international news
Recognising management professionals
By PAUL ABELA & ANTONIA MAIOLO
behind every great researcher, lecturer and well-run university, TAFE, polytechnic, wananga or private-sector institution is a huge team of managerial professionals who perform a crucial role in ensuring smooth operations. For 37 years the Association for Tertiary Education Management has been at the forefront of nurturing and encouraging these professionals.
ATEM has always sought to recognise the achievements of its members and to encourage best practice. In 2012, ATEM, together with Campus Review, held its first awards as part of the Tertiary Education Management Conference in Adelaide, starting what we believe will be a great tradition.
We are therefore delighted to announce that applications are now invited for the 2nd Annual ATEM / Campus Review Awards for Best Practice in Tertiary Education Management.
ATEM members work in student administration, customer service, research and financial management, human resources and IT. Some also take up leadership roles at faculty and chancellor levels. These days, with an increasingly diverse student body, efficient and capable professional administrators are critical to the support of both academics and students.
Professional staff contribute to the quality of students’ learning experiences and to their educational achievement. Administrators’ long-term experience gives them invaluable expertise that lends understanding, innovation and consistency to the daily operations of institutions.
ATEM and Campus Review want to recognise administration professionals through these awards. They celebrate not only the winners but all who seek to excel in their profession.
As a lead-in to the 2013 awards, Campus Review will be featuring the winners of the 2012 awards in an effort to highlight best practice in tertiary education management. See Winning ways, page 24
The awards this year are:
• The LH Martin Award for Excellence in Leadership
• The Dragon Naturally Speaking Award for Excellence in Innovation
• The Research Master award for Excellence in Research Management
• The Higher Ed Services Award for Excellence in Financial Management
• The Knowledge Partnership Award for Excellence in Marketing, Communication and Public Relations
• The CPSU General Staff Union Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
• The HR Global Innovations Award for Excellence in Human Resource Management
• The Campus Living Villages Award for Excellence by a New Entrant in Tertiary Education Management
• The Award for Excellence in Student Administration and Customer Service
• The Award for Excellence in Information Technology Management
Participation up for disadvantaged students
Australia may be closer than previously thought to its target for higher-education participation by underprivileged students, according to the Australian Council for Educational Research( ACER).
In 2009, the federal government said it wanted to raise the proportion of undergraduate students from low socioeconomic status( SES) backgrounds to 20 per cent by 2020. In the latest ACER Joining the Dots briefing, principal research fellow Dr Daniel Edwards estimated the current figure at 18.5 per cent.
Edwards used a new measure of SES that is based on students’ residential address prior to attending university. He used data from the 2011 census, which has information on residence five years prior to the census date.
Currently, the official measure of SES in Australian higher education factors in current residential address as well as Centrelink benefits. By this measure, about 14.3 per cent of undergraduate students are from low-SES backgrounds.
“ While this [ new ] exploratory measure is still a relatively blunt instrument,” Edwards said,“ the findings here suggest that prior address may offer a more accurate indication of the SES background of higher-education students, given that many of this cohort move house to attend university, and that the SES of their residential area once enrolled at university may not reflect their original SES background.”
University students were more likely to have moved in the previous five years( with 46 per cent moving) than the overall Australian population( 38 per cent), based on 2011 census data.
While the new measure suggests Australia may be closer to the target than expected, the proportion has in fact barely changed since 2006, despite the large growth in university enrolments in recent years. Between 2006 and 2011, the growth in the number of low-SES students( 24.7 per cent) was actually slightly less than the overall growth in the sector( 25.1 per cent).“ Achieving the 20 per cent target by the end of the decade is still a big challenge,” Edwards said. n
www. campusreview. com. au March 2013 | 13