IRU Annual Report: Senior Leaders Forum 2017-18 This report outlines the major work of the IRU since the 2017 Senior Staff Forum at JCU in October 2017. The report focuses on the four external outcome areas of the IRU 2018 Plan: 1. Influencing Government policies 2. Supporting cross-member strategic collaboration 3. Supporting member priorities and actions 4. Building the IRU s public profile, to support these activities. Influencing government and policy-making 2017-18 has been another challenging year for Higher Education with the series of attempted Government funding packages since 2014 ending in the decision to freeze Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding for two years and give the Minister back control over how much funding each university will receive, determined university by university. A broader debate about the whole of post school education has developed, posing a major challenge to the next Government following the 2019 election. Frozen: funding and policy development In response to the Government s higher education package the IRU has maintained a constructive approach emphasising the key problems of the package as a whole. We have previously challenged Senator Birmingham s overly simplistic claim that universities are able to sustain a funding cut. In doing so we have worked within a broad sector agreement to oppose the package. With little action to implement details of the changes intended to begin in 2019 and 2020, IRU has focussed at understanding our cost and expenditures better to be able to maintain the case for reasonable levels of funding, supporting all suitable Australians wishing to study at university. Research and innovation The Government responded to two issues of university advocacy in the 2018 budget. Firstly, a university case for higher levels of tax incentives for businesses using university research was rejected. Secondly, we gained a substantial commitment to research infrastructure for the coming decade. IRU is using this to push for greater dispersal of infrastructure hosts and nodes to ensure the advantage from hosting is shared. International HE policy The IRU has responded to problems with the Government s streamlined visa arrangements which potentially disadvantage universities operating in some markets with proposals to alter its detail. The IRU has advocated retention of the Government funded outbound mobility programs, New Colombo Plan and Endeavour Leadership program. DFAT runs NCP and the Australia Awards while the Department of Education and Training oversees the Endeavour program. iru.edu.au James Cook University // Griffith University // Western Sydney University // La Trobe University // Flinders University // Murdoch University // Charles Darwin University
Both Departments have expressed concern they need to demonstrate the value of the programs against Government scrutiny. The IRU has expressed support for both programs. IRU lobbying activity Regular discussions continue with members of the Government, Labor, the Greens and the Senate crossbench to ensure the IRU has a strong voice in Parliament. Since the 2017 Forum there have been six sets of lobbying meetings led by the IRU Chair. In addition to planned lobbying days, the IRU Executive Director regularly talks with Ministers and Shadow Ministers (and their offices) and departmental officials to discuss topics including future for higher education base funding, NISA Implementation, the Medical Research Future Fund and international education. IRU policy submissions The IRU feeds into all relevant inquiries and consultations as required. All IRU policy are published on the IRU website and widely distributed to interested parties. A full list of policy submissions for 2017-18 can be found at end of this report. Media presence The IRU has increased its media profile in 2017-18 with around 40 mentions in national media stories over the past year. That includes several stories created by the IRU from our own research and data and subsequently pitched to journalists. The IRU has built up a good working relationship with education journalists at The Australian, Times Higher Education, Australian Financial Review and Campus Review. Our view is now frequently included in HE stories in those publications. A full list of media releases for 2017-18 can be found at end of this report. Supporting cross-member strategic collaboration University operations and productivity A major focus for the IRU in 2018 has been to work with the heads of University Corporate operations on ways to use the IRU to support each member and pursue the potential for cross university delivery of services. The IRU has held two Productivity forums and several university costing discussions: A Productivity Forum on 12 July 2018, which shared developments to enhance the effectiveness of university services including identifying areas in which IRU could assist in benchmarking practices A follow up Forum on 19 September 2018 to focus on next steps including sharing developments to enhance the effectiveness of university services and further areas of investigation including cyber security and an IRU-wide systems and processes scan The Heads of Finance pursuing better benchmarking of university financial data in response to the Government requirement for much more detailed annual data on areas of expenditure. 2
Student and graduate success: IRU Vice-Chancellors Fellow With the departure of the inaugural IRU VCs Fellow Professor Jessica Vanderlelie, a new Fellow was appointed in April 2018. Associate Professor Amani Bell, previously an academic developer and senior lecturer at The University of Sydney, is now undertaking the role based at Western Sydney University. The initial projects created a set of employability tools for universities to use and stronger understanding of how to strengthen student use of learning analytical data to advance their own outcomes, in addition to university use of the data to ensure the best support and advice to students. Associate Professor Bell s priorities are: a project re-imagining work integrated learning a project investigating how we can better use graduate feedback to inform curriculum renewal and learning and teaching practices supporting exchange of ideas and information about learning and teaching activities across the IRU members. The VCs Fellow will continue to promote and add to the National Innovation Case Study Collection. The Collection profiles projects from within the IRU network to help share knowledge and break down the barriers to cross-sector collaboration. Strengthening international outcomes The IRU International Committee has focused throughout 2017-18 on implementing the IRU International Strategy to guide collective IRU activity both domestically and internationally. This is led by the recruitment of an In-Country Manager in Pakistan to take up the role in October 2018. This role will focus on engagement with education stakeholders in Pakistan and profile building. This is the first international collective activity of this kind undertaken by IRU. The Teaching and Learning stream of the IRU partnership with the Malaysia Research University Network (MRUN) has now come to a planned end. The IRU celebrated its projects and achievements by publishing a booklet, The implications of Digital Learning, in September 2018 with the input of those involved in the projects. It is now available online at iru.edu.au/international. The MRUN collaboration s Research stream will come to a formal end in 2018. The IRU will be collecting together final reports from the projects funded through this stream and publishing a second booklet in 2019 to report on their outcomes. The IRU Scholars in Asia projects continues to flourish with members being awarded high levels of New Colombo Plan allocations. IRU Calibration program The IRU Academic Calibration Program is now closer to being mainstream part of university operations. With the system support elements fully in place the focus turns back to making best use of the calibration analyses as part of quality improvement arrangements. 3
