VC ’ s corner
campusreview . com . au
Torrens University VC Alwyn Louw . Photo : supplied
Forward thinking
Is a local , national , global , private university the model for the future ?
Alwyn Louw interviewed by Martin Betts
Torrens University vice-chancellor Professor Alwyn Louw joined HEDx to tell of its growth to close to 20,000 students in seven years . As a USowned private university operating across Australia , the Torrens story is one of fast growth , differentiated strategy , and a unique set up of governance and executive roles .
It has a focus on innovation and growth , with balanced ambitions for new domestic and international students – onshore , offshore and online . And with a model for funding research that is independent of government policy , is this the future for Australian higher education ?
MB : Tell us about how Torrens came to be a player in Australia , what its trajectory has been and what it is now . AL : The exciting part I think was that Torrens was the first new institution in the country for many years . That was a major development in Australia . The fact that we ’ re a national university was also a major development . I think that gave us an opportunity to broaden our focus and the scope of our involvement significantly .
We started in 2014 with 165 students in Adelaide , and now we have more than 19,000 students . So , in all respects it ’ s been a very dynamic growth path . The important thing is that while you grow at that rate : what is the business model that you put in place to accommodate that growth without falling into the trap of growing at all costs ? So , we had to make sure that we remained very conscious of quality and relevance and credibility in the market , and that our graduates who leave the institution are successful . They should be a clear product of a quality learning experience .
What we ’ ve learned is that through continuous innovation it is possible to have a dynamic higher education environment . What we must understand in this process is the whole debate between private and public institutions : there was always this argument that in private higher education
24