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Appointing Mark Scott to lead our oldest university is the clearest sign yet that the days of 39 peas in a pod could be numbered .
Catalyst for change
Mark Scott with USyd chancellor Belinda Hutchinson . Photo : Britta Campion
Will the new University of Sydney VC appointment see a new business model ?
By Martin Betts
Was it inevitable that we would get to a situation where all Australian universities were converging as copies of each other ? The uncapping of student places unleashed expansion in domestic numbers and burgeoning class sizes . The growing international student market solved a public funding problem .
The business model was based on reputation and scale . Reputation was primarily measured by research . Similarities in methodologies , in proliferating new rankings , prioritised research . Our core business became enhancement of research quality . This became defined by easily measurable things like citations , research income and PhDs awarded .
The whole rankings industry became geared towards long-term evidence of these traditional measures of research excellence and skewed university culture towards them . Strategic moves were hiring in research capacity more than changes to the business model . Leadership appointments were driven by research track records and academic respectability , not experience of disruption or external engagement .
But research costs universities more than for which they are funded . The overhead of research costs in infrastructure , consumables and human capacity far outweigh what at best are the marginal funding of projects by government , industry and philanthropists .
It needed scale from uncapped domestic numbers and international fee-paying students . And scale we got . It locked in a single business model . There were minor plays into executive and corporate education , new online learning markets , philanthropy and industry engagement . But these were sideshows .
Universities competed on the same playing field of rankings that attracted students , that gave fee income , that funded research , that raised rankings .
We have all been trying to be the same , and we have done it well , until now .
Because now the world has changed . The pandemic has been the tipping point . But the tide was going out for a while .
The lack of empathy for the plight of universities in government and public minds has been a long time coming . And we have lacked experience in relating to governments in research pedigree leaders and peak bodies principally advocating for business model status quo .
Growth in class sizes , and relegation of student experience to a minor indicator , led it to be a hygiene factor , not a differentiator . The growth in casual staff contracts to serve teaching needs , and outsourcing of student support to B2B service provision by outside players , closed our minds to new business models . It stopped us addressing the larger demographic , societal and economic behaviour forces at play of globalisation and personalisation .
We now typically have more than 40,000 students feeding research machines , but have a poor understanding of their needs and preferences as higher education consumers . We built physical infrastructure and offered long and expensive courses in facilities used for fractions of their asset lives .
It was a recipe ripe for disruption long before 2020 . And then we experienced our biggest ever shock to funding . We lost much of our casualised teaching workforce . We plunged many remaining staff , after the first wave of redundancies , into chaos .
No wonder we have seen 18 Australian VC positions in transition since the start of 2020 . Those stepping in , and carrying on , need help . They need to find new ways of building reputation , beyond research rankings . There is much scope for brand differentiation out there in a market crying out for improved experiences . They need guidance in strategy , structure and cultural evolution to rebuild a thriving business .
Other sectors that have been disrupted through technology to serve new market demands include broadcasting and entertainment . They have learnt lessons in how to manage transformation by building a leadership culture that prioritises innovation .
Appointing Mark Scott to lead our oldest university , with his experience of transforming the ABC through reduced funding and digital disruption , is the clearest sign yet that the days of 39 peas in a pod could be numbered .
Has the most unlikely of places just changed the menu ? How helpful in a chancellery right now is experience of leading disruption through falling revenue , with an antagonistic government funder ? More helpful than a PhD , I suspect .
There has never been a more urgent time for university leaders to adopt new mindsets , and seek and accept help . They need assistance in differentiating , building an innovation culture , and exploring new business models .
Their research achievements and academic reputations got them here . They will need to change to get them there . We may well look back on these times as when we changed higher education for good . ■
Martin Betts is Emeritus Professor at Griffith University and founder of HEDx .
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