Framing attrition in higher education: a complex problem

This study situates student attrition within the strategic framework of Australian public universities. It draws on organisational theory to describe higher education within a bureaucratic framework. The study uses a quantitative approach to undertake a content analysis of attrition and retention policy statements from all Australian universities. This reveals that Australian universities, and the higher education sector as a whole, are attempting to address attrition within their existing bureaucracies. Attrition however is a wicked problem that includes many variables outside the influence of universities, which limits the potential of strategic approaches to problem solving. The practical implications of these findings are that current approaches to attrition are likely to fail. The wicked nature of the attrition problem needs to be taken into account when developing strategies or policies within higher education.     

Effective strategic planning in Australian universities: how good are we and how do we know?1

Strategic planning was introduced to Australian universities as part of the Commonwealth Government higher education reforms of 1988. The ‘Dawkins Reforms’ implemented extensive structural reform, changed executive leadership roles and responsibilities, commenced the ‘managerialisation’ of the Australian university sector, introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme and facilitated the transformation of Australian universities from collegial academies to modern, ‘enterprise’ universities.

There is an abundance of published marketing material celebrating ‘effective’ strategic planning outcomes in the myriad of strategic plans published by Australian universities. Yet, a recent study indicates that strategic planning remains a contested internal leadership function in Australian universities almost 30 years after traditional academic planning was replaced with commercially-focused strategic planning. This paper will review the effectiveness of strategic planning practices in Australian universities guided by the rhetorical question: ‘how good are we and how do we know?’     

Arbiters of effectiveness and efficiency: the frames and strategies of management consulting firms in US higher education reform

A growing number of public colleges and universities in the United States have hired management consulting firms to help develop strategies aimed at increasing institutional effectiveness and efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to explore the frames and strategies of consultants in US public higher education reform efforts. Drawing upon a range of documentary evidence, the paper examines four consulting firms (Accenture, Bain & Company, Deloitte and McKinsey & Company) and their perspectives on higher education reform. The paper analyses the consultative process with two public universities and two state higher education systems to determine possible avenues by which consultants exert influence. Through reference to theory on academic capitalism and new institutionalism, the paper reveals the ways in which consultants circulate crisis narratives and diffuse private sector management ideas among public colleges and universities that are seeking both financial solvency and legitimacy.     

Strategically Managing Entrepreneurialism: The Australian University Experience

While the practice of university entrepreneurship has become an increasingly popular field of study across the globe (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Clark, 1998; Marginson & Considine, 2000), few substantive studies have considered international education from this perspective. Alongside other institutions of higher education in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Australian universities have increasingly pursued ambitious strategies to participate in the booming international education sector.
Undertaking a mixture of strategies from the traditional to the highly innovative, Australia's universities have aggressively and often creatively marketed their offerings in the international education market, and the sector now represents Australia's eighth largest export and third largest services export.
In order to assist in the development of an understanding of how Australia's universities have moved from government dependence to entrepreneurialism, this study focuses in particular on the management of international education as a key dimension of this trend.
While a general overview of the study's findings is presented elsewhere (Poole, forthcoming), this article seeks to contrast the management strategies, structures and systems of two universities in the study. A highly international metropolitan university recognized around the world as a leader in international education is compared with a smaller, regional institution in terms of the relative sophistication and professionalism of strategic management practices and processes. The implications of the differences arising between the institutions are discussed.     

Spatial recruiting competition in Chinese higher education system

How geographical neighboring competitors influence the strategic recruiting behavior of universities is still unclear because previous studies assume spatial independence among universities. Using data of Subordinate Universities of the Ministry of Education in China, this study found that the choice of admission score level by one university was spatially autocorrelated with its neighboring competitors and four strategies came into being within spatial enrollment competition. The intenseness of spatial competition decreased as the number of neighboring competitors increased while the difference of admission score increased as the distance between competitive universities increased.     

Is the enhancement of student experience a strategic priority in Australian universities?

Universities in many countries are developing strategies to enhance the student experience. This focus has never been so important since the development of rankings and the use of student experience measures in institutional performance assessment. Australian government policies to link student experience measures to performance funding were a key driver to increase the prominence of the student voice between 2004 and 2008. This paper analyses the strategic plans of 33 Australian universities with the aim of outlining the extent to which the enhancement of student experience is embedded as one of their key priorities. This review comes at a time when universities in Australia and elsewhere are realigning their future strategies and directions to achieve government aspirations for tertiary education with the introduction of various policy instruments including the possibility of rewarding universities on the basis of student experience measures. The paper also provides a comparative analysis of government policies in Australia and the UK on the measurement and enhancement of the student experience.     