Universities of choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff The IRU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Network reflects the IRU members leading role in ensuring better access to university for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and engagement with Indigenous knowledge. In 2018 members agreed to review the 2014 Indigenous Statement of Intent to ensure its current relevance. The IRU maintained its strong support for universities to have responsibility for best use of the Indigenous Student Success Program. Supporting member priorities and actions IRU committees The IRU Secretariat supports regular meetings of groups across its members to discuss joint issues and support the sharing of relevant operational information across the network. These groups include: IRU Vice-Chancellors IRU Academic IRU International and the International directors IRU Research and research directors IRU Corporate. IRU forums IRU Academic Forum In May 2018, the IRU hosted an Academic Forum on the topic of student and graduate success. The Forum was an opportunity for DVCs Academic and their delegates to discuss the distinctiveness of the IRU members (what defines and sets us apart from others) and our most significant achievements, strengths and challenges. Outcomes focused on how existing IRU projects (Professional Learning Community of Practice and the Academic Calibration Program) and the IRU VC Fellow project will contribute to these goals. IRU International Forum In July 2018, the IRU held the 2018 IRU International Forum on International Education and Research Partnerships at Charles Darwin University s Casuarina campus. Forum attendees shared experiences on International Engagement Frameworks and information management systems and the function of research in international partnerships. IRU Research Forum In August 2018, James Cook University hosted the IRU Research Forum on measuring and supporting research impact. Led by the IRU s Research Directors, the Forum included presentations on research productivity, rankings, engagement with industry, research impact statements and examples of societal impact. 4
IRU members also presented individual initiatives they have undertaken to support a culture of impact. The outcomes, including developing a coordinated IRU approach for training and recognition of impact, are now part of the IRU Research Director agenda. IRU Innovation Network In July 2018, the Innovation Network met at Flinders University at Tonsley with a focus on the development of university innovation precincts, accelerator and innovation activities and linkage with venture capital. The meeting highlighted the common issues and aspirations to strengthen the link of campus to urban and regional development, and engagement with defence science research and innovation. In August, the IRU secretariat met with the Chief Defence Scientist and Chief of Defence Science Partnerships and Engagement, promoting the IRU s defence engagement and capabilities. Philanthropic Network forum In February 2018, the IRU held the inaugural Philanthropic Network forum providing participants with an opportunity to share information on different aspects within this important fundraising portfolio. Most staff in these positions are reasonably new to their university. The meeting was valuable exchange about the challenge of the roles and to identify areas to work together, notably in sharing of data and benchmarking information. Common issues included: the reliability of data sets about past fund raising and systems to support into the future balancing good proposals for research with areas most likely to be of interest to donors the importance of regular annual campaigns as base for other activities. IRU Policy Forum A one-day Policy Forum was held in March 2018. It targeted policy issues across different portfolios (Defence, Indigenous Affairs, Education and Training and Regional Development), including presentations from the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Defence. The presentations were interspersed with information sharing by IRU policy group members on approaches to the Broderick Review and SAGE Athena Swan. Building the IRU profile The IRU has been working hard to increase its external profile. A new strategic communications plan is in place outlining key IRU messages and aims for the year. Outcomes for the past year are: increasing the IRU s presence in higher education media primarily by further developing relationships with key journalists and providing them with more original, data-driven stories building the IRU s influence on social media by increasing our follower count and publishing a variety of interesting content refreshing our corporate branding in mid-2018, including a minor update to the IRU logo; better defining our corporate colours and style; improving findability of content on the IRU website; and redesigning key IRU documents including the Statement of Strategic Intent. 5
IRU media releases 2017-18 Freezing university education undermines future workforce, 19/12/2017 IRU responds to Labor plans for HE inquiry, 23/02/2018 Minister must listen to Liberal colleagues and reject lifetime student loan limits, 19/03/2018 IRU appoints new Vice Chancellors Fellow, 26/03/2018 IRU response to Budget 2018, 09/05/2018 We will all need post school education and training, we just need to fund it, 11/05/2018 Research infrastructure funding welcome but needs to be spread more widely, 15/05/2018 IRU students set to study in France after Embassy scholarship deal, 17/05/2018 33,000 more students for regional Australia so why stop now?, 26/06/2018 Australian researchers productivity boom, 12/07/2018 Universities need more freedom over research decisions, 06/08/2018 New ministers must bring coherence and stability back to university funding, 27/08/2018 IRU supports Labor funding announcement, 04/09/2018 IRU policy submissions 2017-18 Using Government programs to support regional development and decentralisation, 09/10/2017 Impact of the Skilling Australia Fund Levy: IRU submission, 15/12/2017 Future-proof, The BCA case for a coherent secondary and tertiary education system IRU response, 22/01/2018 Redevelopment and audit of HE data collection, 16/02/2018 IRU submission to Senate Inquiry on HELP reforms, 28/02/2018 IRU response to HESP Professional Accreditation Recommendations, 01/05/2018 Inquiry into Funding Australia s Research, 12/07/2018 Indigenous students success program review: IRU submission, 04/09/2018 "IRU response to MRFF (medical research) discussion paper", 05/09/2018 IRU publications 2017-18 The implications of Digital Learning: Joint research projects by Australian and Malaysian universities, published September 2018 (joint publication by IRU and the Malaysia Research University Network (MRUN) showcasing the outcomes of four collaborative Teaching and Learning projects undertaken since 2014). 6