OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR
Vision and Leadership for Regional
Universities
or
Whistling in the Dark
Professor Andrew Vann
Vice-Chancellor and President, Charles Sturt University
OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLORhttps://www.theymightbegiants.com
OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLORhttps://www.theymightbegiants.com
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Plagiarism warning:
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes…
Tom Lehrer - Lobachevsky
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Self-plagiarism warning:
It’s déjà vu all over again
-Yogi Berra
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Clarification of terms:
Why do Vice-Chancellors like the word
‘vision’? Because they can’t spell
‘hallucination’.- Source unknown
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What is a university for?
From conversation with Johannes Haas, FH
Joanneum, Austria
- Higher education?
- Place for children of elites to find a mate?
- Keep the unworldly away from reality until it's
safe to let them out?
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Wrong ideas that appealed to me
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Wrong ideas that appealed to me
“For all our talk and good intentions, there is much
more stick than carrot in school, … How can we
foster a joyous, alert, wholehearted participation in
life if we build all our schooling around the holiness
of getting 'right answers'?”
― John Holt, How Children Fail (1964)
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Wrong ideas that appealed to me
“Our current modes of rationality … are taking [society]
further and further from that better world. … the whole
structure of reason, handed down to us from ancient times,
is no longer adequate. It begins to be seen for what it really
is ... emotionally hollow, esthetically meaningless and
spiritually empty.”
- Robert M Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(1974)
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Wrong ideas that appealed to me
“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as
comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or
the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the
top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To
think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is
to demean oneself.”- Robert M Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(1974)
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I followed Pirsig’s prescription
• Dropped out of university
• Bummed around for a while
• Worked and grew up
• Returned to university with a stronger desire to
learn and a practical grounding in engineering
- But with a desire to challenge the conventions of
academic practice
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What do I think a University should be for?
- To help us challenge and deepen our
conceptions of the world and our sense of
ourselves;
- To develop our knowledge, skills and attitudes;
- To transcend our intellectual boundaries;
- And to help us find our right place in the world.
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Major strategic questions at CSU in 2012
Dualities:
- Are we regional or distance education?
- Are we regional or a university for the professions?
- Do we care about research or practice
- Will the future be good or bad?
Terroir and character
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CSU’s Top Secret Strategy Diagram
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CSU’s Top Secret Strategy Diagram
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Clarification of terms:
A Mission Statement is defined as "a long
awkward sentence that demonstrates
management's inability to think clearly." All
good companies have one.
- Scott Adams
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CSU Narrative
For the Public Good (Charles Sturt 1848)
We are a university of the land and people of our regions. Acknowledging the culture and insight of
Indigenous Australians, CSU's ethos is described by this phrase from the Wiradjuri, the traditional
custodians of the land of our original campuses:
'yindyamarra winhanganha' ('the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living
in'.)
Derived from our ethos, our values are to be insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring. By living
these values, we want to make this a world worth living in.
True to the character of regional Australia we have gumption, we have soul and we collaborate with
others. We develop holistic, far-sighted people who help their communities grow and flourish. Our
mission is to build skills and knowledge in our regions. We offer choice and flexibility to students and
work hand-in-hand with our industries and communities in teaching, research and engagement.
Growing from our historical roots, we share our knowledge and expertise as a significant regional
export industry and we bring strength and learning from this back to our regions.
We are a market-oriented University and express our intent through our goal to be the dominant
provider of higher education for on-campus students in our regions and in Australian online higher
education.
What We Do
Who We Are
What We Want To Achieve
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CSU Narrative
For the Public Good (Charles Sturt 1848)
We are a university of the land and people of our regions. Acknowledging the culture and insight of
Indigenous Australians, CSU's ethos is described by this phrase from the Wiradjuri, the traditional
custodians of the land of our original campuses:
'yindyamarra winhanganha' ('the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living
in'.)
Derived from our ethos, our values are to be insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring. By living
these values, we want to make this a world worth living in.
True to the character of regional Australia we have gumption, we have soul and we collaborate with
others. We develop holistic, far-sighted people who help their communities grow and flourish. Our
mission is to build skills and knowledge in our regions. We offer choice and flexibility to students and
work hand-in-hand with our industries and communities in teaching, research and engagement.
Growing from our historical roots, we share our knowledge and expertise as a significant regional
export industry and we bring strength and learning from this back to our regions.
We are a market-oriented University and express our intent through our goal to be the dominant
provider of higher education for on-campus students in our regions and in Australian online higher
education.
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That’s Lovely - Why Care About CSU?
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Regional Retention
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Australia’s Largest Indigenous University
• Charles Sturt University and University of
Newcastle have the largest number of
Indigenous students in Australia
• However, CSU graduates nearly 40% more than
any other Australian University
• Built off work with communities, Indigenous
mental health, Policing and teacher education.
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Wiradjuri Language and Culture
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Wiradjuri Language and Culture
•CSU has worked for about 20
years with Wiradjuri Elders
•A Wiradjuri Dictionary – Dr Stan
Grant and Dr John Rudder
•Grad Certificate in Wiradjuri
Language, Culture and Heritage
Uncle Stan originally thought the dictionary might allow
people to learn a few words of Wiradjuri. Now we have
people who are teaching each other Wiradjuri grammar.
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Indigenous Futures
Stan Grant Jr, CSU Chair of
Indigenous Affairs, was keen to
work with us so he could speak
about Indigenous futures from
his country.
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Murrumbidgee Long-Term Intervention
Monitoring Project
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Identity matters to us as humans - clearly
“We want to allow people
to bring their whole selves
to the table”
- Rev Prof James Haire,
former Director of Australian Centre
for Christianity and Culture
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What’s important?
• Yindyamarra - respect
• Location, locatedness
• Care for, and interest in your environment
(broadly)
• Long-term relationships and trust
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Whistling in the Dark?
• So that’s all good then? Except:
• We live in age of accountability and metrics
• Particularly in Australia, difficult to escape the
influence of rankings
• But commensurability implies simplification
• We have become used to valuing things for their
globalness (globality?) and scale
• This will not encourage diversity and challenges
local identity
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The way forward?
• If they are to meet the challenge, regional
universities need to be clear about, strengthen,
and celebrate, their advantages and virtues
• They are – potentially – fruitful places to poison
your mind with wrong ideas that appeal to you
• And to work through issues of personal, national
and regional identity
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Thank you!
Contact: Andrew Vann
Tel: +61 2 6338 4209
Fax: +61 2 6338 4209
Twitter: @drpievann