Campus Review Vol 30. Issue 04 | April 2020 | Seite 24

VC’s corner
campusreview.com.au
No looking back
Why universities shouldn’t return to
the ‘old normal’ post pandemic.
By Marcia Devlin
A
few months ago, I was sent a
satirical article about how to
sabotage the productivity of
your university by using a CIA manual
from 1944.
It contained advice such as:
• “When possible, refer all matters to
committees, for ‘further study and
consideration’. Attempt to make the
committee as large as possible — never
less than five”.
• “Refer back to matters decided upon at the
last meeting and attempt to re-open the
question of the advisability of that decision”.
There’s more and it’s worth a read.
Reflecting on my time in higher
education over three decades, the article
was both funny and depressing. Funny,
because it precisely describes daily life
working in a university, which is peculiar
and amusing and many of us would have
it no other way. Depressing, because it
precisely describes daily life working in a
university, which is highly bureaucratic and
inefficient and often a profound waste of
talent, goodwill and time.
The current COVID-19 crisis has provided
an opportunity to do things differently,
in many ways. I’m wondering whether
universities might eventually benefit from
the situation, including in ways that could
be permanent.
The mandated physical distancing has
forced university education into remote
mode across the developed world in a
remarkably short period of time. Faced
with a choice between operating at a
distance and not operating at all, Australian
universities have chosen the former, so
that learning for what is usually around
1.4 million students a year can continue.
As the dust begins to settle on the
move, which in many cases has been
undertaken in a matter of days or weeks,
attention has begun to turn to the
implications of this move. Integrity and
the quality and standards of learning are
now the subject of increasing interest and
scrutiny. As the ubiquitous, supervised,
closed book exam en masse becomes
impossible, along with other forms
of assessment that require physical
supervision of students, less frequently
used assessment approaches are
being considered.
Academic integrity is having a day or
two in the sun as educators in universities
consider how to ensure it, when they
can’t always see what students are doing,
including during electronic classes.
Approaches being considered and used
include: more gentle and/or educative
interpretations of existing assessment and
academic integrity policies; the use of
technological proctoring tools, including
homemade solutions using student phones;
and so-called ‘alternative’ assessment.
Assessment policies are also being
changed, or waived – including through
the granting of special power to a senior
officer of the university in some places – to
enable practical solutions to challenging
and sudden changes.
And new streamlined governance
arrangements are being created and
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