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Creating world-class universities
By Frederick Hilmer |
November 1, 2010, Monday
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THE challenge of building and sustaining world-class universities is one shared by many countries, including China and my own country, Australia. A world-class university requires three components: a top-class faculty, first-rate students and adequate facilities and resources. Of these, the most critical is to develop a top-class faculty. Faculty members then attract the necessary top students and funds.
However, building a top-class faculty is difficult because the demand for such faculty is greater than the supply because of the aging of the academic workforce. For example, in Australia over the past 20 years the proportion of faculty aged older than 50 has increased from 25 percent to almost 50 percent.
Younger people are not choosing academic careers, even though the number of graduates and doctoral students is increasing.Less then a third of the doctoral students choose academic careers.
What then can be done?
I believe that six steps can be taken to increase the attractiveness of an academic career. These are:
1. Provide necessary infrastructure - laboratories, libraries, working spaces and funds so that people can get on with their work effectively. This is necessary though on its own it is not sufficient to deal with the problem.
2. Offer competitive pay and conditions. Today, academic salaries are not competitive with what a top graduate can earn in industry, even considering the intangible benefits of academic life.
3. Develop a culture of open inquiry within the university so that professors can follow lines of inquiry without fear of censorship or disapproval. Academic autonomy is vital if top staff are to be attracted and retained.
4. Form effective international relationships, so that people in universities can work with and collaborate with the best worldwide. Funds could be made available for travel and research more readily than is the case today. To this end I would like to see an Australia-China fund supported by both governments for encouraging joint research.
5. Apply high standards to hiring, promotion and rewards. It is well known that poor talent drives out strong talent. Unless universities are firm on their standards, they will lose good people.
6. Finally, develop a supportive external environment, one that values academic work and provides the resources and recognition accordingly. Government, the media and society generally all have important roles in this regard.
In comparing China and Australia on these six attributes, I believe China has a superior external environment, valuing learning and study highly. However, Australian universities have a stronger internal environment, with long traditions of academic freedom. On the other four requirements, we both have work to do. The good news is that we can and are learning from each other.
Professor Frederick Hilmer is president of University of New South Wales of Sydney, Australia. He made these remarks at a forum about how to build up world-class universities held in Fudan University in October. Presidents of nine Chinese top Universities (C9) and eight Australian schools from Go8, shared their opinions and signed cooperative contracts at the forum.
However, building a top-class faculty is difficult because the demand for such faculty is greater than the supply because of the aging of the academic workforce. For example, in Australia over the past 20 years the proportion of faculty aged older than 50 has increased from 25 percent to almost 50 percent.
Younger people are not choosing academic careers, even though the number of graduates and doctoral students is increasing.Less then a third of the doctoral students choose academic careers.
What then can be done?
I believe that six steps can be taken to increase the attractiveness of an academic career. These are:
1. Provide necessary infrastructure - laboratories, libraries, working spaces and funds so that people can get on with their work effectively. This is necessary though on its own it is not sufficient to deal with the problem.
2. Offer competitive pay and conditions. Today, academic salaries are not competitive with what a top graduate can earn in industry, even considering the intangible benefits of academic life.
3. Develop a culture of open inquiry within the university so that professors can follow lines of inquiry without fear of censorship or disapproval. Academic autonomy is vital if top staff are to be attracted and retained.
4. Form effective international relationships, so that people in universities can work with and collaborate with the best worldwide. Funds could be made available for travel and research more readily than is the case today. To this end I would like to see an Australia-China fund supported by both governments for encouraging joint research.
5. Apply high standards to hiring, promotion and rewards. It is well known that poor talent drives out strong talent. Unless universities are firm on their standards, they will lose good people.
6. Finally, develop a supportive external environment, one that values academic work and provides the resources and recognition accordingly. Government, the media and society generally all have important roles in this regard.
In comparing China and Australia on these six attributes, I believe China has a superior external environment, valuing learning and study highly. However, Australian universities have a stronger internal environment, with long traditions of academic freedom. On the other four requirements, we both have work to do. The good news is that we can and are learning from each other.
Professor Frederick Hilmer is president of University of New South Wales of Sydney, Australia. He made these remarks at a forum about how to build up world-class universities held in Fudan University in October. Presidents of nine Chinese top Universities (C9) and eight Australian schools from Go8, shared their opinions and signed cooperative contracts at the forum.
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