Agenda

DAY ONE: Thursday 29th April 2010

8.00 Registration and welcome coffee

8.50 Opening remarks from Chair

Prof. Michael Worton, Vice Provost (Academic & International), University College London , UK
International Higher Education Advisor, British Council

9.00 INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE OPENING ADDRESS

21st century Higher Education policy & planning in a global context

Prof. Michael Worton, Vice Provost (Academic & International), University College London
UK International Higher Education Advisor, British Council

GREENING UNIVERSITIES

INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE CASE STUDY

9.30 How Nottingham Trent University became the UK's greenest University - the EcoCampus Revolution

• Successfully deploying a university-wide environmental strategy
• Overcoming the climate sceptics and achieving 'buy-in' to the projects and initiatives from the key stakeholder groups
• Quantifiable successes to date
• Intangible benefits in 'going green'
• A financial cost benefit analysis of the strategy
• How we funded the strategy? - The use of government grants, assistance,and corporate sponsorship
• Plans for the future - building upon the success story so far

Prof. Neil Gorman, Vice-Chancellor, Nottingham Trent University, UK
(Ranked no.1 in the Green League 2009 for environmental commitment)

(Live via satellite)

10.00 The Eco challenge how does the Australian Higher Education sector link research, curriculum and campus operations to achieve sustainability?

Paul Duldig, Vice President (Services and Resources), The University of Adelaide

10.30 Morning tea

THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

Visions for implementing the review and developing Australia's tertiary sector after the next election:

11.00 The Labor perspective

The Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, Shadow Minister for Education

11.15 The Greens perspective

Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, Australian Greens

THE ACADEMIC WORKFORCE

11.30 Assessing the gender inequalities in Higher Education

• Examples of gender inequality in the academic workplace including:
• Access to senior positions
• Salaries
• Employment status
• The PhD experience and career success for men and women
• Factors influencing the employment status of men and women in academic positions
• The influence of family status on academic careers
• Academic work activities, skills and outputs for men and women
• What factors influence academic employment outcomes?

Prof. Paul Boreham, Director, Social Research Centre, The University of Queensland

12.00 Challenges for the Higher Education sector with an ageing academic workforce

• Key demographic factors impacting Australia's academic workforce
• Analysing faculties that are the least and the most impacted by an ageing workforce
• Differences between city and regional campuses
• Recommendations to address the problem

Dr. Dianne Rudd, Head of Discipline - Geographical and Environmental Studies, The University of Adelaide

12.35 Lunch

Lunch Sponsored by

Chris Eske, Accounts Executive, Blackboard

THE STUDENT DEMAND DRIVEN MODEL

1.30 Lessons learned from the demand driven TAFE system in Victoria

• The Victorian system was the blue print for the Commonwealth student demand model - ssessing the Victorian model's flaws and its strengths
• What can we learn?
• What are the implications for the Commonwealth's social inclusion agenda?
• What are the views of students in a demand driven system?

Prof. David Battersby, Vice Chancellor, The University of Ballarat

PANEL

2.00 Looking at a student demand model - implications for tertiary admissions processes & exploring how we can improve efficiency

• The impact of the student demand driven model on the administration capacity and capabilities of universities and tertiary admission bodies
• Improving efficiency of how we administer admissions in order to cope with changes in demand
• Looking at innovative ideas for improving administration processes (for example, QTAC has changed its admissions model to be all year round, it provides fortnightly offer rounds, and it will assist students where they do not meet minimum requirements, such as through bridging courses)

Prof. Joyce Kirk, Pro Vice Chancellor (Students), RMIT University

Prof. Elizabeth Deane Pro Vice Chancellor (Education),
The Australian National University

Prof. Joan Cooper, Pro Vice Chancellor (Students), and Registrar,
The University of New South Wales

Lyn Bayly, Director of Student Connections, Victoria University

PANEL

2.40 Managing the changing student load at a departmental level

• Challenges matching funding with resource needs
• Impact on the functioning of departments
• How a demand-based approach will affect staffing & skills
• Strategies and approaches to manage new risks and challenges

Prof. Newell Johnson, Chair, Australasian Council Dental Schools & Foundation Dean, School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Griffith University

Prof. Faith Trent, (Former) President, Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities & Executive Dean, Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law & Theology, Flinders University

Prof. Rob Norris, President, Australian Council of Deans of Science, Dean, Faculty of Science, Monash University

3.20 Afternoon tea

KEYNOTE REGULATORY ADDRESS

3.40 How will regulatory & governance changes impact the HE sector?

• Regulatory/governance arrangements between Federal
  Government, state governments & higher education
  institutions who has the power in 2010?

The Hon. Dr. Hendy Cowan, Chancellor, Edith Cowan University

PANEL

4.10 New governance & regulation - Streamlined, tailored and more efficient?

• Will the reforms improve the function of the overall higher education sector
• Will an integrated quality and standards tertiary body work, how should it operate?
• Will the changes result in more bureaucracy, inconsistent and complex processes and higher costs?
• Implementation challenges

Andrew Smith, Chief Executive Officer,Australian Council for Private Education& Training
Stephen Conway, Managing Director, TAFE South Australia - Adelaide South Institute & Chair, TAFE SA Network Executive

4.50 Higher Education, Globalization and Regional Economic Development: Reflections on Carnegie Mellons Experience over the Past Decade

Dr. Mark Kamlet, Executive Vice President and Provost, Carnegie Mellon University

5.20 Closing remarks from the Chair

5.30 Networking drinks

6.30 Conference Dinner National Wine Centre of Australia

Dinner Speaker Universities and their impact on the direction of national policy just how influential are we? 

