Higher education leaders must have the “courage” to call out bad policy, particularly about the mushrooming regulatory load that threatens to “suffocate” the sector, according to Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy.
Sheehy will tell a Melbourne forum that escalating pressures on the academy – more regulation, more scrutiny, more contestability, more expectations and “in many cases fewer resources” – demand a more combative leadership style.
“The mission hasn’t changed but the environment has,” Sheehy will tell Future Campus’ HE People and Performance conference. “And when the environment changes, leadership must evolve with it.
“Disruption is no longer the exception. It’s the operating environment.”
According to speech notes, Sheehy will highlight research funding, the Job-ready Graduates scheme and the government’s treatment of international education as areas where university leaders should be “building the case for something better”.
