Glossary
Terms
Planning and quality terms
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UniSA commonly used acronyms
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ARC: The ‘Australian Research Council’ is responsible for advising the government on research funding, including the outcomes of the various major research grants schemes accessible to university academic staff.
Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF): An Australian Quality Framework similar in its operation to the US Baldrige National Quality Program; building up from the Australian Business Excellence Awards in the same way that the US Baldrige Program has built on The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Criteria. (See ‘Baldrige National Quality Program’)
Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA – pronounced: ‘awka’): An independent agency established by the Commonwealth Government in 2001 to establish, manage and conduct a quality audit system for the Australian higher education sector. http://www.auqa.edu.au
Balanced Scorecard: Since Robert Kaplan and David Norton first introduced the ‘Balanced Scorecard’ in 1992 it has come to be widely used in western corporations. It was initially conceived primarily as an improved organisational performance measurement tool, one that sought to overcome many of the perceived limitations of traditional, historically-focused, accounting-based metrics. However, the ‘Balanced Scorecard’ has since evolved - particularly in those organisations where it has been most successful - to be an integral part of an enhanced strategic planning and management system.
Some of the components involved include: linking mission, vision, and values statements and tying these to organisational strategies; developing objectives and performance measures related to the four perspectives of the ‘Balanced Scorecard’: financial, customer, internal process, and employee learning and growth; using the ‘Scorecard’ to articulate and test cause-and-effect linkages; and setting priorities in the pursuit of strategic initiatives.
Baldrige National Quality Award Program: ‘The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award’ is given by the President of the United States to businesses - manufacturing and service, small and large - and to education and health care organisations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. Congress established the award program in 1987 to recognise U.S. organisations for their achievements in quality and performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge.
While the Baldrige Award and the Baldrige recipients are the very visible centrepieces of the US quality movement, a broader national quality program has evolved around the award and its criteria. The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) manages the ‘Baldrige National Quality Program’ in close cooperation with the private sector. The Baldrige performance excellence criteria are a framework that any organisation can use to improve overall performance. (See also ‘ABEF’.)
Benchmarking: identifying processes and results that represent best practices and performance for similar activities, inside or outside the organisation. This term is often confused with ‘Competitive Comparisons’
College of Advanced Education (CAE) Sector: Following the release of the Martin Report in 1964, Australia maintained a CAE sector alongside the university sector (referred to as a ‘binary higher education sector’ as in Britain). CAEs were provided with a lower level of per capita funding than universities and were intended to provide a more applied orientation to programs of study, a greater emphasis on part-time studies associated with employment (especially in scientific fields), a more direct and intimate relationship with industry, and with a far greater emphasis on undergraduate teaching rather than on postgraduate training or research. The sector came to an end in 1988 with the White Paper reforms instigated by Labor Minister John Dawkins where CAEs were either amalgamated with existing universities or were granted university status in their own right.
Commencing Student: A student who has recently commenced their enrolment at the University. (Compare with ‘Continuing Student’.)
Continuing Student: is used to describe a student who has been enrolled at the University for more than a certain period, usually a year. (Compare with ‘Commencing Student’.)
Corporate Planning: Drucker defined Corporate Planning as the continuous process of making present risk-taking decisions systematically and with the greatest knowledge of their futurity; organising systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions, and measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organised, systematic feedback.
Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ): A survey conducted annually of all students who graduated in the previous year as a means of obtaining information on student satisfaction with the services they received by the university during their program of study. All universities conduct this survey annually using a standard survey form which is usually posted to graduates.
DEC System: During the 1980s and early 1990s Australia organised distance education study at the tertiary level through institutions which were nominated distance education providers, referred to as ‘Distance Education Centres’ (DECs). DECs were typically former CAEs as that sector had enthusiastically embraced distance education during the 1970s and 1980s. The DEC system was abandoned in 1994 as advances in ICTs and a general diversification of the student body made it desirable for all universities to adopt flexible learning strategies.
Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST): The Commonwealth Government Department responsible for higher education. As a principal funding body for the sector, DEST coordinates a significant amount of the public reporting required of universities. http://www.dest.gov.au
(Under different Governments and Ministers since the late 1980s, the Commonwealth Government department responsible for higher education has variously been called:
· DETYA: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs;
· DEETYA: Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs; and
· DEET: Department of Employment, Education and Training.)