Prof. Malcolm Grant, President & Provost, University College London, UK

DAY TWO:Friday 30th April 2010

8.50 Introduction from the Chair

Prof. Caroline McMillen, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation), The University of South Australia

DO WE WANT A COLLABORATIVE OR A COMPETITIVE GLOBAL SECTOR?

9.00 Universities in the context of globalisation the cross-over between competition and collaboration

• Universities are undeniably caught up in a global networking of institutions that compete for students and compete for financial resources from government and private institutions, yet they are constantly developing new partnerships in all sorts of areas, such
  as research, teaching and student exchange how do we handle this balancing act between competition and collaboration? Will it continue into the future? Is the current way we manage our competition/relationships sustainable?

Prof. Ed Bryne, Vice Chancellor, Monash University

International education in Adelaide: changing lives, reshaping a city

• How State and Federal Government policies, increased funding, co-operative marketing strategies and a focus on the quality of the student experience has worked for South Australia
• The defining characteristics of university cities around the world
• The role of the city in the international student experience and what can be done collectively to shape the experience

Denise von Wald, Chief Executive, Education Adelaide

10.00 Teaching & learning new performance funding & becoming more competitive internationally

• Looking at teaching performance based models abroad how do these work? How does our model compare?
• Differences from the previous Teaching and Performance Fund brought about by the recent Higher Education Review i.e. rewarding improved excellence"
• The idea of performance indicators dictating funding in practice how does this work? Does it work well? Do indicators help us to be internationally competitive?
• Strategies for lifting our reputation in teaching excellence
  throughout the world

Prof. Richard Henry AM, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), The University of New South Wales

10.30 Research assessing national policy & planning

• The Federal Government has said it has a vision to increase the number of Australian research groups performing at world-class levels - Evaluating this goal in line with the government's response to the Innovation Review
• Towards the full costing of research can we ever achieve this?
• Compacts are we getting funding allocation and processes right? How do we compare on the global stage?
• The Australian Research Council's review on how we measure quality and standards - what might be the implications for our international competitiveness?

Professor Peter Rathjen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research),The University of Melbourne

11.00 Morning tea

THE EVOLVING STRUCTURE OF AUSTRALIA'S TERTIARY EDUCATION SECTOR

11.20 The merging of industry & academic scholarship are accredited courses in universities here to stay?

• An overview of the relationship between universities and professional bodies and the role that professional accreditation has been playing in universities
• Professional accreditation and implications for academicscholarship
• Will compacts with the government make it clear what the rules are?

Prof Derrick Armstrong, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), The University of Sydney

11.50 Private higher education (PHED) aspirations towards a new university college

• The higher education market and the space between PHED and university models of education
• New opportunities for PHED regulatory changes andrequirements
• Necessary organisational change and management in aneffort to become a university college

Shesh Ghale, Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Institute of Technology

12.20 Physical campuses & the pull towards virtual space in the 21st century

• Will online education compete with or complement campus-based education?
• Will technology come to the point where we eventually won't need university campuses for teaching and learning?
• Are universities responding to student demand for a richer learning experience using technology?
• Is there enough innovation in the use of digital options for learning and assessment?

Stuart Hamilton AO, CEO, Open Universities Australia

Student satisfaction

12.50 50 Keep the customers satisfied: How Australian institutions are faring in the student satisfaction stakes?

• Successfully measuring, recording and reporting student satisfaction
• Comparing domestic and International students' experiences in Australia
• Faculty differences. Who rates well and why?
• International trends: How Australian institutions are faring against overseas universities

Carla Drakeford, President, National Union of Students

1.20 Lunch

INCREASING PARTICIPATION

2.10 The link between social inclusion & increasing participation rates in higher education - Evaluating the policies, programs & performance of Australian institutions

• How far have we come?
• Where do we need to go?
• Who is leading by example?

Prof. Trevor Gale, Director, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education

2.40 Increasing participation - what can institutions do to reach out and to raise aspirations about coming to University?

Prof. Rhonda Hawkins, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Corporate Strategy & Services), University of Western Sydney

3.10 Student retention how do we keep the students in the system?

• How good are we at developing retention strategies?
• Do we need to develop different strategies for different groups? (e.g. Lower SES backgrounds and mature aged students)
• What might we need to consider to ensure we retain students e.g. Developing efficient student support services; pedagogical strategies; making on-campus student experience accessible and exciting; and making sure financial support, such as scholarships, youth allowance and FEE-HELP, adequately assists students

Liz Harris, Managing Director, Challenger TAFE

Professor Gary Martin, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Faculty, Enterprise and International) Murdoch University

Phil Croot, Project Director, Murdoch University

3.40 Closing remarks from the Chair

3.45 End of 8th annual Higher Education Summit