vision and leadership for regional universities or ...€¦ · vision and leadership for regional...

OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

Vision and Leadership for Regional

Universities

or

Whistling in the Dark

Professor Andrew Vann

Vice-Chancellor and President, Charles Sturt University

OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLORhttps://www.theymightbegiants.com


Plagiarism warning:

Plagiarize,

Let no one else's work evade your eyes…

Tom Lehrer - Lobachevsky


Self-plagiarism warning:

It’s déjà vu all over again

-Yogi Berra


Clarification of terms:

Why do Vice-Chancellors like the word

‘vision’? Because they can’t spell

‘hallucination’.- Source unknown


What is a university for?

From conversation with Johannes Haas, FH

Joanneum, Austria

- Higher education?

- Place for children of elites to find a mate?

- Keep the unworldly away from reality until it's

safe to let them out?


Wrong ideas that appealed to me



“For all our talk and good intentions, there is much

more stick than carrot in school, … How can we

foster a joyous, alert, wholehearted participation in

life if we build all our schooling around the holiness

of getting 'right answers'?”

― John Holt, How Children Fail (1964)



“Our current modes of rationality … are taking [society]

further and further from that better world. … the whole

structure of reason, handed down to us from ancient times,

is no longer adequate. It begins to be seen for what it really

is ... emotionally hollow, esthetically meaningless and

spiritually empty.”

- Robert M Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

(1974)



“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as

comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or

the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the

top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To

think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is

to demean oneself.”- Robert M Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

(1974)


I followed Pirsig’s prescription

• Dropped out of university

• Bummed around for a while

• Worked and grew up

• Returned to university with a stronger desire to

learn and a practical grounding in engineering

- But with a desire to challenge the conventions of

academic practice


What do I think a University should be for?

- To help us challenge and deepen our

conceptions of the world and our sense of

ourselves;

- To develop our knowledge, skills and attitudes;

- To transcend our intellectual boundaries;

- And to help us find our right place in the world.


Major strategic questions at CSU in 2012

Dualities:

- Are we regional or distance education?

- Are we regional or a university for the professions?

- Do we care about research or practice

- Will the future be good or bad?

Terroir and character


CSU’s Top Secret Strategy Diagram


Clarification of terms:

A Mission Statement is defined as "a long

awkward sentence that demonstrates

management's inability to think clearly." All

good companies have one.

- Scott Adams


CSU Narrative

For the Public Good (Charles Sturt 1848)

We are a university of the land and people of our regions. Acknowledging the culture and insight of

Indigenous Australians, CSU's ethos is described by this phrase from the Wiradjuri, the traditional

custodians of the land of our original campuses:

'yindyamarra winhanganha' ('the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living

in'.)

Derived from our ethos, our values are to be insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring. By living

these values, we want to make this a world worth living in.

True to the character of regional Australia we have gumption, we have soul and we collaborate with

others. We develop holistic, far-sighted people who help their communities grow and flourish. Our

mission is to build skills and knowledge in our regions. We offer choice and flexibility to students and

work hand-in-hand with our industries and communities in teaching, research and engagement.

Growing from our historical roots, we share our knowledge and expertise as a significant regional

export industry and we bring strength and learning from this back to our regions.

We are a market-oriented University and express our intent through our goal to be the dominant

provider of higher education for on-campus students in our regions and in Australian online higher

education.

What We Do

Who We Are

What We Want To Achieve


CSU Narrative

For the Public Good (Charles Sturt 1848)

We are a university of the land and people of our regions. Acknowledging the culture and insight of

Indigenous Australians, CSU's ethos is described by this phrase from the Wiradjuri, the traditional

custodians of the land of our original campuses:

'yindyamarra winhanganha' ('the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living

in'.)

Derived from our ethos, our values are to be insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring. By living

these values, we want to make this a world worth living in.

True to the character of regional Australia we have gumption, we have soul and we collaborate with

others. We develop holistic, far-sighted people who help their communities grow and flourish. Our

mission is to build skills and knowledge in our regions. We offer choice and flexibility to students and

work hand-in-hand with our industries and communities in teaching, research and engagement.

Growing from our historical roots, we share our knowledge and expertise as a significant regional

export industry and we bring strength and learning from this back to our regions.

We are a market-oriented University and express our intent through our goal to be the dominant

provider of higher education for on-campus students in our regions and in Australian online higher

education.


That’s Lovely - Why Care About CSU?


Regional Retention


Australia’s Largest Indigenous University

• Charles Sturt University and University of

Newcastle have the largest number of

Indigenous students in Australia

• However, CSU graduates nearly 40% more than

any other Australian University

• Built off work with communities, Indigenous

mental health, Policing and teacher education.


Wiradjuri Language and Culture


Wiradjuri Language and Culture

•CSU has worked for about 20

years with Wiradjuri Elders

•A Wiradjuri Dictionary – Dr Stan

Grant and Dr John Rudder

•Grad Certificate in Wiradjuri

Language, Culture and Heritage

Uncle Stan originally thought the dictionary might allow

people to learn a few words of Wiradjuri. Now we have

people who are teaching each other Wiradjuri grammar.


Indigenous Futures

Stan Grant Jr, CSU Chair of

Indigenous Affairs, was keen to

work with us so he could speak

about Indigenous futures from

his country.


Murrumbidgee Long-Term Intervention

Monitoring Project


Identity matters to us as humans - clearly

“We want to allow people

to bring their whole selves

to the table”

- Rev Prof James Haire,

former Director of Australian Centre

for Christianity and Culture


What’s important?

• Yindyamarra - respect

• Location, locatedness

• Care for, and interest in your environment

(broadly)

• Long-term relationships and trust


Whistling in the Dark?

• So that’s all good then? Except:

• We live in age of accountability and metrics

• Particularly in Australia, difficult to escape the

influence of rankings

• But commensurability implies simplification

• We have become used to valuing things for their

globalness (globality?) and scale

• This will not encourage diversity and challenges

local identity


The way forward?

• If they are to meet the challenge, regional

universities need to be clear about, strengthen,

and celebrate, their advantages and virtues

• They are – potentially – fruitful places to poison

your mind with wrong ideas that appeal to you

• And to work through issues of personal, national

and regional identity


Thank you!

Contact: Andrew Vann

[email protected]

Tel: +61 2 6338 4209

Fax: +61 2 6338 4209

Twitter: @drpievann

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