Address Regarding First-Class Universities

Amid today's acute competition on the international scene, universities are a major factor affecting a country's key competitive ability. Thus creating and running world-class universities should be one of the strategic foci of building up a country. Other than such mandatory requirements as having world-class teaching abilities and research results and powerful material and technical foundations, world-class universities must also lay particular emphasis on providing a relaxed and lively academic environment and on encouraging a scientific spirit of exploring and searching for the truth. Universities in developing nations must bring about "leaping" advances in terms of educational ideas, operating strategies, personnel systems, and administrative regimes and must be good at referencing the experience of other countries in advancing higher education, form a wide field of vision, and vigorously participate in international academic competition if they are to reach first-class world standards.     

论民办高校的核心竞争力

伴随着我国高等教育的快速发展及教育服务市场的对外开放,民办高校正面临着越来越激烈的竞争。要在这种激烈的竞争中生存并不断发展壮大,民办高校迫切需要形成核心竞争力。民办高校的民办体制正是民办高校核心竞争力之所在。民办高校必须从办学理念、战略决策、人力资源、组织管理等多方入手,形成自己的竞争优势。     

试论转型期高等学校的竞争战略

在我国经济体制从计划经济向市场经济转型的过程中,高等学校正逐步成为第三部门组织。高等学校在应对国内外行业之间、行业内部的挑战等一系列问题上,竞争的态势已开始形成。要在竞争中始终立于不败之地,研究竞争规律、掌握竞争技巧、制定竞争战略已经成为高等学校发展的迫切任务。     

Strategies for internationalisation at technical universities in the Nordic countries

This article investigates strategies for internationalisation at technical universities in the Nordic countries. The study explores the institutional rationales for internationalisation, the stories told in the strategy documents, the importance of leaders, faculty, administration and students for implementation of the strategy, and barriers and key components of successful internationalisation. We studied the strategic work with internationalisation across 27 technical universities in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This work reflects both global trends of competition and the traditional Nordic model of cooperation. Overall, the universities incorporated internationalisation in their strategies in order to increase quality in research and education, and to establish strategic partnerships and networks. There is a shift in rationales from a more traditional approach of internationalisation to a new integrated form.     

Privatization and competition policies for Australian universities

“Privatization” encapsulates an ideological shift towards market principles such as competition, commercialization, deregulation, efficiency and changing forms of accountability. In higher education, the privatization trend includes the full gamut from the creation of fully private institutions which operate without government financial support, to reforms in largely government-funded institutions operating in more of a quasi-market mode. This article examines privatization policies and speculates on their origins and their ramifications for universities around the world. In particular, it describes the impact of corporate managerialism (the import of management practices from the private sector) in institutions still largley under the control of governments, and focuses on examples of the particular effects of this ideological shift in three Australian universities. It argues that some traditional academic values should be preserved as important attributes of universities that enable them to operate in the public interest and maintain their role as a critical voice in society.     

英国当今高等教育政策框架及其影响分析

在政府公共管理模式市场化取向改革背景下,高等教育领域引入竞争机制,在高等教育经费紧缩的情况下,为保证高等教育战略目标的实现,英国政府采取了拨款、评估、规划等政策措施对高校进行宏观控制和施加影响.     

Strategic interaction among public school districts: Evidence on spatial interdependence in school inputs

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among public school districts in Massachusetts. The open enrollment program in Massachusetts is unique in testing the strategic competition thesis because it allows students to attend public schools located outside their home district. For each student who transfers out, funds are deducted from the sending district's local aid distribution and added to the receiving district's local aid. Thus, school districts no longer have the assurance of a ready supply of students and funding, instead they have to compete with neighboring districts, and enact strategies that will help retain as well as attract more students. A spatial econometric framework is applied to disentangle the correlation due to strategic interaction from the one that is simply due to spatially correlated error shocks. The results show that public school districts respond positively to the expenditure decisions of neighboring districts, thereby acting strategically when setting their own spending levels.     

Learning Strategic Planning from Australian and New Zealand University Experience

Initiating a strategic development plan is necessary for universities to be managed scientifically; a university's strategic development plan includes both the educational philosophy and development orientation as determined by the university, including the future reallocation of resources and measures for their integration. The development experience of Australian and New Zealand universities tells us that a scientific and rational university plan can promote the rapid development of the university; on the contrary, with an unscientific and irrational development plan, a plan that cannot be put into practice, or a plan that results in waste of resources, opportunities for development are missed. This article analyzes how Australian and New Zealand universities formulate their strategic development plans and presents the formulation and implementation of a strategic development plan by Wuhan University of Technology.     

