professor geoff scott university of western sydney

University of Adelaide Festival of L&T 2012

Strategic approaches to developing quality in

21st century Australian higher education

Professor Geoff Scott

University of Western Sydney

Summary“Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas”

• The new operating context of higher education

• A case study of one productive response

• What has been the focus

• How this has been achieved

• Change doesn’t just happen – it must be led, and deftly

The emerging context & standards’ agenda for Higher Education

• Balancing growth with quality; access with excellence

• Growing competition within and beyond Australia

• A new consumer and demand driven system – ‘user pays’

• Rapid developments in ICT-enabled learning – opportunities for more (inter) active learning

• Determining standards & assuring academic integrity

• Working productively with TEQSA’s 5 standards areas.

• Need for a shared L&T framework that covers the total university experience & shows all staff where they fit

• Need for more focus on validating the outcomes we seek from c21st higher education and their measurement

The emerging context cont’d

• Need to appraise a set of prevailing assumptions about H.E.

• What is the key role of Higher Education (c.f. VET) in the rapidly changing context of the 21st century? Is it to produce: • ‘Work ready’ graduates;• Graduates who are inventive, sustainability literate; change

implementation savvy and ethically robust;• Graduates who can question & reshape current assumptions;• Something else?

• How do we determine What should be given focus in this new context - and then

• How to make sure it is implemented consistently and effectively – Education for Sustainability (EfS) as a case-study

The four, linked dimensions of sustainability

• Social• Cultural• Economic• Environmental

A ‘quadruple helix’

Careers in sustainabilityRCE-GWS Roundtable with Employers Oct 2012• Green logistics & life-

cycle management• Carbon lawyers,

accountants, energy & water auditors

• Environmental forensics• CSR & sustainability

services• Alternative energy: Wind,

wave, solar hydrogen• Organic farming• Blue economy• NGOs

• Community health, wellbeing & development

• Government & councils• Sustainability teachers• Green builders, architects

& ICT consultants• Cradle-to-cradle design • Green car design• Eco-tourism• Environmental engineers –

eco-sensor services• Behaviour change &

resilience professionals

Capabilities now sought in graduates – RCE-GWS roundtablewith key employers October 2012

• Calmness, tolerance of ambiguity, resilience, authenticity, willingness to listen & learn from errors, strong ethics, commitment

• Understanding one’s core values & tacit assumptions about the ‘good life’

• Ability to work in a cross-disciplinary team; work with diversity; empathy & responsiveness

• Systems thinking, diagnosis, ability to set priorities, trace out consequences, ability to work across disciplines and see the key point in a complex situation

• Strong written skills, ability to present a case to a group, facilitation, sharp data location skills, effective change implementation, knowing how to engage the disengaged

A University Sustainability Framework

Some priority challenges

• An already crowded curriculum

• Having to work in a cross-disciplinary world but having universities based on a mono-disciplinary funding and incentive system

• Engaging the disengaged

• A pressure to produce ‘work-ready’ graduates and fill places

A Framework for improving performance in L&T - UWS as a case study• Overall satisfaction up 25%

• Retention up 4%

• L&T awards 2011

12 ALTC awards including Teacher of the Year

(Nil in 2005)

• AUQA commendation in 2011 for L&T Standards and

Quality Framework

How has this improvement been achieved?

• A focus on the right combination of ‘what’ and ‘how’

• Building a change capable culture

• Culture = ‘how we do things around here’

1. Design

2. Support3. Delivery

4. Impact

The ‘what’: the UWS Academic quality & standards framework

4. Impact

UWS Academic Quality & Standards Frameworkfor Learning and Teaching

4. Impact – Academic Learning Standards • Validation

• Retention• Assessment Quality• Progression• Employability• Further study

1. Course design standards

· Relevance· Active Learning including

eLearning· Theory-practice links· Expectations clear· Direction & unit links clear· Capabilities that count are

the focus· Learning pathways are

flexible· Assessment is clear,

relevant, reliably marked with helpful feedback

· Staff are capable, responsive & effective teachers

· Support is aligned· Access is convenient


1. Design

4. Impact

4. Impact – Academic Learning Standards

• Validation• Retention• Assessment Quality• Progression• Employability• Further study

2. Support standards

· Orientation· Library· Learning Guide Standards· vUWS & ICT standards· Staff selection & training· Peer support· First year adviser· Learning support standards










1. Design

2. Support

4. Impact



3. Delivery standards

· Staff accessibility, responsiveness and skills

· Consistency and quality of delivery of support systems

· Consistency of delivery of design features

1. Design

2. Support3. Delivery

2. Support standards

· Orientation· Library· Learning Guide Standards· vUWS & ICT standards· Staff selection & training· Peer support· First year adviser· Learning support standards

4. Impact












Some key reference points for validating learning standards: whose voice counts most/least?

