Look within and then collaborate

Australian universities need to look within for agents of change. But they also need to externalise their view of the world by benchmarking different aspects of their operations from outside higher education. In a plenary session of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council two-day symposium, Professor Adam Shoemaker told the audience that benchmarking like with like was unlikely to deliver the kind of transformational change the sector desperately needed. “If ATN universities only benchmark against other ATNs and members of the Group of Eight do likewise, will we not end up with more sameness rather than distinctiveness?” Shoemaker, who is deputy vice-chancellor (academic) at Monash University asked. To achieve “sea changes in learning, teaching and scholarly practice” universities should look outside at similar but different organisations. “Should we not be … benchmarking university research centres with federal research bodies such as the CSIRO; benchmarking IT departments with the R&D departments of major computing companies; comparing our university art galleries with public, state and federal galleries rather than other university collections; comparing our online education offerings with those of external university hospitals overseas; comparing our online education offerings with those of Kaplan, Thomson ISI and other international players rather than just domestic university variants?” Shoemaker told Campus Review after the symposium that benchmarking institutions at a macro level meant the institutions simply missed a lot of change mechanisms. “They get an overall sky view and what you need is the level where people are active and therefore it comes down to sections, initiatives, projects and you can benchmark those often more effectively that the whole picture.” Shoemaker said he was also bewildered by the sector’s predisposition to calling in outside consultants rather than mining the wealth of knowledge contained within the walls of institutions. “Some of the best movements for change have come from a single suggested solution. It seems there is such a richness, diversity and depth of talent within universities. We are teaching in certain areas, preparing students to work in that area, doing research in it but then we go elsewhere for advice on how to change it. I find it highly unusual.” Shoemaker said his view of leading change was one of “enlarging the possibilities for collaboration: across disciplines, campuses and institutions”. “It is about rewarding such approaches pedagogically, fiscally and in terms of academic recognition and promotion.”