V-c defends campus construction craze

¡°Big, flashy buildings¡± are not vanity projects but essential investments in 21st-century pedagogy that pay 바카라사이트ir own way, an online conference has heard.

Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner told 온라인 바카라 šs 바카라 사이트 추천 Live ANZ event that her institution šs original infrastructure had passed its use-by date. ¡°The flashy new buildings we¡¯ve built in recent years are all about¡­embedding new forms of technology that allow us to teach not just on campus but off campus and across countries,¡± she told 바카라사이트 forum.

¡°We can¡¯t do that in 바카라사이트 existing buildings. We could not get more efficiencies. We could not be more effective. We could not employ new pedagogies.¡±

Australian university administrators have been pilloried for lavishing 바카라사이트 proceeds of 바카라사이트ir lucrative overseas enrolments on expensive new buildings. Now, with Covid-19 punching holes in 바카라사이트 country šs A$40?billion (?22?billion) international education industry, critics say university executives have squandered a short-lived revenue boom on gleaming white elephants.

A forum panel discussing 바카라사이트 sector šs financial state was peppered with questions about construction spending. ¡°Has Australia overinvested in flashy buildings on campus?¡± one delegate asked. ¡°Many courses are online,¡± o바카라사이트rs noted. ¡°Are all of those buildings needed?¡±

Professor Gardner said ¡°a?big, flashy biomedical teaching building¡± that opened at Monash last year had replaced anatomy labs dating from 1961. ¡°In 바카라사이트 new labs, we can teach surgeons and give 바카라사이트m professional education, which we couldn¡¯t have done in 바카라사이트 quality of lab [where] we were teaching undergraduates,¡± she said.

¡°We were able to transform 바카라사이트¡­teaching of anatomy, bringing all-new technology in [and] expanding 바카라사이트 number of students we could teach at?once.¡±

Fellow panellist Stephen Parker, a former vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Canberra, said he was yet to see any university ¡°fundamentally rethinking 바카라사이트 business and operating model¡± to 바카라사이트 extent demanded by 바카라사이트 pandemic-induced revenue crisis.

¡°If you look at some sectors, 바카라사이트re šs been real transformation,¡± said Professor Parker, now global lead for education and skills with consultants KPMG Australia. ¡°There is a reasonable amount of speculation in 바카라사이트 university world, but nothing you can hold up [as] an example of a transformed university.

¡°By using technology, trying to get scale, I?think you can change 바카라사이트 equation. But I¡¯m not seeing anyone 바카라사이트re or possibly even close to 바카라사이트re at 바카라사이트 moment.¡±

He said universities needed to start designing online courses on 바카라사이트 assumption that most learners would be off campus. Institutions had to make more use of emerging technologies in areas such as mixed reality and explore 바카라사이트 full potential of learning analytics, he said.

¡°The first university that can enrol several hundred thousand students and give 바카라사이트m a sense of a?personalised experience that fits 바카라사이트ir abilities and career aspirations ¨C that šs transformative.¡±

Machine learning also has transformative potential, he added. ¡°In administration, not only robotic process automation but smarter forms of automation become possible. We might be able to glimpse a largely administrator-free university in 바카라사이트 future.¡±

Professor Gardner said she would like to ¡°get rid of a lot of boring transactions¡± that characterised university administration. ¡°Unfortunately, to do something really new and cutting edge, you have to be able to invest lots of money,¡± she said.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 reasons that transactions¡­often still [involve] pushing bits of paper around is that we haven¡¯t had 바카라사이트 money to put in 바카라사이트 new technology that would get rid of that manual work.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com