uncertainty has allowed infrastructure to continue to decline, with no upgrade plans in sight.

The review recommended the NSW government conduct an audit of existing public school and TAFE VET facilities, and increase the quality of those facilities to deliver learning needs.

It also said the government should consider aligning tertiary education infrastructure announcements, such as Regional University Study Hubs, with VET needs.

Indigenous participation missing

The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA), that represents independent RTOs, said the final report should place a greater emphasis on Indigenous participation in VET studies.

“ITECA looks forward to working with the New South Wales Government to enhance the role of skills training in supporting Indigenous Australians not just into a job, but into a career,” ITECA chief executive Troy Williams said.

"ITECA is also committed to ensuring that the final report includes robust recommendations on improving access to skills training for students from remote, rural, and regional News South Wales."

The review mentioned the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in TAFE, because it acts as a pathway for learners who face general barriers to education.

The review acknowledged funding is not the only reason Indigenous students don't sign up for VET studies, and recommended the appointment of specialist support staff for Indigenous students.

It also said Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations should be consulted on Indigenous issues.

Minister Whan said the report offers the changes required for TAFE to flourish.

“The NSW Labor Government knows that to address the critical shortage of skilled workers, NSW needs a strong and sustainable vocational training system," he said.

“Over the next decade, NSW will need thousands of skilled professionals across healthcare, hospitality, construction, and burgeoning sectors like renewable energy.

“This report underscores the pivotal role of TAFE NSW in helping meet the skills needs of the NSW economy.”

At last week's HEDx conference in Melbourne, Michael Crow from Arizona State University shared the equity and inclusion initiatives his university has implemented to increase the number of disadvantaged student enrolments.

This was followed by an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) panel on the feasibility of implementing these EDI strategies in Australia.

The panel included civil rights researcher and disability advocate Professor Paul Harpur, psychologist and expert on higher education equity Professor Marcia Devlin, peer mentoring app Vygo co-founder Joel di Trapani, Welcoming Universities coordinator Cate Gilpin, and university race equality advocate Mohamed Omer.

"I think we could all do more, and we could all realise the power that we have. There is no 'other'," Professor Devlin said.

"People used to come to me all the time when I was [a deputy vice-chancellor] and say, 'The university needs to do this, and the university needs to do that, and the university needs to do the other.'

"And I [would say], 'Well, who are you talking about? You are the university. I am the university.'"

Every regional hub targets a population where residents are almost half as likely to receive a university degree than their city-based counterparts.

The new locations announced on Monday are in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Victor Harbor in South Australia, Warwick, Chinchilla and Innisfail in Queensland, Central Western Queensland, King Island in Tasmania, Katanning and The Pilbara in Western Australia, and East Gippsland in Victoria.

Assistant Education Minister and Regional Development Senator Anthony Chisholm said the hubs created a “campus-like environment” to reduce geographic barriers to tertiary education.

“Students can access support, the latest technology, and be part of an engaging learning environment to help them achieve their academic goals, without having to leave their community,” Mr Chisholm said.

Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour welcomed the hub for East Arnhem Land, in the remote far north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory.

“It means people can study on-country without the added cost and burden of travelling interstate,” Ms Scrymgour said.

“These can be real barriers for our people to getting a quality education."

There are currently two similar hubs in Arnhem Land, servicing Wuyagiba, Nhulunbuy, Galiwinku, and Ramininging.

“Having a study hub in East Arnhem Land means more local people will get the qualifications to fill local jobs, which are otherwise filled by workers from interstate," Ms Scrymgour said.

According to Mr Clare's announcement university participation has increased in locations with existing hubs.

“I want more young people to get a crack at going to university and we know that postcode is a massive barrier for young people getting that chance," he said.

Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy said the hubs are a great step towards bringing universities closer to people living in regional areas.

“These are sensible initiatives that could move the dial on participation among underrepresented
student cohorts while addressing skills shortages and supporting Australia’s economic needs," he said.

“Universities Australia has called on government to prioritise such recommendations in the
forthcoming federal budget."

There have been 34 regional study hubs built since 2018, and the government plans to build 20 more, including the ones announced on Monday.

Applications for the next 10, and 14 other Suburban University Study Hubs will open in the coming months.

Some industry insiders are anticipating an announcement of the launch of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission by Education Minister Jason Clare in the lead up to the May budget, following a recommendation in the Universities Accord report ­released last month,

In the report, review chair Mary O’Kane outlines a proposal for a commission led by a chief commissioner, with two deputy commissioners, a First Nations commissioner, an equity commissioner and the already established regional education commissioner below it.

