campusreview. com. au
VC’ s corner through research partnerships with industry. Of course these are significant aspects but they are not the only ones.
I believe that we, the higher education sector and Australia as a whole, must think more broadly. Innovation is often the application of the current state of the art to new business models or process, rather than new research. It is about using existing technology in different ways, rather than inventing new technology.
As a university leader, I see the value of what we can offer to innovation in collaboration with industry, government and the community through two main avenues. Firstly, our students. The old adage that innovation walks on two legs is so true. Today’ s students are the workforce of the future; we must equip them with the skills and critical thinking capabilities not just to fulfil the jobs of the future, but to create them.
Secondly, universities have a critical mass of talent: our academics, infrastructure and leading facilities and equipment. The University of Technology, Sydney is one example I am very familiar with, of course. We have recently invested more than $ 1 billion revamping our campus and have more than 1400 academic staff. Collaboration – with one another, industry and government – can ensure that expertise and kit reap even more benefit for Australia.
So what can universities do? First and foremost, our focus must be on our students. We must ensure a highquality, high-value student experience alongside our efforts to equip them with attributes necessary to lead and contribute professionally and collectively.
As a result, we need to reinvent traditional approaches to learning. We must replace massive lecture theatres with smaller specially designed learning spaces that are blended with leading-edge technology to enable an active and engaged experience.
From day one at UTS, we ask our students to think of themselves as professionals. Of course they should join social clubs and enjoy the student experiences with their friends. But as they undertake their studies, they are encouraged to apply their learning and imagine it in their future work life from the outset. The jobs they eventually undertake may not yet exist, but through their learning they could be part of creating that future workforce.
We must offer trans-disciplinary courses that have innovation and creative skills at their core; we must spark and nurture entrepreneurial skills in our students, as well as embedding crucial and targeted numeracy and technology skills in all undergraduates. More than ever, employers want graduates with highly developed soft skills and who are rounded thinkers. These attributes, along with a critical thinking approach, breed workplace success and are core to innovation.
Central to education is assessment. We need to ensure that knowledge, skills and attitudes have transferred to understanding and actions. This is why we need to move to authentic assessment, building in real-world tasks that are assessed on an ongoing basis and away from traditional assessment methods where possible.
Core to a student’ s educational experience is, of course, their environment and surroundings – the actual physical space. We must create universities that are connected, vibrant spaces where industry, government and the community can engage and work alongside academics and students. People are core to knowledge transfer; the days of ivory towers are gone. University staff and students are also
Australia’ s innovation ecosystem lacks a coherent, national and continuous policy environment.
creating knowledge, new and applied, through publications, patents, software and more. However, I often ask are we using this properly or in fact helping others to use it properly? We need to harness the knowledge in universities and ensure that it is having an impact.
That all may sound like a massive task and that’ s because it is. The gauntlet has been thrown down to universities. Our students, current and prospective, have expectations and demands when it comes to their education, and rightly so. Industry and government looks to the higher education sector to deliver the skilled workforce they need. The Australian taxpayer invests significantly in us and we must return on that investment, for their benefit and Australia’ s. We can and must do more to support and drive innovation across Australia.
I am proud to say that at UTS we are already doing much of what I have outlined above – but we can and must improve. However, we all have a role to play. A critical barrier to our future success as a nation is the lack of collaboration across industry, the university and publicly funded research community and government. But just trying to do more of the same does not make sense.
Australia ranks 29th out of 30 in the OECD for collaborative innovation – that’ s innovation between business,( large and SMEs), higher education and public research institutions.
So how can we collaborate more; what are the mechanisms that can foster innovation?
We need to think about innovation beyond research collaboration. We need to ask what graduates are needed for the economy and society beyond merely more of this discipline or that.
Australia’ s innovation ecosystem lacks a coherent, national and continuous policy environment. Recent initiatives such as the Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research discussion paper are positive steps forward but that’ s only one small part of the ecosystem.
We know that government has an underpinning role to play in shaping innovation policy and to be successful this must be holistic, largely bipartisan and sustainable, with long-term programs in place.
As for industry, we need to think about new types and ways of partnering to drive innovation. We need to engage more strategically together to identify the skills and attributes for the future workforce or the challenges businesses are facing. We must be prepared to be radical about the future modelling of education and in delivering the attributes the workforce requires. We need to better connect the knowledge and physical infrastructure we have across the country in the private and public sector.
As we adapt to a post-mining boom economy, we must be bold. We need to take calculated risks and back ourselves in new and emerging sectors so we can carve out new ground for Australia’ s competitive advantage beyond mining, resources and other traditional industries.
We have the perfect opportunity to be daring and innovative. We must work together to deliver a real and positive change. n
Professor Attila Brungs is vice-chancellor and president of the University of Technology, Sydney.
19