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What ’ s next ?
Timing is everything but ‘ not resetting ’ is not an option .
It ’ s time to create new strategies to move on from COVID-19 disruption .
By Martin Betts
The immediate reactions by many
Australian universities to the events of 2020 have been just that , reactions . It could not have been anything but a reaction really , could it ?
Although we might have had a pandemic in our risk register , no-one could really have foreseen a loss of revenue and a need to change our learning , campus operations , budgets and plans for our staffing profiles to the extent that we did last year . In the circumstances , the reactions have been excellent in-flight adjustments to operations .
Each of our 39 institutions has largely had to fend for itself and most are making their response , maybe from an assessment of strategic context and opportunity , or maybe more of a feeling of how to achieve survival .
We all came into 2020 with our own existing strategies . Depending on where we were up to in our cycles of usually five-year planning these strategies may have been newly framed progressions from recent trajectories , or rusted-on commitments to well-trodden and variously successful paths .
But how many of the university strategies in place in March 2020 remain valid for 2021 and beyond ? Do they need to be thrown away and started again with new business models set without the constraints of former assumptions ? Can they just be refreshed in the current context as amended , slowed down , or powered up versions of former plans ?
We have an excellent set of universities in Australia . They punch above their weight in research , diversity , innovation , commitment to equity , and up until this year their attractiveness to growing numbers of international students . They have been pioneers in online education and digital innovation and some of the strongest examples of civic universities serving distinct and diverse priorities in community engagement .
They have steadily improved across the board in global university rankings . Our nation ’ s performance in global research and international education markets has been out of all proportion to our size , history and the resources and support given to the sector . From distinct origins , with a variety of missions , the biggest surprise and potentially greatest lost opportunity , has been how much they have all migrated towards becoming similar .
The race has been to be better and the same , rather than better and different . The commonality in the funding and regulation policies , and the application of a growing variety of rankings that measure them all by common criteria , has encouraged the dominant research players to also pursue a community engagement and widening participation agenda and the most missiondriven regional provider to also seek research excellence .
Few have dared to be different in an age where competitive advantage in other sectors through specialisation is commonplace . One of the principal drivers of differentiation and specialisation in other sectors , and the most significant strategic disruptor of a generation , has been digital innovation .
It has long been heralded as the technology that will change , threaten and set apart universities , and provide opportunities for new entrants . But up until now , few Australian universities have really pursued a clear differentiation strategy through technology and digital delivery . The motivation to do so has apparently not been as great as the forces that sees them all seek to be the same .
But what about the other parts of our change management plans ? Where do we look for new income streams , changing the business model , resetting strategy , and pivoting ? There has had to be so much focus on gaining clarity and certainty , and making emergency responses , that the bandwidth for reset has been in short supply . We know we have to do it , mostly . But is there enough time , energy and courage right now ?
At some point , we all have to move out of panic mode and take a big breath before making new starts . It ’ s called a strategic reset . It needs reflection on the journey travelled to date , assessment of the situation we are now in , evaluation of the people we have around us , consideration of what others are doing , a survey of the opportunities and options , some clear and focused new thinking , and action .
Timing is everything but ‘ not resetting ’ is not an option . Agility in moving online got us out of the immediate crisis . And cutting our cloth and changing the shape and size will help us survive the short-term emergency . But nothing short of significant reconsideration of purpose , position , strategy , culture and business model is required to secure a sustainable future . And now is the time to start the process . ■
Martin Betts is Emeritus Professor at Griffith University and founder of HEDx .
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