The commission would have a broad remit to guide higher education policy, direction and funding decisions. International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood has called on Mr Clare to create a commissioner role to oversee international education, as the sector faces increasing pressure under a government push to halve net migration in two years.

The number of student visa ­rejections has soared in recent months as Labor attempts to crack down on temporary ­migrants using the visa category to work rather than study, ­referred to as “non-genuine ­students”.

“The IEAA board is keen to have a deputy commissioner who has got responsibility for key international education policy advice,” he said.

Mr Honeywood said the government clearly remained concerned about international student numbers but cautioned against “pushing the pendulum too far”.

Independent Tertiary Education Council of Australia president Troy Williams said the sector had for too long “navigated without a compass”, backing calls for an international education commissioner to lead a “coherent” and “consistent” strategy.

Mr Williams wrote to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to warn that recent messaging on international students could ­“inadvertently undermine” the sector’s reputation.

“Statements that international students can perceive as unwelcoming or overly critical of the sector have the potential to dissuade future students from choosing Australia for their studies, impacting not only our educational institutions but also our national economy and cultural diversity,” he wrote.

Higher education researcher Andrew Norton has raised concerns that the commission would be a “powerful body” that could push the Education Department to one side.

“I think a plausible reading of the Accord report is that it’s going to be a very bureaucratic interventionist approach,” he said.

Mr Clare said the government was “considering all the recommendations of the Universities Accord and will respond shortly”.

Ms O’Neil has introduced a string of measures targeting overseas students following a review of the migration system, including higher English-language ­requirements, a new genuine student test and activating new powers to suspend “dodgy” providers.

Higher education providers are bracing for the release of new risk ratings due by the end of the month, under which Home ­Affairs will assign education institutions a level between one and three based on their rate of visa refusals, cancellations, fraud and subsequent protection visa applications. Many are anticipating that some institutions which formerly held the highest ranking will receive a lower mark.

Thursday's HEDx Changing Higher Education for Good conference called university leaders to action ahead of the finalisation of a government response to the Universities Accord final report.

In this episode, Chair of Universities Australia, David Lloyd gives his keynote address to the conference attendees.

Also, hear responses on the Accord and international student policy from a panel of vice-chancellors, including Andrew Parfitt from the University of Technology Sydney, Helen Bartlett from the the University of the Sunshine Coast, and deputy vice-chancellors, Jessica Vanderlelie from La Trobe University, and Kent Anderson from the University of Newcastle.

Ernst & Young has recently released a report detailing research conducted with Times Higher Education. Here is the overview of their findings.

Why human-centred transformation design is critical for universities

Purposefully putting human needs and expectations at the centre of higher education digital transformation will improve university success.

Three questions to ask

• Convince me, teach me, support me – how can university leaders meet student expectations and support their success?
• Empower me, free me, enlighten me – how can digital technology help staff to create better content and seamless processes that improve student experience?
• Equip me, connect me – how can researchers be better supported to conduct leading-edge research?

When embarking on digital transformation, universities often deploy strategies that serve the needs of the institution and its existing structures and processes.

For many of the students and staff on the receiving end of such changes, the experience has been less than ideal.

“Digital learning” is still often old content on a new platform, rather than being designed to enable optimal learning through personalized, digital self-access.

On many campuses, staff and students still struggle daily with multiple systems to get simple administrative tasks done.

We contend that institutions would get a far better return on their digital investment by putting the needs of the people they serve at the centre of technology efforts.

In a bid to understand what the people at the centre of universities want from digital transformation, we undertook research with the people who experience it every day. Our latest study, conducted in collaboration with Times Higher Education (THE), includes more than 3,000 students and hundreds of teaching faculty and professional staff in eight geographies, and explores their wants and needs. 

The research clearly shows critical areas where digital transformation needs to deliver a better experience for students and staff. This article surfaces a few of the ideas from the study. Read the report to learn what each cohort had to say and see the full body of our research and recommendations for university leaders.

Chapter 1: What do students expect from their universities?

Exceptional teaching, real-world career advantages, convenience and flexibility

Universities are underestimating student expectations

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed what students want from universities. Their educational norms and situations have shifted. In our survey, 60% of students are managing work or caring commitments alongside their studies. Partly for this reason, campus-based students expect to access content and administrative processes online, in their own time.

Concerningly, one-third of students told us they feel neutral about or unhappy with their choice of university. This should raise alarm bells for university leaders who are tasked with delivering a positive experience for all their students. Not meeting expectations around improving career prospects or preparing students for the workplace are key drivers of overall unhappiness. 

