The word' transformation' has been all the go in Australia's public universities. At UTS it is 'curriculum transformation' , at UOW 'transformation' is the title of their change program.
But are these really transformations? Its meaning is more than just 'change'. The OED gives the main definition as 'The action of changing in form, shape, or appearance; metamorphosis.'
Of course, 'transformation' has been a management buzz word for about two decades and is much loved by management consultants. When they are borrowing your watch to tell you the time, these charlatans need you to think that what you are buying is really worthwhile. What better way than to call a cost-cutting program a transformation?
Just how deeply entrenched these firms are in our universities was detailed by Professor Corinne Cortese in a submission (No. 75) to the first Senate Committee inquiry into University governance. Australia's public universities are spending somewhere between a quarter and three quarters of a billion dollars with consulting firms.
To the extent that anything is being transformed, it is the relentless growth of the administrators at Universities and the decline in the significance of Faculties. As a simple example, the University of Wollongong has contracted the number of faculties from four to three and placed a layer of a Provost between the Executive Deans and the Vice-Chancellor. The organisation chart describing the change placed the VC at the top with four direct reports and almost as an afterthought the three Faculties appeared at the bottom left below the Provost.
The transformation includes a 'new' Growth Portfolio to ' to combine domestic and international student recruitment, marketing, brand, and communications, with the goal of driving revenue growth.'
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Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans JWL
