Essay on Strategic Plan

Submitted By ZhengYi829
Words: 4223
Pages: 17

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Strategic Plan

Achieving International Excellence

URL: http://www.registrar.uwa.edu.au/page/65557

Updated: December 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1. THE PLANNING CONTEXT 1

2. MISSION STATEMENT 3

3. VISION STATEMENT 3

4. VALUES 3

5. EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES 4

6. THE UNIVERSITY'S ROLE AND CHARACTERISTICS 5

6.1 Quality 5 6.2 A Comprehensive University 5 6.3 A Research and Postgraduate Emphasis 5 6.4 A Broad Undergraduate Base 5 6.5 A Teaching-Research Nexus 6 6.6 An International Focus 6 6.7 Community Service 6 6.8 Size 6 6.9 Balance 7 6.10 Funding 7

7. DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS 8

8. UNIVERSITY GOALS 9

8.1 Education 9 8.2 Research and Research Training 9 8.3 External Relations and Community Engagement 9 8.4 People and Resources 9 8.4.1 Resources 9 8.4.2 Staffing 9 8.4.3 Management 9

9. OPERATIONAL PRIORITIES 10

9.1 Education 10 9.2 Research and Research Training 10 9.3 External Relations and Community Engagement 10 9.4 People and Resources 10

10. RELATED PLANNING MATERIALS 11

APPENDIX 1 – CYCLE OF PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY 12

1. THE PLANNING CONTEXT

In the two decades since the Dawkin's reforms of 1987, there has been a sustained period of change in Australia, reflecting equally pervasive changes world-wide, which has seen the higher education environment change dramatically, emerging with the following broad characteristics:

• Education has been increasingly seen by government as a tool of economic and social development and restructuring, illustrated by the national training and skills formation agenda, and by the increasing interest of government in social equity in higher education.

• Education has been characterised as an 'industry' operating under conditions applying to other industries, public and private, in areas of industrial relations, competition and trade practices, reporting and accountability.

• Higher education has become increasingly internationalised, particularly from the point of view of international student recruitment, delivery across national boundaries, and international collaborations and networks. The globalising effect of rapid advancement in information and communications technology has been a key factor in these developments.

• There has been rapid growth in higher education participation to a 'mass' education system accompanied by policies to diversify the student population and recognise the shifting demographics in Australia.

• The end of the binary divide and creation of a Unified National System of higher education has seen a significant convergence in the role and funding of higher education institutions.

• Funding and accountability mechanisms and processes, and the bureaucratic framework for higher education have been completely overhauled, leaving the system with a complex mix of regulation and competition.

• A focus on quality assurance and performance monitoring has developed within the revised funding and accountability framework. This has been accompanied by a sustained increase in the reporting and accountability obligations of universities to state and federal governments.

• The financial restrictions on the sector have tightened as public funding has come under greater scrutiny and pressure and government has sought to diversify higher education funding by introducing and increasing 'user-pays' funding and reducing public funding of universities in real terms.

• Structural change within the system has seen widespread amalgamation of institutions and substantially increased formal collaboration between institutions and between industry and higher education, increasingly crossing national boundaries.

• At the same time the system has become more competitive - for