DEST Terms: A glossary of terms and a list of acronyms used by DEST in the administration of its areas of responsibility can be found at the following URL: http://www.dest.gov.au/annualreport/2002/pdf/app11.pdf
Distance Education: A term used traditionally to describe the study undertaken by students studying externally to the university.
Educational Profile: A description of the student load enrolled at each university by discipline area and level of course. The document has been required to be submitted by each university to support the annual ‘Educational Profiles Discussions’. They have been used as a monitoring device by DEST to ensure balanced enrolments across the sector, as a basis for long-term planning in the sector and as a basis for determining an institution’s operating grant for the following year. For the latter process, institution’s operating grants are determined through a funding formula which allocates funds on the basis of discipline area and level of course.
Financial Terms: A glossary of financial terms can be accessed online at the following URL: http://au.docs.yahoo.com/finance/glossary
Flexible Learning: This is a term that tends to be defined differently by different authors. It has been defined variously as: An environment enabling learners to learn what they want, how they want, and when they want; An approach which allows for the adoption of a range of learning strategies in a variety of learning environments to cater for differences in learning styles, learning interests and needs, and variations in learning opportunities and; Approaches to teaching and learning which are learner-centred, free up the place, time and method for learning and teaching, and use appropriate technologies in a networked environment.
FTE: Literally “Full Time Equivalent”, a unit of the size of the staff body which considers both the number of staff and the fraction of full-time work status of each. For example, a staff member working full-time will register as 1 FTE; while a staff working a fractional load of half-time will register as 0.5 FTE.
GCCA: The ‘Graduate Careers Council of Australia’ is the body which coordinates the conduct of the CEQ and GDS surveys of graduates, arranges for the data collected to be analysed (by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)) and publishes the outcomes of these surveys.
Graduate: A person who has successfully completed a program of study at a university and been awarded the formal academic qualification commensurate with that program of study.
Graduate Destination Survey (GDS): A survey conducted annually of all students who graduated in the previous year as a means of obtaining information on the employment and study status of recent graduates. All universities conduct this survey annually using a standard survey form which is usually posted to graduates.
HECS: In the higher education sector, the presence of the ‘Higher Education Contribution Scheme’ (HECS) scheme provides most students access to an interest-free loan to cover tuition fees with payback (through the tax system) contingent on achieving a minimum income level. (A similar loans scheme for postgraduate coursework students, referred to as the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme (PELS) was introduced by the Commonwealth government in 2002.)
Information Technology (IT) terms: A glossary of IT terms is available at the following URL: http://whatis.techtarget.com/
Inclusive Management Practices: are those which respect the contribution which all staff can make to objectives setting and decision making and which seek to support the involvement of staff in these important institutional processes. Inclusive practice is central to any consideration of quality management.
Internal / On-Campus Student: A student whose study mode requires them to attend teaching/learning sessions on-campus. The vast majority of full-time tertiary students study via this mode.
Knowledge Management: The process of systematically and actively managing and leveraging the stores of knowledge in an organisation is called knowledge management. It is the process of transforming information and intellectual assets into enduring value.
Learning Organisation: An organisation in which continuous learning occurs throughout the organisation. The old [organisational] model, ‘the top thinks and the local acts,’ must … give way to integrating thinking and acting at all levels. Creating a learning organisation creates the basis for harnessing the collective genius of the people in the organisation. It is a basis for not only creating an organisation that can not only respond and adapt, but which can also create and innovate. In practice learning organisations are associated with flat management structures, effective team building, creating a no-blame environment, and engendering quality management and a customer focus
Mission: The basis purpose of the ‘Mission Statement’ is to define the area of legitimate operation for the institution. In other words, it succinctly states why the organisation has been created.
Mixed Mode Study: undertaking study employing a range of study modes, particularly mixing face-to-face with external study components.
Objectives: Objectives are operational statements; that is, they are written in terms which make it evident when they have been achieved. As with goals, they are descriptions of position rather than an action. They are descriptions of a desirable future state. How far in the future is variable. They may imply immediate action or a sequence of activities in the near future. Occasionally, it is helpful to cluster objectives into groups, with sub-objectives, especially if responsibility for the sub-objectives is to fall to different people. Part of the planning process is arranging objectives in sequence so that they plot stages on the path to a goal. In these circumstances it often helps to include some temporal element in the objectives.
Operational Planning: Operational planning deals with short-term activities, generally on a one-year timeframe, which effectively operationalise (implement) the annual budget.
