From the Chancellery
There
are not many of us who have the opportunity to be part of the birth
and development of a major public institution.
It has been my great privilege for close to two decades to plot
the genesis, plan the mission and work to strengthen UniSA. It is
difficult to think of anything you could do in your profes-
sional life which would be more worthwhile and more satisfying.
That’s not to say, of course, that it has been simple, easy or without pain!
In all of the positions I have occupied since my appointment as Director Academic and Deputy Principal of SACAE in 1986, I have had to concentrate on strategy and planning.
While that may sound easy, in fact, it has been extraordinarily difficult. We have seen unprecedented structural change in the higher education sector – UniSA is a product of that – and unceasing pressure on the operating budget as governments decided they were unwilling to fully fund mass higher education.
From year to year, despite the fact that we have had two periods where the incumbent government was in power through several election cycles, all we could be confident about was that any assumption we had about funding, policy directions or government regulations could be turned on its head without warning.
This has meant that a new university like UniSA has really been forced to be clear about what it wants to be – able to envision a long-term future but capable of rapid short term tactical action to position itself in the reality of ministerial changes, economic downturn, severe funding cuts, competition from older and more prestigious institutions and the growth of a global higher education industry.
The price of failure is high and we all know that there are several Australian universities that have not thrived in the last decade.
Such a financially constrained and very volatile environment has made executive leadership in higher education a dangerous career choice for many, but I have been fortunate to have largely made the right decisions in my various roles. I have been assisted in that by what I think has been an extraordinary culture at UniSA. I believe this culture is its greatest asset.
My senior management colleagues have always been ready to work together for the good of the whole institution. Many in academia know this to be a close to unique situation!
Staff, academic and professional, really wanted the institution to be a success and have been willing to go the extra mile to ensure that would happen.
Our external stakeholders, and particularly the many members who have served on the University Council over this period have been both enthusiastic advocates and critical friends of the University. Finally, we have been extraordinarily fortunate in our chancellors.
The late John McDonald, Chancellor in the first year, held the new institution together through some very torrid council meetings and ensured we had a new Vice Chancellor and organisational structure in 1992.
Dr Basil Hetzel took a daring personal decision to accept the role of Chancellor in a fledgling institution which had nothing to offer but possibilities and then threw his intellect and influence behind the development of some of our distinctive characteristics.
David Klingberg has brought his business acumen, focus on results, concern for good governance and attention to the bottom line at the right time in our history.
I have no doubt that our new Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Høj, with his intellect, energy and entrepreneurial flair is well able to lead UniSA to a bright future. I leave proud to be part of an institution which has already made a real difference to the lives of tens of thousands of graduates and had an impact on the many organisations that work with us to improve their outcomes through applied research. With its commitment to openness, flexibility, innovation and collaboration, it has all the essentials for continued success.