University of Wollongong Issues - Case Study Example

Title: Syndicate Report and Presentation – A case study analysing of University of Wollongong Dated: May 6, 2010 Brief Overview: The University of Wollongong is the second largest non-government employer with its main campus at Wollongong, NSW, Australia having additional eight campuses; six in Australia and one in United Arab Emirates and one in Dubai. The university has the capacity in export earnings in excess of $ 90 million per annum through a variety of instructional programs. The university has a direct economic benefit of more than $ 500 per annum and the figures has a growing trend which shows the educational value of the university at the international level among the students and the faculty members. The university was established in 1951 and in the year 2007 the university has a total student enrolment of 22737 in three major categories as undergraduate , postgraduate and non-award /Cross –institutional enrolment and the trend is continuously growing in the subsequent years. In addition, the university has international enrolment of 8864 students in the categories of International Onshore and International Offshore in the same year that is in 2007. The university is striving for upholding its mission, which envisaged excelling through imparting education in the disciplines of research and teaching of excellent standards along with their impacts(Jones ,2008)(1). Objectives of the university: Major objectives of the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia have been formulated by the top management of the university to fulfill the mission of the institute in the field of education and research (Paul, 1998) (2). These objectives have their direct relationship with the vision of the university and are as under: 1) Students practice an elastic, flexible, shared and energetic learning process through innovative teaching and research practices as to equip the student with the modern developments in the field of education, 2) A high level of learning and teaching as sole target of the instructional process in a participatory mode of learning, 3) Learning and teaching are made focal areas in the whole educational process in the university, and 4) The requirements of the students and the society are fulfilled by adapting qualitative measures in the field of education. The performance measurement in the universities is a continuous process and is a complex mechanism as compared to that of other educational institutes (Julia, 2005) (3). University of Wollongong has formulated a performance indicator project under the supervision of vice principal who directly report to the vice chancellor of the university (Howard, 2000) (4). The assessment of the performance of the students provides a feedback to the faculty members to evaluate the understanding level of the students at regular intervals (Vaughn, 2007) (5). The university has implemented a series of country analysis presentation to improve the standards and outcomes for addressing market developments in the field of education, off shore opportunities and the student experiences as they have learned from the university. The resulting strategies have assisted the university in focusing on key target markets for increasing international recruitments by 15% with a significant increase of the student number as for example, achieved from China as 26%, Vietnam as 94%, Saudi Arabia as 195%, Thailand 51% and Malaysia as 77% (Annual Report of the University of Wollongong, 2008). The performance indicators are helpful to the university in the identification of goals and for the development of plans to achieve the targets efficiently and effectively (Thomas, 2006). The basic source of the assessment of the performance of the university is through the observance of the four objectives as given above; therefore, each objective of the university in relation to its performance levels is as under: a) Flexibility in teaching system: UOW in Australia was one of the only two universities at the nation wide to achieve top tier ranking I the category of every discipline of the Australian governments teaching performance for the year 2008. The students and staff in the university come from diverse international backgrounds. These members share their respective cultures along with openness, inclusiveness and diversity as teamwork. The university has imparted 1379 academic activities in the year 2008 as compared to the figures of 1356 for the year 2007 and of 1262 for 2006. The academic support was provided to the level of 207 in 2008 as compared to that of 202 for the year 2007, and services as 272 for the year 2008 as compared to that of 265 for the year 2007 and 229 for 2006. During the year 2008, the university has developed academic integrity project and has translated into policy, no such project was available in the previous two years that is in 2007 and 2006 for imparting facilities as are linked with the integrity project. New academic review policy approved as one of the most important academic process covering both curriculum unit reviews especially for the review of the courses and academic units. These developments have indicated that the objective of the university in the shape of divergent disciplines is in progress and leading towards the road of its fulfillment (Popper, 1975) (6). The same has been reflected in the shape of revenues at the level of $ 17689 for the year 2008 as compared to that of $ 6670 for the year 2007. These results show an increase in the revenue generation and imparting of education and learning by the university through a variety of disciplined for the promotion of the cause of the university (Annual Report of the University of Wollongong, 2008). b) High level of learning and teaching: The university has host 586 study abroad and had exchanged students during the year 2008 and celebrated their contribution in an inaugural farewell ceremony. The university had enrolled 6366 students for higher degree and masters in the year 2008 as compared to that of 6113 for 2007 and 6122 for the year 2006. The enrolment for other postgraduate courses