Performance Indicator (PI): A representation, numeric or otherwise, of the state of, or outcomes from an organisation, or any of its parts or processes. PIs should be subject to informed interpretation and judgement. It should always be remembered that PIs are, as their name suggests, indicators, subject to informed interpretation and judgement - for example by such groups as audit panels. They are sometimes called ‘management indicators’, to suggest their purpose rather than their source. Organisational performance measures that have been developed independently tend to be weakly correlated with one another. To avoid this, they should be developed in an integrated fashion, with a common direction
PEST Analysis: A technique for structuring an environmental analysis - a routine early process in a planning exercise – by identifying the Political, Economic, Social and Technological dimensions of the operating environment.
Planning: Planning is a fundamental function of management. It consists of selecting strategies from among alternative courses of action, both for the enterprise as a whole and for every department or section in it. Planning is, in effect, deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who is to do it. Planning assumes that rational processes can be used to nominate resources and define appropriate future action which will produce desired outcomes. It is assumed that an agency charged with planning has the capacity to identify important ends and implement the means by which change can be accomplished. Planning is often motivated by a desire to bring about improvements for individuals or organisations.
Qualitative Indicator: is an indicator that cannot necessarily be expressed as a numerical value. Qualitative approaches/methods include participant observation, interview, triangulation, auditing, portfolio construction, and case study.
Quality Audit: involves the evaluation of quality assurance procedures by sampling procedures and following ‘audit trails’ (that is, following a particular procedure through its various stages and evaluating the efficacy of quality assurance at each stage and over the whole). The term usually applies to an exercise undertaken by external agencies, but ‘Internal Audit’ refers to an exercise undertaken by an impartial body appointed from within an institution, while ‘Self Audit’ implies an attempt by responsible persons to evaluate their own quality assurance procedures.
Quality Management (QM): the design and maintenance of quality assurance mechanisms; responsibility for the same. All aspects of the management function that determine and implement the intentions and direction of an organisation as regards quality matters. Quality management involves managing for continuous improvement, centred on a strong notion of mission, objectives setting and review.
Quality Management System (QMS): The set of procedures for determining and implementing the intentions of an organisation as regards quality.
Quantitative Indicator: is an indicator that has a numerical value. (Compare with ‘Qualitative Indicator’.)
Resource: Anything available to the organisation that can be brought into play to support the pursuit of the achievement of objectives. Includes, but is not confined to, the financial resources available to the organisation.
Review (Performance Review, Performance Evaluation): An analysis undertaken at a fixed point in time to determine the degree to which stated objectives have been reached. This is generally used as a basis for decision making, including updating plans.
Risk Management: means the systematic application of management policies, procedures and practices to the tasks of identifying, analysing, evaluating, treating and monitoring risk. In this context, risk may be considered as events that will, should they occur, impact on the achievement of organisational objectives. While risk is generally considered in a negative light; that is, as having an adverse impact. However, risk management should contemplate not only events that lead to loss or harm, but also those that lead to gain or advantage. (The risk management process generally used in Australia today is modelled on Australia/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 4360: 1999 Risk Management.) The development of ‘Disaster Recovery Plans’ and ‘Business Continuity Plans’ is necessary outcomes of an effective risk management process.
Stakeholder: Any individual, group or organisation having a valid interest in a field or matter. Stakeholders in higher education include students, parents, employers, the government, the community, professional associations, graduates, and academic staff. The term is neutral and descriptive, and is valuable in emphasising the breadth of responsibility of educational institutions, but its use should not obscure that fact that different groups of stakeholders (eg students, employers) have quite different interests or needs.
Strategic Planning: The planning activity through which one confronts the major strategic decisions facing the organisation. A decision is not rendered strategic merely by being important. Strategic decisions or issues fulfil the following criteria: Define the institution’s relationship to its environment; Generally take the whole organisation as the unit of analysis; Depend on inputs from a number of functional areas; Provide direction for, and constraints on, administrative and operational activities throughout the institution.
Student Attrition: A measure of the number of students who have left their studies at the University in a nominated period; making due allowance for students who leave studies because of finishing a program of study and graduating. Student can withdraw from studies prior to completion for a range of reasons other than for lack of academic potential – including difficulties in balancing study and other commitments, financial problems, and disadvantage.
Student Load: a measure of the size of the student body which considers both the number of students and the fraction of full-time study status of each. The unit of Student Load is ‘EFTSU” (Equivalent Full-Time Student Unit’).