Using Entrepreneurial Activities as a Means of Survival: Investigating the Processes used by Australian Universities to Diversify their Revenue Streams

This study provides a profile of the actions taken by Australian universities to diversify their revenue streams in order to generate more independent (non-government) income. Marginson’s taxonomy of Australian universities is used to catergorise universities and contrast levels of independent income (Marginson and Considine 2000). This study finds that some Australian universities have used isomorphic tactics in their attempts to diversify their revenue streams. Unitechs (Universities of Technology) and New Universities are over-reliant upon income earned from overseas student fees, whilst earning comparatively small amounts of revenue from Royalties, Trademarks and Licences, Consultancy, Contract Research and Investments. This work discusses the dangers inherent in over-reliance on a single type of independent income. It argues that if Australian universities seek to enhance their success competing in global research, staff and student markets then they need to augment efforts to diversify revenue streams with structural and cultural changes, transforming themselves from being rigid hierarchical public bureaucracies to become more flexible network enterprises (Castells 2000).     

竞争情报:高校竞争制胜新视角

高校竞争情报是高校自我评定，明确市场竞争地位，制定市场竞争谋略，并作出科学战略决策的主要依托。因此，高校应重视搜集、掌握、占有高校竞争情报，密切关注外部竞争环境变化以及竞争对手的行为轨迹，准确评估自己面临的机会和威胁，正确分析竞争态势，及时采取有利的竞争策略，取得竞争优势，占领竞争市场。     

Moving towards professionalism: The strategic management of international education activities at Australian universities and their Faculties of Business

Universities around the world are increasingly focusing on entrepreneurial activities (Slaughter and Lesley 1997; Clark 1998). In Australia, the growth of international entrepreneurial activities has resulted in the creation of a significant export-oriented sector. These activities include the recruitment of international students to Australian campuses, the development of Australian university campuses in offshore locations, and the delivery of Australian degree programs at both onshore and offshore locations in partnership with universities, professional associations and private corporations. In 2000, Australian universities received A$770 million from international student fees (Maslen 2000a, p. 10). Australian universities currently receive on average around eight percent of revenues from these sources, with some depending on international entrepreneurialism for as much as one-third of revenues (DETYA 1998a). Managing these activities in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner has thus become critically important to virtually every institution in the Australian higher education sector. As is the case when businesses become international, universities are faced with the need to manage the complexities, risks and challenges associated with international operations. To date, little empirical work has been undertaken which explores and examines how Australian universities are managing their international entrepreneurial business operations. The aim of this study is thus to respond to this research gap by exploring how Australian universities, particularly in terms of their Faculties of Business, organise and manage international entrepreneurial activities. The research examines management approaches, practices and processes at five Australian universities. A Strategic Advantage Model of Internationalisation is presented representing a theoretical and conceptual synthesis of the findings.     

From departure to arrival: Re-engaging students who have withdrawn from university

Despite institutional strategies to prevent student withdrawal, attrition remains a concern across higher education sectors in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. In the case of Australian universities, attrition rates have remained consistently high since 2002. Some level of attrition is inevitable, but universities can influence the circumstances and the consequences of departure. This article draws on two research projects conducted within an Australian institution. The studies confirm that withdrawing students: often leave for personal reasons; are typically young and from under-represented backgrounds; generally remain positive about higher education; and are relatively likely to return to the sector in future. Despite our findings, institutional strategies around the point of departure remain variable and, contrary to their stated intentions, departing students are rarely seen as future students by the institutions from which they withdraw. Preventive strategies need to be combined with broader institutional policies designed to re-engage and re-recruit the cohort of departed students.     

Student skills and the Bradley agenda in Australia

This paper investigates the study strategies that first-year Australian university students bring with them to university. The research has currency due to the implementation of the Review of Australian higher education [Bradley, D., Noonan, P., Nugent, H., & Scales, B. (2008). Review of Australian higher education: Final report. Canberra: Australian Government.], which recommended that universities increase the number of students in undergraduate courses. In response to government incentives to increase enrolments, many universities have lowered their entrance scores and, as a result, have attracted students who would not traditionally have been eligible for university entrance. The study employed the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) to investigate the differences in study strategies used by a cohort comprising students from the expanded intake facilitated by the Bradley Review according to their gender, age, socio-economic status and entrance score. While these research results demonstrate a lower than average score on the LASSI instrument for this particular cohort, there were almost no dissimilarities in any of the categories assessed. This paper will argue that the differential distribution of such students across institutions in Australia has potential implications for the institutions themselves and the sector as a whole.     

Strategy Development for Incumbent Urban Universities: Moving Forward in an Increasingly Competitive Environment

ABSTRACT

Recently, many urban public universities have seen a drastic increase in competition. This project integrates Schumpeter's economic theories from 70 years ago with current strategic management theory in order to provide a framework for strategic response to that competition. This article explores all possible combinations of the high-low quality and high-low price dichotomy under the model that the urban college student behaves more like a business than like a consumer.