In order of priority, our research shows us that students are looking for their higher education institutions to deliver:

1. High-quality teaching, including using digital technology
2. Improved career prospects and workplace preparation
3. Better support to achieve their learning goals

To meet these expectations, there are a number of actions that university leaders can take. We have looked at these through the eyes of the students that universities serve.

Teach me effectively and in a way that suits me

Quality of teaching is the most-cited reason for both happiness and unhappiness with a student’s choice of university, indicating that some universities are offering better teaching experiences than others. Students also give low satisfaction ratings to the “quality of online learning” - putting it at the bottom of all surveyed aspects of university life.  Although, the amount of online versus in-person teaching is of little concern.

What’s missing from the digital learning experience is engagement. Although students rate the availability, quality of production and accessibility of digital learning materials reasonably well, they give low ratings to its ability to engage, enable collaboration or check understanding.

This reflects the fact that many universities are still simply recording lectures and posting lecture notes and reading lists online.

Students asserted that if funds were available for technology-related investments, they would prefer this to be invested in training teachers to deliver digital learning more effectively (45%) and in better digital learning materials (41%), rather than in upgrading the technology.

Convince me your university can improve my career prospects

Not meeting expectations around improved career prospects and preparing students for the workplace are key drivers of overall unhappiness with university choice. To win student choice, universities must better understand what students expect from higher education (HE) and offer programs that directly support their career goals.

Just under half (48 per cent) of students indicated that the main reason they chose their program was to qualify for a chosen career or improve their career prospects but a concerning 21 per cent of final year undergraduates say their university experience does not meet their expectations regarding preparation for the workplace. 

Creating programs that provide students with the skills they need for the future workplace will require critical thinking.

Support me to succeed academically and find connection

Our survey found that almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of students rate support to achieve academic goals as very or extremely important. Lack of support was also a key reason for students’ unhappiness with their choice of university, especially among mid-level and final-year students. 

Students also need to find connections with each other. Campus location remains students’ third reason for choosing a university, suggesting the campus experience is not over. But its role may need to be reimagined.  Nearly two-thirds of students say the campus is where they prefer to access social events and networking. This is key to students’ wellbeing, sense of belonging and developing social skills in addition to reducing feelings of isolation in an increasingly online learning environment. 

Chapter 2: What do university staff expect from digital transformation?

More time, better tools and quality data to help them deliver more value.

Universities misjudge the importance of the employee experience

While the student experience is fundamental to a successful digital transformation, university leaders must also pay attention to the staff (teaching faculty, researchers and administration) experience. The human experience includes all of the people involved in making a university work. To be successful, digital transformation needs to meet their needs and expectations, too.

Teaching faculty

Empower me to create quality digital content

Teaching faculty must be supported in carving out time to design and oversee the development of new curricula and learning materials that incorporate the best of digital and in-person learning modes. From our focus groups, we learned that many university teachers urgently need further training in blended teaching best practice. They need to understand how to both develop curricula and content for effective digital or blended learning and deliver teaching and learning support using the chosen modes.

Free me to focus on the important tasks

For teaching faculty, time is their most precious resource. Digital transformation should enable them to devote more time to their core missions of teaching and supporting students or leading research. Providing more asynchronous content will free them from needing to deliver in-person lectures, while using virtual meetings and online scheduling tools can help them provide one-on-one student support more efficiently.

"We are trying to give back time to pedagogy and teaching by making things quicker. It is now easier to design timetables and organise assessments."

UK/Ireland faculty focus group

However, simply implementing new tools and processes will not automatically lead to meaningful time savings. Faculty in our focus groups said they were faced with a myriad of new systems and tools, which were unintuitive, difficult to use or duplicative.

Enlighten me so I can better support learning outcomes

The higher education sector is currently grappling with improving learning outcomes. With the move to new modes of teaching and learning, faculty need to easily assess the effectiveness of their teaching and continuously adjust based on what is working well and what isn’t.  As more systems move to digital, there’s increased potential to analyze the data and create meaningful insights around student interactions, their levels of engagement and their learning progress. By collating that information into progress dashboards, faculty can track learning progress at an individual, class or program level, as well as identify students who require more support or programs that need adjusting. 

Researchers

Equip me to conduct leading-edge research

Universities have tended to under-invest in the digital transformation of research, as the focus shifted to teaching and learning. The investment needed is not just better equipment and computing power to support leading-edge research. There is also a real need to streamline and automate the significant level of administration surrounding research, to free up researchers’ time and help them be successful.

Processes ripe for digital transformation include grant applications and management, risk assessments, scheduling access to shared equipment, results disclosures, reviews, audits, publication and dissemination.

