Conference Calendar
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8:30
Registration and welcome coffee
9:00
Opening remarks from Chair
9:15
Modernising the workforce
Professor Stephen Parker,Vice Chancellor, University of Canberra
- The nature and drivers for the higher education workforce of today
- Is it prepared for a competitive and challenging environment where institutional goals and funding are so strongly linked to performance and output?
- Roadblocks presented by workforce culture
- Strategic human resource management – implications for a sustainable and high quality workforce and for sectoral and institutional goals
- Positioning your institution as an employer of choice
Professor Stephen Parker,Vice Chancellor, University of Canberra
9:55
Demographic change and the Australian academic workforce: challenges and opportunities
Professor Graeme Hugo, Director - GISCA & Professor of Geography, The University of Adelaide
- Outlook for Australia's academic workforce over the next two decades
- Challenges as the labour market for the best and brightest becomes increasingly competitive
- Opportunities
- Realigning the activities of Universities to better meet the needs of the 2010s and 2020s
- The potential to attract a new generation of the best quality teachers and researchers at the highest levels
- Building capacity at both systemic and institution levels to develop and operationalise innovative policies for high quality recruitment and retention
Professor Graeme Hugo, Director - GISCA & Professor of Geography, The University of Adelaide
10:35
Morning tea
10:55
The future of the workforce: IR changes that are shaping the workplace
Dr Paul J. Gollan, Associate Professor and Research Coordinator, Department of Business, Macquarie University and Adjunct Professor, Macquarie Graduate School of Management Visiting Associate Professor, London School of Economics
- Changes and challenges since the introduction of the Forward with Fairness agenda
- Major issues and areas of change under the new Fair Work Act 2009
- Examining industrial relations reform through a ‘business lens’ – an employer perspective
- Potential impact of the Act within an economic, political and industrial relations context
- Focus on collective bargaining
- Will the Act encourage enterprise bargaining and provide a platform for achieving greater productivity and fairness?
Dr Paul J. Gollan, Associate Professor and Research Coordinator, Department of Business, Macquarie University and Adjunct Professor, Macquarie Graduate School of Management Visiting Associate Professor, London School of Economics
11:35
Underlying tensions in the management of academic work
Ian Argall, Executive Director, AHEIA
- Compacts, strategic plans and the direction of universities
- Academic autonomy vs academic management
- Academic performance management
- Workload issues – doing too much of the wrong thing?
Ian Argall, Executive Director, AHEIA
12:05
Developing workforce capacity and maintaining quality in a new tertiary education environment - Union perspective
Jeannie Rea, National President, NTEU
- How planning and development can be strengthened and conditions for work enabled to prepare the higher education workforce for a demanding and agile future
- Issues and gaps in contracts
- Wage structures, workloads and mission based compacts
Jeannie Rea, National President, NTEU
1:05
Lunch
2:05
High performance workplaces don’t just happen
Colette Wasson, Director - Human Resources Management, James Cook University
- Defining institutional priorities to align with performance expectations
- Developing key performance indicators that reflect strategic directions– academic and non-academic
- Key values and frameworks for rewards and appraisals: Challenges for fair transparent and effective measurement and management
- Tackling low performance and performance improvement plans
Colette Wasson, Director - Human Resources Management, James Cook University
2:35
Changing academia - Managing change in universities
Robert Farrelly, Director Human Resources, University of Western Australia
- Planning for change
- Getting buy in from staff
- Supporting the leadership
- Deciding who goes and communicating it
- Implementing the change
- Embedding the change
Robert Farrelly, Director Human Resources, University of Western Australia
3:05
Inception – Creating the future
Dr Muyesser Durur, Executive Director People and Culture, La Trobe University
- Reviewing professional standards, changing roles and expectations - Focussing on the changing role of HR in the University Sector
Dr Muyesser Durur, Executive Director People and Culture, La Trobe University
3:35
Afternoon tea
3:55
Professional development in the VET workforce
Ron Mazzachi, Principal Research Consultant, National Centre for Vocational Education Research
- Understanding the issues and factors influencing the modern VET workforce and it's role in a dynamic tertiary landscape
- Underpinnings of a comprehensive professional development strategy
- What should a comprehensive strategy in the VET context look like - initiatives and the way forward
- Focus on auditing, assessment and service delivery
- How can the regulatory framework drive quality outcomes
Ron Mazzachi, Principal Research Consultant, National Centre for Vocational Education Research
4:25
Developing a learning organisation
Melanie Sorenson, General Manager Organisational Learning and Development, Challenger Institute of Technology
- Organisational culture in a learning institution
- Exploring the strategies for workforce development
- Continued commitment to create an organisation that is innovative, flexible, productive and responsive
Melanie Sorenson, General Manager Organisational Learning and Development, Challenger Institute of Technology
4:55
Industrial relations in the VET sector – Union perspective
5:25
End of day one
8:30
Welcome coffee and networking
9:00
Opening remarks from Chair
9:10
INTERNATIONAL ADDRESS: The Higher Education Workforce Framework 2010 - Challenges ahead
Jocelyn Prudence, Chief Executive, Universities and Colleges Employers Association, UK
Jocelyn Prudence, Chief Executive, Universities and Colleges Employers Association, UK
9:50
Workforce planning
Colin Streeter, Director Human Resources, University of Sydney
- How can the workforce plan be made flexible and relevant to institutional and sectoral realities and goals?
