The Way Forward >>>
Higher Education Action Plan for the Information Economy

People

Context

Education in Australia is a multi-billion dollar export industry of vital importance to our economy. As well as being a consumer of information technology products and services, education is a major provider of services using information technology and communications.

Australian universities are using information technologies to improve administration, research, and teaching and learning.1 Individual universities, lecturers, academics and trainers each respond to their responsibility to develop the broad flexible learning capabilities required in the information economy in their own way. There is evidence, however, that information technology applications have not penetrated university teaching at more than a superficial level, and that the level of expertise and practice is not yet sufficient to ensure that their wider use is considered viable by academics for developing and delivering courses. Consequently, Australia risks falling behind its overseas peers and competitors, threatening our access to advanced computing initiatives and early implementation of new hardware, software and applications. This in turn could lead to a reduction in staff skills compared with our overseas competitors.

A further concern is that the preparation by Australian universities of its graduates for work within the information economy is often so effective that many are recruited overseas. This leads to a drain on the national skill base and within universities in particular.

Restrictions on linkages between universities and other institutions are also preventing certain natural linkages from being fully developed. For example, while universities are heavily involved in the education, research training and teaching of hospital and medical staff, they are unable to easily develop infrastructure linkages which would improve on-going teaching and research.

Strategic Priorities

Encouragement of universities to ensure that their graduates enter the workforce with the competencies needed, including information literacy skills and lifelong learning skills

The development of specialised courses and online materials that integrate information technology with mainstream disciplines will strengthen Australia's position as a leader in education, both online and overall. To avoid falling behind other advanced economies, Australia must ensure that:

• graduates enter the workforce with the information technology literacy and lifelong learning skills needed in the information economy; and
• advanced IT skills and applications are applied in disciplines such as biotechnology, marine science and chemistry so that Australia can make new advances in areas of strategic importance to the economy.

Collaboration between universities should be encouraged, particularly where resources are limited and no one university can meet what is required; for example, the AVCC believes that the resources needed for advanced computing (sometimes referred to as high performance or supercomputing) are so specialised that some of them will have to be centralised through the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC).

Provision of adequate numbers of graduates who can design and develop the systems and technologies needed to position Australia within the global information economy

Australia is renowned for producing graduates with high-quality software development and programming skills. Australian industry exports many products developed with their skills. The demand for such skills needs to be carefully monitored, and universities provided with the means to develop new courses quickly in response to the changing needs of industry.

Information technology is also being applied to existing industries to improve productivity and reduce costs. Demand for skilled IT personnel will continue to grow, and there is some concern that it may not be able to be met. Research and development personnel within universities, research institutions and industry are also having to develop both strong IT skills and expertise in particular areas of science and industry. The development of new multi-disciplinary degrees linking advanced IT skills to particular disciplines is one option being explored by some universities. The potential to develop more information technology graduates is also a priority for Australian universities.

Cooperation with industry to develop modularised, flexible teaching and learning resources to support lifelong learning, possibly in an industry or online rather than campus based setting

Industry is increasingly accepting that the public education and training sector cannot carry the total responsibility for solving the shortage of IT skills. Not only are the lead times between identifying a need and the ability of the sector to develop courses and put students through them often too long, but some skills are so narrow that they need to be developed on-site. Longer-term issues regarding the skills required by individual graduates and the likely workforce requirements for such skills, on the other hand, can only be met by careful collaboration between educators, trainers and industry personnel. Universities will seek to cooperate with industry and professional bodies to:

• review the skill and knowledge requirements in each profession;
• review current courses leading to professional accreditation to ensure they have sufficient content in relation to computing, information technology and information systems;
• develop modularised, flexible teaching and learning resources to support lifelong learning;
• review and amend current enrolment policies and limits to ensure adequate numbers of graduates can be attracted and trained to design and develop the systems and technologies needed to position Australia within the global information economy.

Professional development programs to meet skill shortages and ensure staff continue to have their skills upgraded to take advantage of new opportunities presented by new technology

For universities to be able to supply the skills necessary to drive the information economy, they must:

• have staff with the vision and skills to make use of new technology, new applications and new approaches to learning; and
• provide professional development for lecturers, administrative staff, technical assistants, researchers and other staff to allow them to be change agents in achieving the goals of the information economy.

Much of this may well be possible through online education. In some cases university staff will require training from colleagues in other disciplines as the significance of new applications discovered in one discipline for others becomes clear.

Ensure that women are fully involved in the use and development of information technology in higher education

As in some other technical disciplines, there is a danger that women will remain under-represented in the use and development of IT&C in universities, both as students and as staff. Adequate steps must be taken to ensure that women can take full advantage of the promise of information technology for higher education teaching and research.

Responsibility

While universities have the primary responsibility for professional development of their staff within their resource constraints, the preparation of graduates for the workforce through well-designed course or subject materials is the shared responsibility of universities, industry and government.