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Swinburne VC Pascale Quester . Photo : Supplied
The future is now
New Swinburne VC sets a new course for post-COVID prosperity .
Pascale Quester interviewed by Martin Betts
Pascale Quester of Swinburne
University of Technology joined the HEDx podcast in partnership with Campus Review at the end of her first 100 days as Vice Chancellor .
She reflected on how all universities have the chance to leave the peloton and make the run to their own finish line based on an assessment of how they are shaped for the competition they want to compete in . The following is an edited transcript of her conversation with Martin Betts from HEDx .
MB : You commenced as Vice-Chancellor at a university in lockdown during the most challenging financial circumstances facing the whole sector for a generation . Could you give us a picture of how you ’ ve been able to settle into the role ? PQ : Well , I suppose it ’ s not typical of the sector but it ’ s very typical for me because that ’ s the only experience I ’ ve had of coming into a new VC role . And , I think , if anything , the pandemic has made the case for technology as a solution to big social predicaments .
If you look at the impact of COVID-19 and the fact that we couldn ’ t get big crowds in lecture theatres , this in some ways is a perfect demonstration that technology can actually be the solution that brings people together when there is absolutely no other way .
It was a proof of concept . If anybody out there thought technology was evil and was going to be a threat to humanity or to society , then here ’ s the counterproof . It certainly demonstrates that technology can be a wonderful factor for greater social connection , for the building of human capital .
If I regret anything it ’ s really the fact that my university was at the forefront of online learning and possibly quite alone in advocating that good learning could happen online . And all of a sudden we ’ re now finding ourselves in the peloton because everybody has been madly cycling to catch up with us .
We ’ re seeing some policy changes in the funding for short courses , maybe towards micro-credentials . Is this going to be enough to make a difference to a university like Swinburne and to the sector more generally ? I think there are mixed blessings and also some sleeper issues , I guess , in the recent budget announcements . Certainly , injection of funds in research is always welcome , because it will actually enable researchers to dedicate more time and more effort to the problems we ask them to solve . In relation to the funding of short courses I think it is absolutely the way to go because , increasingly , a learner will be a learner for life . Right ?
People are facing multiple careers . Not everybody knew at the age of 18 that they wanted to be this or that . And we have to allow people the capacity to grow and to change industry , careers and motivations , and the scaffolding of education around the learner as they evolve is really critical . And short courses are obviously much better and more adapted to this kind of lifelong learning than any kind of formal three-year degree .
The change in cluster funding , which is also part of the latest budget announcements , is somewhat more perplexing because it does go along a clear direction that the government would like more people to choose STEM and engineering careers , because they know that Industry 4.0 will require greater digital literacy and an understanding of technology .
But the problem is that the cluster funding means that students will pay less to go into engineering and technology , which is good , although it assumes that students are going to be responding to a price incentive , which research actually does not bear out .
That is not actually how students choose their course of studies but , more importantly , the budget actually also cuts the government funding in those same areas . So you ’ d end up with this somewhat mystifying outcome that , for courses that deal with STEM and engineering for instance , and technology more generally , we will get something like 16 to 17 per cent less funding per students than we did before .
And if that ’ s intended to encourage universities to attend to the needs of Industry 4.0 , we ’ ve got a problem , which is that we ’ re supposed to do it with less money . It doesn ’ t make sense .
Will you take more students that suit your mission , even though your funding for them goes down ? What are you expecting to actually happen ? In many ways , I think universities are just like students . We do not do things because there ’ s money in it or because there is a price incentive or disincentive . Swinburne is very much , I think , a mission and value driven institution . We passionately believe in the transformative power of education
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