Connect me to other researchers

In many cases, research and innovation are not solo efforts but collaborative ones. The research community has a particular need to connect, share data and ideas, and work together to solve problems. The use of digital technologies for research is making collaboration within and across institutions much faster, more efficient and effective. This is greatly facilitating international research collaboration, widening the pool of potential research collaborators, which is particularly important in niche fields.

Administrators

Show me the data I need and save me from busy work

Our focus groups with administrative staff revealed a cohort that feels increasingly overworked and overwhelmed, with many digital transition initiatives actually adding to workload pressures.

The most cited challenge for administrative staff is that the data they need to perform their jobs resides in disparate siloed systems and cannot readily be combined. As a result, universities end up with a patchwork of siloed systems with different access points, that are not integrated, cannot share data, and have a very different look and feel.

Digital processes generate a wealth of data that administrators are hungry to use to drive decisions, but insights cannot be generated when data resides in silos.

"It’s about increasing the amount of time staff can spend making a difference to the students versus satisfying the system."

Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University

In addition, many universities are looking at how to automate HR, finance and procurement processes across the institution. Automating routine student-facing tasks, such as processing applications can continue to relieve the burden on administrative staff.

For universities to truly survive and thrive in a digital era, university leaders need to maximize the value of digital transformation, focus on designing services and processes around the needs of the people they serve — from students to administrative staff, and deliver a distinctive student offering and digital experience that sets them apart. This means aligning the value proposition with evolving student and workforce demands, having a clear understanding of the end-to-end student experience and how to make it more convenient, engaging and supportive, using technology. It also means designing services and systems that enable faculty and staff to spend more of their time supporting students to achieve their learning and career readiness goals. And of course, the technology must be matched with investment in upskilling faculty and staff to deliver an exceptional student experience.  

Summary

Successful digital transformation in higher education is predicated on putting the humans that they serve at the centre of all transformation projects – from students to teaching faculty to administrative staff. By understanding their needs and expectations, university leaders can build strong strategies, invest in the right technologies, and strengthen their university’s student offering so they thrive in a digital era. 

This article is by Catherine Friday, the EY Global Education Leader and EY Oceania managing partner of government and health sciences. It is summary of an Ernst &Young (EY) Digital Transformation survey and report, which asked over 3,000 students around the world how they think their university performs in the digital learning space.

Lecturers, tutors, academics, administrative staff and other National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members will strike from 12.30pm for four days to protest failed negotiations for a decent pay rise, more job security, and reduced workloads.

Some students have reported receiving emails from teachers informing them classes may be impacted as “many staff will be joining colleagues across the university … to protest the lack of progress in negotiating an Enterprise Agreement”.

Secretary of the NTEU Victorian division Sarah Roberts described the week-long period of industrial action as “unprecedented for RMIT”, but said staff have “upped the ante” in hope of finally coming to an agreement with university management.

“I’ve been bargaining since 2001, and I can’t recall a longer period of time since the expiry of an agreement,” she said.

“There’s been this absolutely intolerable delay in getting bargaining done [at RMIT] and that’s why we are at this extreme point of taking this week-long industrial action.”

Monash University students were also told to prepare for cancelled classes and reduced support services last Wednesday when hundreds of staff walked off the job for 24 hours.

Monash NTEU members were on strike from noon, following 18 months of failed negotiations for a 4.5 per cent pay rise, more job security, a cap on academic workloads, and the right to work from home.

Sarah Roberts said a “significant number” of staff participated in the Monash industrial action.

“We’ve been bargaining for 18 months and people are getting sick and tired of it,” she said.

“The university management decided to spend over $127,000 on a farewell party for [outgoing vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner,] yet at the same time there’s been more than $10m in wage theft from casual employees.

“This is nothing short of a governance failure. It certainly fails the pub test from the staff’s point of view.”

The industrial action included staff rallying outside the University Council’s Chancellery Building at Monash’s Clayton campus on Wednesday afternoon before they engaged in other strike activities.

The union members then picketed at the Clayton campus bus terminal from 8.30am on Thursday before returning to work at noon.

“We don’t take the decision to embark on industrial action lightly,” Ms Roberts said.

“We only do so if there’s no other choice. There will be an impact on students but we’ll be open to calling it off anytime if the university is open to shifting [an agreement] forward.”

A Monash University spokesman said management remained committed to reaching a fair and equitable agreement “as quickly as possible”.

“We believe all remaining matters can be resolved with continued goodwill and openness to compromise on both sides,” they said.

Since late 2022, the university has had 42 meetings with the NTEU over the dispute.

