The Response - UWA Staff - The University of Western Australia

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Proposal 15: That the University develop and implement plans for the more effective use of its physical assets. ‘We should definitely re-think the “academic year”. If we used our facilities year round, we could run teaching programs equivalent to having an entire second campus (I can’t think of any other business that lets so much of its assets sit idle for half the year). I’d like to see us move to a 4 term structure, with the possibility of large-scale teaching over the summer. Our new one year, full-time MBA will run January-December, and be taught in intensive blocks over 4 terms. Even 3 terms would be an improvement. In response to criticism that the long break is when “people do research”, a model in which faculty teach in 2 of the 3 terms would allow some “front loading” of teaching, better planning of annual and long-service leave, etc. Ideally, the term start and end dates should be lined up with those of the Northern Hemisphere, as this would make it easier to arrange student exchanges and for visiting academics to come to UWA. Given the opportunity cost for students of time spent studying, the sooner we get them back into the workforce, the better. Summer schools that let them compress a degree into 2.5 years would have real appeal for some students.’ ‘With the pace of change in the economy and the job market, I can see potential for us to offer more programs for mature age students needing to re-train. It’s a group that is more likely to be familiar with, and prefer, a traditional on-campus, face-to-face format. Demographics, the aging population and greater competition for international students suggest that undergraduate enrolments will peak soon, if they haven’t already. Many top global schools (especially those roughly our size) have an undergrad/postgrad mix that is closer to 50/50. More evening and weekend offerings are a must for this this market.’ ‘…external subject matter experts, internal UWA peer reviewers and some Facilities Management staff are perplexed as to the organisational structure of Finance and Resources, which has campus planning and FM separated. Here UWA operates in quite a different manner to our peers…this has its ups and downs.’ ‘FM has been trying (with variable levels of success) to improve space utilisation and there is still a strong sense of personal ownership of UWA space and physical assets by various staff and researchers. This culture needs to be challenged at every turn to free up ‘lazy’ space and defer expensive and unwarranted capital investments. We should be spending a lot more on re-purposing existing facilities than growing our area under roof.’ ‘Sports Park and our other satellite campus land holdings should be all investigated with vigour as to potential revenue generating activities. Granted, property development is not ‘core business’ for a University, but making our endowment into a significant contributor to our ongoing cash generation for both operations and capital investment is a massive opportunity. Examples currently floating in my mind include residential developments, retail / commercial precincts, high end tech park / research facilities, sporting and joint accommodation / social facilities, aged care, health care, community meeting facilities.’ ‘As one way to use our spare capacity and value add, the Business School is currently exploring the idea of incoming study tours from feeder institutions. The intent is that such tours will pay their way, but more importantly increase the University’s visibility amongst the student cohort of such institutions.’ ‘You have suggested 4 week intensive block units as an alternative to semesters….my reservation under this heading is that it really only suits units that are themselves block taught by one academic. This is the norm in Engineering and Computer Science. However in biosciences, team teaching is the norm so staff can find themselves lecturing throughout the year, which could impact the ability to write grants or take holidays. My suggestion, therefore, is that the centrality of human capital needs to be borne in mind when evaluating initiatives under this proposal.’ 22 | www.uwa.edu.au
Additional comments (which do not fit well into a particular section) ‘Should there be something on better understanding our stakeholder needs; e.g. should we do more with our alumni in developing a UWA community – not only with the intent of asking them for money, but also ongoing support? Are UWA graduates as proud of UWA as Harvard ones? Brand? Are there other opportunities for alumni to be actively engaged in UWA and contribute to its future – e.g. the Business School Board has had many benefits, not only fundraising for a new building!’ ‘What about students? I know that education and student experience is a large part of this paper but I wonder if there are other things we could be doing with the Guild, UWA Sports?’ ‘Communications – we need to continue to work not only on external communications but also internal communications.’ ‘I think that the role of international students in diversity on campus has been missed, in particular, how in a deregulated environment we can be building links that could leave the same long term legacy of influence as the Colombo Plan had for UWA.’ ‘University of Hong Kong is ranked very well in The Times Higher Education World University Ranking. It is reported that in 2012 the university took 23 top provincial students from China through scholarships and 230 top students through fee-paying students. I think it is a very clever idea. The university took all top students and also balanced its balance sheet.’ ‘Currently 1 in 7 Chinese families can afford international tertiary education for their children. With China’s increasing wealth amongst the middle classes, that number will soon become 1 in 3, providing UWA with potential promotional and marketing opportunities.’ ‘With the recent increase in UK university tuition fees, perhaps that is another market UWA could tap?’ ‘There are areas on and around the campus that are unsafe for students at night. Incidents in these areas give UWA a bad name. It would be good if the university could invest in, for example, more street lights on Parkway to increase safety.’ ‘WA needs a strong and prosperous UWA with linkages into the fabric of society at all levels. Working in reverse order of age, we can improve our relationships with the aged/retired community, especially alumni. People in senior management roles at the height of their chosen profession should be our allies in industry across all areas of endeavour, as they are great source of potential business funding, but also postgraduate level students and even part/full time staff. Recent graduates don’t seem to have a strong sense of a tie back to UWA…. Current students and their families need to be better embraced during their period of direct involvement, including sporting, cultural diversity and other socially broadening experiences with people of all ages…. Also, school children as prospective students at UWA need to be engaged at various points along their primary and secondary schooling to be better informed about options and what inspires them – rather than UWA being seen as the prestigious uni, it could be seen as attainable by anyone who wants to put in the effort for the best experience. I favour the close ties UWA has with the arts fraternity in all forms, I think there is a huge opportunity for closer ties with elite sport in various forms, I believe that the UWA Club is not yet fully realising its potential in both alumni and corporate functions.’ 23 | www.uwa.edu.au
Page 1 and 2: Uwa Futures: The Response
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTION ‘I concur with what
Page 5 and 6: ‘There is significant potential t
Page 7 and 8: course change and innovation ever t
Page 9 and 10: ‘UWA seems to be slow in picking
Page 11 and 12: ‘Our group believes that using re
Page 13 and 14: ‘With regard to Proposal 5, one s
Page 15 and 16: A representation of a possible acad
Page 17 and 18: ‘I wonder what this proposal mean
Page 19 and 20: ‘One of the ways the University c
Page 21 and 22: ÌÌ The need for all offices invol
Page 23: ‘The trick is not management of t

The Response - UWA Staff - The University of Western Australia

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