• The Australian Qualifications Framework • The University’s mission and agreed graduate attributes• Learning outcome standards determined by ALTC discipline groups

the UK subject benchmark process, AHELO etc• External professional accreditation standards (when applicable) • Results from inter-institutional benchmarking • Academic input, peer review and moderation• Key capabilities identified by successful early career graduates• The results of School/Department Reviews• The learning outcomes for courses of the same name in other unis• Employer feedback; input from External Course Advisory Committees;• Government policy and funding incentives;• What parents, prospective students & others say they want• Plus?

Building sustainability into the curriculum

• Case-based learning & assessment

• Building the campus as a living laboratory

• Establishment of a United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise

• Work-based learning

• Critical reflection on tacit assumptions about ‘progress’ and ‘success’ in each program

• Working with key employers on current and emerging careers in the area of sustainability

The ‘how’: key lessons on effective implementation in higher education

• Consensus around the data not around the table

• A small number of agreed priorities for action

• Ready, fire, aim not ready, aim, aim, aim…

• Steered engagement

• ‘Why don’t we’ not ‘why don’t you’

• Change is learning

The ‘how’: key lessons on the effective implementation & CQI cont’d

How staff like to learn is how students like to learn

• Motivators are both extrinsic) and intrinsic

• RATED CLASS A

• Just-in-time and just-for-me solutions to experienced gaps

• From successful travellers down the same change path

• Peer group counts

• Knowing where I fit and getting acknowledgement for a job well done

Quality improvement doesn’t just happen – it must be led – the TLSHE & Learning Leaders research (n=700)

• Engaging the disengaged is key• Listen, link then lead – ‘steered engagement’• Model, teach and learn• A change capable culture is built by change

capable leaders• Everyone is a leader in their own area of expertise

and responsibility• Most challenged when things go wrong – this is

when you learn• Key findings are available for every L&T role

Higher education leadership capability framework

• Helen please insert the five circles

PersonalCapabilities

InterpersonalCapabilities

CognitiveCapabilities

Role-specificCompetencies

GenericCompetencies

Capability

Competency

Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability in HE – top 15

capabilities in rank order (n = 188)• Having energy, passion and enthusiasm for EfS (P – commitment)• Being willing to give credit to others (IP – empathising)• Empathising & working productively with diversity (IP –empathising)• Being transparent and honest in dealings with others (IP empathising)• Thinking laterally and creatively (C – strategy)• Being true to one’s values and ethics (P - decisiveness) • Listening to different points of view before coming to a decision (IP - empathising) • Understanding personal strengths & limitations (P – self-awareness)• Time management skills

(GSK)• Persevering

(P – commitment)

• Learning from errors (P –

self-awareness) • Learning from experience

(C - responsiveness)

• Remaining calm when under pressure (P – self-awareness)

• Being able to make effective presentations to different groups (GSK)• Identifying from a mass of information the core issue/opportunity (C – diagnosis)

Code: P– Personal Capability domain; IP – Interpersonal Capability domain; C– Cognitive Capability domain; GSK– Generic Skills & Knowledge domain

What next?

• One key insight you have taken from this presentation

• One key area you would like to see followed up

Further reading

• Fullan, M & Scott, G (2009): Turnaround Leadership for higher education, Jossey Bass, San Francisco

• Scott, G (2008): University student engagement & satisfaction, commissioned report to the Bradley Review

• Scott, G, Coates, H & Anderson, M (2008): Learning leaders in times of change, ALTC

• Scott, G, Tilbury, D, Sharp, L & Deane, L (2012): Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability in higher education, Australian Government, OLT, Sydney

• Scott, G & Hawke, I (2003): Using an external quality audit as a lever for institutional change, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Educations, 22 (3)

professor geoff scott university of western sydney

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