Amidst concerns about decreasing domestic enrolments at a time of critical skills shortage, restricting of international student enrolments, and heightening student dissatisfaction, there were lively debates and solutions proposed.

Should universities wait for a commission?

One of the recommendations of the Accord was to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC). A number of university leaders were in agreement, believing it is a required first step towards university policy reform agreements.

If a tertiary commission was to go ahead, it's a reform that would have to be government approved, in the same way as the recently green-lit student ombudsman.

One of the roles of the proposed commission would be to protect the sector reforms, and shepherd them through any successive changes of government; acting as a "buffer" for the 47 Accord recommendations, some of which are expected to take 25 years to implement.

Chair of Universities Australia (UA) David Lloyd addressed the conference on this issue, saying that there had been enough discussion about ATEC and now it was time to act.

"[ATEC's] proposed establishment is perhaps the most urgent consultation that's needed in all of the items that are in the final report," he said.

"Most, if not all, of the recommendations in the final report hang off the establishment of the ATEC.

"Now that we have the [Accord] report, funnily enough, we're still doing a lot of talking.

"As a sector, I think it's pretty safe to say that our voice has been heard. I have to be honest, for my part, I'm looking forward to doing less talking and just getting on with it."

Although, he added, he still has many questions about what a commission would look like.

"How big will it be? How far will its powers extend? Will it add value or will it add another layer of red tape and bureaucracy? How would it differ from the functions already within the Department of Education?" he asked.

"Does it make sense for [the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency] and the [Australian Research Council] to sit within an ATEC structure? Is it going to be a permanent body? Is it going to have a finite lifespan? I could go on, there's so many unknowns in this."

Other leaders were of the opinion that a commission might slow reform down, adding unnecessary government processes at a time when universities need to act quickly to address the nation's need to grow a university educated future workforce.

Deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Newcastle Professor Kent Anderson pointed out the Accord process has already been relatively slow, noting that universities 'didn't have to do any policy reform' during the 18-month Accord consultation period.

Of the process he said: "Then [the government] said, 'Well, we're not going to tell anyone what it says for another three months."

"Then they say, 'Oh, well, we can't really do anything until we get this new committee together to look at what we might do.'

"And then they really can't do anything because it's talking about 2050. And so we need three or four governments.'"

Chief executive of the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership Professor Marcia Devlin urged universities to start making changes to their teaching practices and policies now.

"I think we could all do more, and we could all realise the power that we have. There is no 'other'," she said.

"People used to come to me all the time when I was [a deputy vice-chancellor] and say, 'The university needs to do this, and the university needs to do that, and the university needs to do the other.'

"And I [would say], 'Well, who are you talking about? You are the university. I am the university.'"

Student wants vs university priorities

Chief executive of digital career consultant FourthRev Omar de Silva pointed out universities could be missing enrolments because a number of prospective students believe that going to university won't necessarily give them a better career outcome.

"[University research is] all important work, but it's not what the average student's thinking about," he said.

"Many people don't understand that that's not necessarily the university's priority number one, or even two or three, and I think that that creates more challenge."

Ed-tech start-ups are already fighting the equity battle

Overall, discussions shone a light on the importance of student experience, including international student experience, with an understanding that if university enrolments and education outcomes are to improve, attitudes towards and experiences of education overall needs to be more positive.

Chief executive of youth career advice website Year13 Will Stubley said many students are fearful of university, especially those from equity groups; cohorts the Accord says unis need to attract in order to double the number of university-qualified workers by 2050.

Year13 helps year 12 students explore and find a way into higher education through both mainstream and alternative channels.

Mr Stubley said his year 12 surveys show that year on year, more school leavers want to apply to university, but don't because of confusion or a lack of confidence.

"They don't think they're good enough," he said.

"The metric that always rates highest for our surveys is students have a fear of the future, and then you go a little bit deeper on that, and, unfortunately, the ATAR is a massive reason for that."

Mr Stubley explained universities, and start-ups like Year13, need to figure out how to decrease social, intellectual and administrative barriers to university if school leavers are to become more confident in applying.

"If you can deal with that barrier and then [implement] stepping stones - like, you can just get this unit or this skill as an entry point - that's the bridge to get them into higher levels of education." he said.

"It's actually a social issue which provides economic benefit."

Timothy Rennick, student success leader at Georgia State University (GSU) in the US, addressed the Universities Australia Solutions Summit in February, and told how GSU was able to cultivate a sense of belonging for disadvantaged students and break down bureaucratic administrative processes, both issues which are identified as barriers for equity groups getting to university.