- Remaining responsive to external factors that impact on workforce capacity and development in a tight labour market
- What are the challenges that internal factors present for current and future planning?
- Strategies to develop and implement workforce planning tools that enable an effective staffing profile - benchmarking skills, capability, experience and attitudes
- Strategies for retention and recruitment that support the workforce plan and renew, extend and refresh the university workforce
- Identifying and supporting high performers and potential leaders
Colin Streeter, Director Human Resources, University of Sydney
10:20
Morning tea
10:40
Quality of teaching:The research/teaching nexus
Professor Ross Guest, Professor of Economics, Griffith University
- Is there a link between research and the quality of teaching?
- Is the PhD prerequisite preventing professional talent from making the transition to academic careers?
- Conversely will removing the PhD prerequisite reduce research capacity?
- The research bias: the research performance systems are more proactively measured and rewarded than just teaching performance – does this undermine the teaching role?
Professor Ross Guest, Professor of Economics, Griffith University
11:10
Skilling the professions:Teaching implications of the ageing academic workforce for the development of the next generation of Australia’s professionals
Anama Morris, Director, Anama Morris Consulting & Associates
- Profiles of professions
- Preparation for professional practice – supervision
- Academic freedom and a demand led curriculum
- Succession planning
Anama Morris, Director, Anama Morris Consulting & Associates
11:40
Designing effective pay and career structures for academic and professional staff
- Rethinking current pay and career structures
- Is change required?
- Creating a flexible model to support attraction, retention, reward and engagement strategies
- Staff expectations of reward, benefits and careers
- Attraction and retention of high performing staff
- Provide the basis to better identify, recognise and reward performance
12:10
Challenges for workforce renewal
Vicki Thomson, Executive Director, ATN
- Gaps between supply and demand - What are the factors that hamper supply?
- How can our supply capacity be extended and better leveraged?
- Rejuvenating and streamlining career structures and pathways to modernise the sector profile and make it an attractive career option
- Leadership for workforce renewal
- Strategies to extend, modernise and innovate existing capacity
Vicki Thomson, Executive Director, ATN
12:50
Lunch
1:50
International recruitment strategies
Professor Roy Green, Dean, Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney
- Is this the best time ever for international recruitment?
- Leveraging our advantages
- Gaps in skilled migration policy
Professor Roy Green, Dean, Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney
2:20
The glass ceiling
Dr Julie Jackson, Pro Vice Chancellor (Quality Enhancement), La Trobe University
- Women are underrepresented at senior levels in the higher education sector. What is the extent of the problem?
- What are some possible causes and how might these be overcome?
- What changes need to take place at sectoral and institutional level for pathways to become clear, diverse and agile?
Dr Julie Jackson, Pro Vice Chancellor (Quality Enhancement), La Trobe University
2:50
Afternoon tea
3:10
Professional staff carve out a new space
Dr Judy Szekeres, College Director and Principal, South Australian Institute of Business and Technology, University of South Australia
- Five years ago – when professional staff were defined by what they were NOT
- How things have changed – carving a critical space in senior management levels
- Is there more than token change at junior and middle management levels?
- A review of the changing statistics around employment of professional staff, their position in the burgeoning private provider sector, and the changes for professional staff at all levels
Dr Judy Szekeres, College Director and Principal, South Australian Institute of Business and Technology, University of South Australia
3:40
PANEL DISCUSSION: The future of the professional university workforce
Session Chair:
Maree Conway, Executive Director, ATEM
Session Chair:
Maree Conway, Executive Director, ATEM
4:30
End of conference
