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Investing in the Future
31 October 2009
Over the last few weeks, Professor Paul Thomas has discussed the university’s continued rapid growth, the pressure for new buildings this has created and the role of the commonwealth government in facilitating continued development.
The way we have grown so quickly and at a faster rate than the targets identified in our strategic planning documents, is due in no small part to the University backing the capacity of the region to provide significant numbers of additional students when we introduce new degree programs. This is not without significant risk for the University. While the Commonwealth has provided funding to support the face-to-face “teaching” of individual students in the suite of new degree programs introduced over the last few years, in most cases we have received no funding at all to set up the staffing and laboratory infrastructure required to “establish” them.
In the case of a new professional degree, for example, the University needs to pre-invest in staff to develop the curriculum and have it approved by the University’s Academic Board, as well as the professional association responsible for external accreditation. These processes typically occur in the year prior to first delivery of the degree. The staff who will teach the first cohort of new students are generally employed in parallel to this accreditation process. Buying equipment for specialised, clinical teaching laboratories needs to take place in advance too and the additional technical staff who will support the equipment and its use need to be in place. In many cases, placements in professional settings, such as hospitals or schools, also needs to occur a year in advance. All these activities need to be successfully completed (and funded) before the first student attends a class.
While it will be years before the University receives a financial return on investments such as these, we would not be progressing our mission if we did not take every opportunity to maximise provision of high demand degrees for our community, as well as progress areas that will be crucial to the future success of the region. We do, however, need to think very carefully before we commit to a major, new teaching initiative. If we make a mistake, that pre-investment will be lost and it can take a long time to exit from a program that doesn’t attract enough students to cover costs.
Through the good judgement and efforts of the staff who have championed their introduction, our experience in recent years with new degrees has been very positive. Despite the funding pressures to get them up and running, there is high demand for all our new degrees and they are financially successful or soon to reach that point. In the years ahead, they will take their turn to help support establishment of the next round of new programs, as well as the overall teaching, research and engagement developments of the university.
Professor Greg Hill is Acting Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of the Sunshine Coast.