Change Leadership in the Centre of Higher Education

Baff Kuka

First Aid Safety Training, Australia

Keywords: Change leadership, The center of higher education, Internet-based learning.

Abstract: The paper discusses about the change of Centers of Higher Education (COHE) toward the issues of internet-

based learning. The problem evokes when education in Australia face the change in technology when many

students come to Australia from around the world. COHE has difficulties in identifying who their consumers

which may effect on their strategy in developing the business. This paper explores some important

consideration toward the change in COHE.

1 INTRODUCTION

The change affects us all ranging from our personal

life choices. Like all businesses, Centres of Higher

Education (COHE) are not immune to such forces.

Here, I will bring to your attention examples of the

forces that can impact on change within the higher

education sector.

During my tenure as a nonexecutive director on

the board of studies of the Graduate College of

Management of the Southern Cross University, I was

on two panels that revamped the Masters in Business

Administration Degree (M.B.A) program and the

College of Industry and Professional Education

(C.I.P.E.).

We identified that the main recipient (Customer)

of our courses was the industry that the student was

studying to seek employment within.

COHE have the same pressures that all businesses

have. The main issue is installing a culture that not

only accepts change but one that also encourages

change. Ensuring that their staff is all agents of

change is singular that the main threat to the COH’s

business viability in the now global education

environment.

Internet-based learning, an ever-shrinking world,

cross-border economic alliances such as Free Trade

Agreements all contribute to the transportability of

receiving a quality education all contribute to these

challenges.

International students contribute to education

being Australia’s second highest export industry. It is

both a highly competitive and a lucrative industry.

In Australia, shrinking government financial aid

and increasing on and off shore competition has

resulted in greater costs for COHE forcing them to

change and save on costs. The competition for

research grants is also an ever increasing burden on

management to increase their fluidity and acceptance

of change.

2 FACTORS AFFECTING CHANGE

The composition of the Board is of critical mass to all

businesses, including centers of COHE. McKenzie

(2007) Points to select directors include;

1. Integrity;

2. Standing within the academic community;

3. Educational background;

4. Research evidence abilities;

5. Gender balance;

6. Practical (life skills) skilling within the

academia and business community.

Industrial relations should be kept to a level that sees

remuneration that encourages (Kent, 2011):

1. Financial security by way of an attractive salary

and working conditions of all employees so that

skilled staff is attracted and retained from the

wider workforce. Centers of higher education still

have to compete for skilled staff who can pass on

their knowledge and skills to students.

2. Maintaining good industrial relations is an

investment in the organization stability; how it is

viewed within the relatively small academic

community. A stable organization will attract

Kuka, B.

Change Leadership in the Centre of Higher Education.

DOI: 10.5220/0008682802150217

In Improving Educational Quality Toward International Standard (ICED-QA 2018), pages 215-217

ISBN: 978-989-758-392-6

215

private funding more easily as opposed to an

unstable one;

3. Happy people are more productive;

4. Having a board member belonging to students and

staff makes sound business sense;

Industry standing is another critical mass for COHE;

1. A Centre Of Higher Education’s standing within

the academic and business communities will

attract quality students; philanthropists and

government monies.

2. Leading academics and research fellows will also

be attracted to an institution with higher standings.

Look at the way the ivy league and sandstone

universities attract their academic fame.

3. By having close links to leading businesses, the

centre of higher education will access leading

research as opposed to data that is out of date and

therefore worthless;

4. Close industry ties leads to increasing currency of

course material;

5. Current learning material leads to attracting better

academics resulting in better-educated students

and having those students being up taken into

quality employment prospects.

Like many businesses, COHE’s may have

difficulty in identifying who their Customers are.

Businesses will often make one fundamental flaw –

they confuse their revenue stream with their end user

or Customer. Students may be the revenue stream –

the industry they learn to join s the actual Customer.

Customers (industry) satisfaction is the key to the

student’s transition to employment, which in turn

raises student application, then raises profits and the

business expands.

Low industry satisfaction in graduates’

performance results in low student transition towards

employment thus stagnating the education center’s

attraction for new quality students and academics;

this is turn reflects on them having a lower name,

results and a low standing industry standing.

Staff satisfaction is closely aligned to industrial

relations – they both deal with humans at work. Staff

satisfaction has many facets;

1. The way they are treated, with equity, fair

access to promotional courses, promotions and

who are free of harassment;

2. Staff are the most important assets that any

business has;

3. Staff should reflect industry currency having

networked with industry gatekeepers and

researchers.

Like all businesses, COHE requires significant

leadership to develop strategies to achieve a set of

objectives. Without the setting of strategies to achieve

long-term goals, any organization will find it difficult

to remain in business. Investment in technology is a

must-have strategic investment. All education

providers are investing technology for their offices in

their day to day activities, but also in their training

components.

A balance of on line, face to face, as well as

residential types of student interface, seems to be the

ideal format. Having all your course as an on line

component deletes from the student/academic

interface. Students who ask questions are not able to

read the lecturer's body language, interact with their

fellow students and generally get a feel for the

tutorial.

Clinically based courses require some significant

hands-on patient-based component. The change

process is a three-stage event;

Firstly, recognize the organization is currently frozen

in its ways, and that will require it to change;

1. Communicate the requirement for change by

selecting one of the four effectors to your

teams through consultation and change by

edict;

2. Set an agenda that identifies and signals the

need and the benefits of change;

3. Involve the organization in the change process

so that ownership is spread across the

organization;

Secondly, implement your changes – the fluidity

section; Thirdly, re-freeze your organization with the

new changes have been made.

3 CONCLUSION

Implementation of a Change Leadership initiative can

be complicated and challenging but also a necessary

action. If the need for change is not recognised, sold,

signalled and implemented, then the organisation will

suffer the consequences and go by the way of the

organisations listed above. Succession planning is a

critical tool for a COHE. It should form part of its

long term change management policy and goals.

Mentoring of those identified as rising quickly is an

important factor. Succession planning allows the

organisation to plan and organise its target intake of

certain focus groups such youths, females,

geographically located and those in economic

distress.

ICED-QA 2018 - International Conference On Education Development And Quality Assurance

216

REFERENCES

Kent, T., Crotts, J.C., “Four Factors of Change”. 2011.

MCB UP Limited Published by MCB UP Ltd.

McKenzie, C. 2007. “Boards, Incentives, and Corporate

Social Responsibility: The Case For a Change of

Emphasis. Wiley Online Library.

Change Leadership in the Centre of Higher Education

217