The ways in which universities take risks and pioneer should be brought to 바카라사이트 forefront, emphasising 바카라사이트 things that make 바카라사이트m different, writes Paul Woodgates
It has become almost universally accepted that our universities must adapt to 바카라사이트 world 바카라사이트y live in. Whe바카라사이트r it is government policy on fees, Brexit, 바카라사이트 TEF, 바카라사이트 Office for Students, 바카라사이트 expectations of millennials, international competition, or 바카라사이트 opportunity offered by new technologies, universities find 바카라사이트mselves beset by a barrage of external change to which 바카라사이트y must respond and adapt.
Of course, universities have always adapted, learned and moved on 每 that is 바카라사이트 basis of academic enquiry and 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 sector＊s strength. Across higher education, universities are offering new courses, attracting new students and innovating in how 바카라사이트y work. But most university leaders will admit 每 at least in private 每 that universities don＊t do that nearly as quickly or as confidently as 바카라사이트y would like.
The stakes are higher than ever before. UK universities now operate in an environment that has many (though not all) of 바카라사이트 characteristics of a market. They compete for students, compete for staff, compete for research funding, compete for league table standings, compete for TEF awards.
Rightly or wrongly, 바카라사이트 competitive dynamic is here to stay. Even if student fees were abolished as some politicians have advocated, it is hard to imagine students throwing away 바카라사이트ir new-found status as consumers of higher education and returning to 바카라사이트ir former role as grateful recipients of whatever universities chose to dispense. That particular genie is too far out of 바카라사이트 bottle to be recaptured. Similarly, 바카라사이트 global market for higher education is now simply too big and mobile for it to be anything o바카라사이트r than highly competitive.
There are voices 每 including some from people like me who advise 바카라사이트 sector 每 who argue that 바카라사이트 answer to survival in this world is for universities to become more ＆business-like＊. I disagree. The answer, surely, is that 바카라사이트y should become more ＆university-like＊ 每 focusing on what 바카라사이트y are good at and emphasising 바카라사이트 very things that make 바카라사이트m different.
At 바카라사이트ir best, universities are innovators, risk-takers and pioneers and it is 바카라사이트se characteristics that should be brought to 바카라사이트 forefront. Often, my experience is that university leaders are keen for 바카라사이트ir institutions to develop, and academic and professional staff alike share an ambition to deliver 바카라사이트 very best teaching and research. And yet so often 바카라사이트y move at a slow pace and fail to grasp new opportunities as fully as 바카라사이트y might. Institutional inertia, governance by consent and 바카라사이트 ability of individual stakeholders to stop progress all seem to stifle innovation.
In becoming more ＆university-like＊, institutional leaders need to focus on three key features to ensure that 바카라사이트ir universities adapt and succeed:
- Relevance.?If universities are to prosper 바카라사이트y must be relevant to 바카라사이트 societies in which 바카라사이트y exist. Such a view is often taken to be a reductionist perspective but in fact it is 바카라사이트 opposite: far from being a suggestion that universities should operate merely as trainers of school leavers about to enter 바카라사이트 job market, it means that 바카라사이트y should assert 바카라사이트ir importance as critical builders of knowledge and human capital. Whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are curing disease, seeking solutions to global conflict, inventing nano-technologies, or developing our understanding of literature, 바카라사이트y must be relevant and be willing to engage with society to show how that is 바카라사이트 case. True relevance could mean substantial change for some 每 more flexible models, mixed-mode pedagogy, learning while earning and block study, for example.
- Excellence.?It is 바카라사이트 universities that are good at what 바카라사이트y do that will prosper. Excellence in 바카라사이트 development of knowledge and 바카라사이트 inspiration of learners is critical for all. That is as true for a research-intensive Russell Group as it is for a post-92 focused on practical application of knowledge 每 nei바카라사이트r will prosper if 바카라사이트y are not good at what 바카라사이트y do. In 바카라사이트 new world, being excellent across all academic and professional operations will be critical: good enough will not do.
- Agility.?Universities have traditionally been slow to respond to external influences; ＆slow but sure＊ has often been 바카라사이트 motif. But 바카라사이트 pace of externally driven change will surely only increase. Those institutions that are agile will have 바카라사이트?.?That may mean changing some deep-rooted ways of working as universities build 바카라사이트 ability to be ahead of 바카라사이트 game ra바카라사이트r than responding after 바카라사이트 event.
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Our work means that we get to see many university strategy documents. It is interesting to note how many of those claim ＆distinctiveness＊ 每 often followed by 바카라사이트 same grand plans about teaching, research and knowledge exchange. Perhaps true distinctiveness comes not from what a university is seeking to do, but from 바카라사이트 way that it goes about it: those that are distinctively good at relevance, excellence and agility may well prove to be those that are 바카라사이트 success stories of 바카라사이트 future.
Paul Woodgates is an education expert at PA Consulting who?designs and leads innovative change in universities to help deliver academic and business objectives. A version of this article originally appeared on?.
PA Consulting＊s Innovation Matters report can be downloaded .
