by: Michelle Mosiere

TEQSA hosted its Navigating tomorrow; Anticipating challenges, embracing change conference on 12–13 November 2024. Below is a list of headliners from participants and takeaways from five featured sessions for those of you who were unable to attend.

Adapting to generative AI

‘[P]olicy lags dangerously behind this constantly evolving digital front.’ M, professional staff member and survey participant, QUT

• TEQSA will release an AI Toolkit and broadcast a webinar on generative AI in November 2024.
• QUT’s Centre for Decent Work and Industry confirmed that 70.8% of university staff (n=3421) had used AI for work.
• Of the academic teaching staff QUT researchers surveyed, small percentages use AI frequently or very frequently to:
  • support individualised and authentic assessment (4.6%; n=994)
  • incorporate AI as a component of assessment tasks (5%; n=994)
  • design assessment tasks (6.3%; n=993)
  • generate exam questions (6.4%; n=990)
  • develop assessment criteria, standards or rubrics (7.5%;n=991).
• Questions are being raised as to whether AI policy frameworks go far enough.
• There is a demand for professional development in AI and more dialogue around the ethics of using it.

Governance in Australian higher education

‘Governance is the cornerstone. It is fundamental to registration because it tells the story.’ Ade Adeniyi, Director of Registration, Courses and Enquiries, TEQSA

• Providers need to be compliant; doing so means considering the higher education ecosystem in its totality.
• The Higher Education Standards Framework is a tool for monitoring, quality assuring and continuously improving higher education operations.
• Identifiable risks that corporate governing bodies must manage include:
  • integrity of awards, research and international student visas
  • cybersecurity and AI
  • student safety and wellbeing
  • academic freedom
  • self-assurance and external reviews of governance.
• Risk frameworks, systems and controls are only the beginning.
• Good governance means proactively monitoring emerging issues and ensuring effective risk management strategies are in place.

Tertiary harmonisation

‘Harmonisation is not the same as convergence.’ Adrienne Nieuwenhuis, Acting Chief Commissioner, TEQSA

• The diversity of tertiary education is a strength.
• Divisions in tertiary education dissolve in the workplace because of the overarching demand for an integrated workforce; the sector can emulate this.
• The deep drivers for system efficiency between vocational education (VE) and higher education (HE) are government policy, provider needs, and registration processes.
• There are entrenched patterns of access and participation in VE compared to HE; 75% of VE students are classified as disadvantaged.
• Students are pushing for integration that it already occurring; consider how well embedded articulation pathways are between VE and HE courses.

The student experience

‘The student experience is a misnomer. There are multiple experiences.’ Lisa Bolton, Social Research Centre

• 142 institutions participated in the 2023 QILT survey; 742, 927 surveys were sent of which 253,588 were completed totalling a 37.5% student response rate.
• Mental health, stress levels and financial difficulties were the top three reasons why undergraduate students considered leaving their institutions.
• Stress levels, study workload and financial difficulties were the top three reasons why postgraduate students considered leaving their institutions.
• There are direct correlations between a positive sense of belonging and a student’s personal wellbeing.
• Of QILT respondents, 69.9% agreed or strongly agreed that institutional support for wellbeing contributed to a positive sense of belonging.

Uniting perspectives

Good governance is in demand because of the complexity of issues, amid growing policy uncertainty and declining levels of public trust in public offices, including universities.’ John Brumby AO, Chancellor, La Trobe University

• Good governance is about establishing systems and maintaining oversight to make good decisions.
• Good governance factors include:
  • Culture – questioning how things are done and monitoring the intangibles like integrity and accountability
  • Clarity of responsibility between management and the board/council – working towards the same goal through trust and solid communication
  • Composition and balance – incorporating a wide range of perspectives so that issues are considered from all angles.
• Core focus areas for corporate governing bodies include:
  • Strategy and finance
  • VC’s / CEO’s appointment and monitoring of performance
  • Culture and compliance
  • Social licence issues, including gender violence, access and equity.
• The role of the corporate governing body is about stakeholder management, not just shareholder primacy.
• The complexity of the compliance burden on higher education providers impacts value creation and productivity.

DVE has created a Corporate Review Register to help board/council members meet these regulatory requirements, add value to their organisation and increase staff productivity. Please contact us via info@dvesolutions.com.au for more information or a demonstration of our Corporate Review Register.

Artwork by Alice Edy