remained 1139 in the year 2008 as compared to that of 1123 for 2007 and 1018 for the year 2006. Enrolment in the bachelor degree remained as 15706 in the year 2008 as compared to that of 14741 for the year 2007 and 14172 for the year 2006. The figures for the year sub-degree stood at the level of 194 in 2008 as compared to that of 134 in 2007 and 440 in 2006, respectively. The figures for non-award, enabling & cross institutional emerged as 1008 in 2008 as compared to that of 1060 for 2007 and 990 for the year 2006. These numbers are indicative of the high level of learning and teaching as is being imparted by the university to the diverse international students (Annual Report of the University of Wollongong, 2008). . The staff of the university as part of the high learning and teaching activities has taken part at the international activities during the year 2008. The available data has supported 487 overseas visits with a special focus to the countries like USA and China. The basic purpose of all these visits has its orientation towards the research and learning process. The staff of the university has engaged themselves with the workshops and seminars at home as part of their research and teaching activities and participation of the students in these activities has strengthened the claim that the university has fulfilled its objective as in the shape of high learning and teaching. The staff has participated in the following engagements during the year 2008 as: A) The centre for Canadian-Australian studies has hosted an "All Canada Day" at the campus of the Wollongong University to help Canada related issues and comparative research with a support in the inclusion of the Canadian content into the teaching program. The event had enhanced cultural and intellectual linkages between Canada and Australia and had facilitated the international students to have first hand information about these two developed countries of the world. B) The centre for Health Initiatives had hosted a conference based on the emerging disciplines of international non-profit and social marketing fields and their understanding by the teaching as well as students communities in the university. C) The university along with the German Consulate and the German industry and cultural organizations jointly organized "Germany innovations" in the shape of seminars and social events with a special focus on the features of the German technology, culture and language. c) Learning and teachings as focal areas: The University of Wollongong during the year 2008 has focused on the development of an orientation program for the new students in the University campus as a part of the learning as teachings as focal areas. The program has an objective to provide enhance opportunities for social engagements and a welcome response to the new entrants in the university to improve their performance in future (Thomas, 2007) (7). A positive signal from the university administration will generate learning and teaching environment at the campuses of the university. The university has launched a program part as "Get Started @ UOW". No such arrangement was available for the year 2007 and 2006. The "Get Started @ UOW" combines three major elements of starting study at the university as in the shape of accepting and offer to study by the international students, enrolling the students at the UOW and attending the orientation program as part of the focal areas of learning and teachings(Annual Report of the University of Wollongong, 2008)(8). The university has developed a communication strategy to ensure minimal anxiety and confusion for the students during the transition periods as new entrants in the university. Online learning resource utilization remained popular with a large number of visits that is equivalent to 10677 visits during the year 2008 to the learning development website, a marked for an improvement in the learning and teaching focal areas as is being imparted by the university. The learning development highlights for the year 2008 included the following major developments as part of the learning and teaching focal areas: a) The expansion of support for the transportation programs in the faculty of Arts and School of Nursing, center for transnational crime prevention and midwifery and indigenous health, b) An Australian learning and teachings council citation has been received for sustained work for its elaborative integration, c) The recipients of the two nationally funded project grants as to work on bench marking and research for the profession through the association for academic learning and language. d) Fulfillment of the requirements of the society through the learning and research: The University of Wollongong has an objective to assist the students in making connections between the disciplines of their studies and the world of work, the Carrier Service has offered a set of programs and services for the fulfillment of the requirements of the society relating to knowledge(Lenski,1974)(9) and culture(Effland ,1998)(10). These services include: 1) In the year 2008, a National Carrier Fair was arranged. The fair has enjoyed a 33% increase in the number of employees and organizations who has attended the fair with 108 participants. The fair had attracted a total of 16% students with an increase of 28% over the previous year, 2) The university has initiated the certificate in global workplace practice, a program to assist the international students to improve their employment prospects at the international scene including that of Australia to improve their economic positions in the society. This program has moved from a pilot program in the year 2007 and had attained the status of a full program in the year 2008 with 216 an international students enrollments. Impacts: The learning and research initiatives as have been initiated by the university of Wollongong had their positive impacts on the national and international students of the University in the shape of better chances of employments(Reich ,2007)(11) through assistance of 590 carriers counseling appointments during the year 2008(Annual Report of the University