SWOT Analysis: A critical set of steps in a planning exercise is to perform internal assessments (including an analysis of performance against previous plan) and external assessments (including an analysis of the operating environment) that result in the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats through what is termed a SWOT Analysis. This is a complex analysis which involves matching external possibilities with internal capabilities.
Transparency: a requirement that sits alongside ‘Accountability’ as a growing expectation on organisations by society. It implies an openness and willingness to accept public scrutiny that diminishes the capacity for an organisation to practice or harbor deception or deceit.
Values Statement: This is an attempt to capture the basic philosophy of the organisation. It is an affirmation of the eternal verities which will inform all the dealings of the organisation. In some respects it is an articulation of a moral position.
Vision Statement: Essentially this is a description of the organisation; its size, its basic structure, its sphere of influence. Rather than describing the organisation as it currently exists, the statement presents a picture of the desirable future.
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ABSTUDY Aboriginal Study Assistance Scheme
ACER Australian Council for Educational Research
AIMS Australian Institute of Marine Science
AIRC Australian Industrial Relations Commission
APA Australian Postgraduate Awards
APRC Academic Program Review Committee
AQF Australian Qualifications Framework
ARC Australian Research Council
ARCA Australian Research Council Act
AREN Australian Research and Education Network
ASMS Australian Science and Mathematics School
ATN Australian Technology Network
ATO Australian Taxation Office
AUQA Australian Universities Quality Agency
AUTC Australian Universities Teaching Committee
AVCC Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee
B2B Business-to-Business
B2C Business-to-Consumer
BAA Backing Australia's Ability
BOTPLS Bridging for Overseas-Trained Professionals Loan Scheme
CAS Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships
CASR Collaboration And Structural Reform fund
CAUT Committee for Advancement of University Teaching
CDP Capital Development Pool
CECS Commonwealth Education Cost Scholarship
CEP Country Education Profile
CEQ Course Experience Questionnaire
CGS Commonwealth Grant Scheme
CHESSN Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number
CPI Consumer Price Index
CRC Cooperative Research Centre
CRICOS
Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses
for Overseas Students
CSIRO
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation
DEST
Department of Education, Science and Training (formerly
DETYA)
DEWR Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
DRP DEST Research Program
EDB Economic Development Board of South Australia
EFTSU Equivalent Full-time Student Unit
ELICOS English Language Intensive Course of Study
ESOS Act The Education Services for Overseas Students Act
FEE-HELP FEE-HELP student loan scheme (BAA initiative)
FPOS Fee-Paying Overseas Students
FPPS Fee-Paying Postgraduate Students
FPUGS Domestic Fee-paying Undergraduate Students
FTE Full-time equivalent
GCCA Graduate Careers Council of Australia
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GDS Graduate Destination Survey
GSA Graduate Skills Assessment
GUA Global University Alliance
HECS Higher Education Contribution Scheme
HECS-HELP New HECS arrangements under BAA initiatives
HEEP Higher Education Equity Program
HEFA Higher Education Funding Act 1988
HEIMS
Higher Education Information Management
System (BAA initiative)
HEIP Higher Education Innovation Programme
IAF Institution Assessment Framework (BAA initiative)
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IGS Institutional Grants Scheme
IPRS International Postgraduate Research Scholarship
ISF Indigenous Support Fund
MDU UniSA’s Marketing and Development Unit
MNFR Major National Research Facilities
NESB Non English Speaking Background
NHMRC National Health and Medical Research Council)
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OLA Open Learning Australia
OLDPS Open Learning Deferred Payment System
OS-HELP Overseas students loans (BAA inititative)
PELS Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme
PFRAs Publicly Funded Research Agencies
PPP Purchasing Power Parities
RBA Reserve Bank of Australia
RIBG Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme
RRTMRS Research and Research Training Management Reports
RTS Research Training Scheme
SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
SATAC South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre
SEQ UniSA's Student Experiences Questionnaire
SES Socio-economic Status
SFSS Student Financial Supplement Scheme
SII Systemic Infrastructure Initiative
TAFE Technical and Further Education
TALC UniSA's Teaching and Learning Committee
TER Tertiary Education Rank
UNAP UniSA Northern Adelaide Partnerships
USC University Senior College
VET Vocational Education and Training
WTO World Trade Organisation
WUN Worldwide Universities Network