of Wollongong, 2008)(12). The initiatives as taken by the university in the fields of and learning and research have resulted in the shape of growth of student’s population in the university. For example, the university has full time enrolment in 2008 as 16489 as compared to that of 13175 for the year 2007 with percentage increase as 25.15 % and similarly an increase of 13 % from the level of 12653 for the year 2006. On the other hand, the figures for the part time enrolments have witnessed a declining trend in the year 2008 at the level of 7465 as compared to that of 9666 for the year 2007 with a percentage decrease of 23.4 %. The figures demonstrate that the confidence of the students has improved in the fulltime programs as compared to that of part time in the university. Access percentage, participation percentage, success ratio and retention ratio in the university have been improved during the period 2005 to 2007 which reflects the direct positive impacts of the policies and programs of the university. Access percentage has reached at the level of 1.51 in the year 2007 from the level of 1.49 for the years 2005 and 2006. The participation percentage has reached at the level of 1.29 in the year 2007 as compared to the level of 1.25 of 2006 and 1.2 of the year 2005. The success ratio is an important indicator for measuring the impact of the learning process in the university, which has reached at the level of 0.79 in the year 2007 as compared to that of 0.77 of the year of 2006. Similar impacts have been recorded in the shape of retention ratio in the university, which has reached at the level of 0.82 in the year 2007 as compared to that of 0.81 for the 2006 and 0.78 for the year 2005. External Performance Reviews: The university has recently celebrated a decade of outstanding graduate outcomes as have been ranked by the independent good universities guide. The university has been granted five-star rankings in the following categories, the same is reflective of the externals performance reviews of the university. These categories include, getting a job, starting salary, positive graduate outcomes, research intensity, graduate satisfaction and generic skills. The audit management and review committee helps the external review of the university as to ensure transparency in the affairs of the university. Systems and Power View: Systems and powers view is a system as “a complex whole the functioning of which depends on its parts and interactions between those parts” (Jackson, 2003). The university is just like an organization with the intake of new students for seeking knowledge from the university through a learned faculty and the outputs as in the shape of learned students and research papers. The university of Wollongong during the year 2008, has awarded degrees to the total graduates since the year of foundation as 13417 along with doctorate completion as 152 which is reflective of the systems and power view of the university. The university has designed a number of feedback systems throughout the UOW for the staff and the students wising to make comments, complaints including pay complaints for the establishment of a workable and viable system as to benefit all the stakeholders as on win-win basis. These systems include Student Central ‘Ask Us’ / ‘Tell Us’ online facilities, Student Central Enquiries, Information Technology Services Helpdesk and Privacy Complaint Online Form. Learning and development highlights for the year 2008 supports the system and power view as adopted by the university for the promotion of the cause of the university. During the year 2008, the administration has successfully extended support for the transnational programs for the Faculty of Arts, the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention has been initiated, and two nationally funded project grants from the Association for Academic Learning and Language to promote work on benchmarking has been made operational. Conclusion: The University of Wollongong in Australia and through international campuses has primarily focused on learning and teachings through the learning development programs for economic betterment of all the participants in the educational process (Joseph ,2006)(13). The university has hired faculty members as of international origin and similarly, the students are belonging of the international community. References: 1. Hill, Ch., Jones, G(2008). Strategic Management. Houghton Mifflin Company: New York. ISBN: 978-0-618-89469-7, page 11 2. Haschak, Paul G. (1998). Corporate statements: the official missions, goals, principles and philosophies of over 900 companies. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0342-X. 3. Kirby, Julia(2005) "Towards a Theory of High Performance", Harvard Business Review. 4. Rohm, Howard (2000). Overview of the Balanced Scorecard, US Foundation for Performance Measurement. 5. Vaughn, B(2007). "The history of diversity training and its pioneers", Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management, pp. 11-16,Publications Division: San Francisco 6. Popper, K.R. (1975). "The rationality of scientific revolutions"; in Rom Harré (ed.), Problems of Scientific Revolution: Scientific Progress and Obstacles to Progress in the Sciences. Clarendon Press: Oxford. 7. Thomas, P (2006). Performance Measurement, Reporting, Obstacles and Accountability: Recent Trends and Future Directions, ANU E-Press, the Australian National University, Canberra, ACT. 8. University of Wollongong NSW, Annual Report(2008) 9. Lenski, G.( 1974). Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology. 10. Effland, R. (1998_. The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations Mesa Community College. 11. Robert Reich(2007), Supercapitalism: the Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf) 12. "UOW Awards and Achievements.". http://www.uow.edu.au/about/facts/UOW009575.html. Retrieved 2007-11-06.  13. Stiglitz, Joseph E(2006). Global public goods and global finance: does global governance ensure that the global public interest is served? In: Advancing Public Goods, Jean-Philippe Touffut, (ed.), Paris 2006, pp. 149/164 Read More