VC's Update - Shaping our future

Hi everyone,

I wanted to provide some updates to the community following the August ANU Council meeting where I had the opportunity to brief Council on our first two quarters of activity for 2024. I have been meeting with lots of internal groups and regularly updating the Council and sub-Council committees, Exec, Deans, divisional and school directors on activities across campus. I know there has been change to the ways we are doing and thinking about things across campus, and I thank and acknowledge our leaders for engaging here and being constructive parts of these conversations. 

For both academic and professional staff, it will be clear that we have been reviewing, reassessing, and considering how our University needs to operate. And critically, how we best improve our teaching, research, and administrative functions within our financial means and also in line with being a modern 21st century university. This period has also been an opportunity to mature our approaches and operating environment, especially focusing on data and information hygiene, governance and documentation and re-setting an organisational culture underpinned by clear expectations, accountabilities and responsibilities. 

As I shared with Council, and our community, ANU is facing into external headwinds which are impacting the entire sector. And unlike many of our counterparts, we are still balancing a large cumulative operating deficit, and are considering how we pay down our debt when our growth modelling has not been realised and we spend more money each week than we bring in. This is a major challenge, but it is also an opportunity to work differently and continue to deliver on our national remit – to help build a better world around us – but this is going to mean further evolution. It will also mean we need to consider what we do, how we do it and in some cases, what we stop doing. These are difficult and important conversations, and this remains the current focus for the Strategic Leadership Group (SLG). 

There are many projects which we have kicked off, are ongoing or concluded over the last six -months to ensure we can continue to meet our national and unique obligations. Some are seemingly small and run in the background (such as scrubbing functional account access), whereas others will shape and re-shape how we engage with our community and beyond. Just last week, our Provost and COO announced the second stage of professional area realignments, focusing on research support and research facilities; learning and teaching; external engagement and communications; and institutional management and governance. Ultimately, all of these reviews are designed to support our University and community, and better prepare us for our changing world. 

I will not be able to cover six months of activity in a single communication. I will, however, provide a presentation to the University Leadership Group (ULG) which meets regularly, and I expect our leadership to share this report with local teams. Your Dean, Director or Executive lead are all members of ULG and have access to this information. 

I have summarised some of the key highlights below and want to thank our staff for staying focused on why we are all here and our role as Australia’s first and only national university. To date, my leadership and I have, and will continue to be, focused on four key areas: culture, finance, operations, and engagement. A small sample is below:

Culture

• Actively reshaping the Leadership team to include more voices and perspectives, especially professional staff, in key decisions and strategic direction of the University through a revised SLG (formerly Senior Management Group or SMG);
• Implementing PDRs for the Leadership team, and cascading this expectation across the University, to ensure role clarity, expectations, accountability and career development; 
• Implementing clear onboarding (and offboarding) procedures to ensure staff are inducted and scaffolded to undertake their roles; and
• Removal of alcohol from University events to ensure our campus is a place of inclusion and respect, along with acknowledging it is a workplace in the 21st century. 

Finance

• Increased financial understanding across the ULG, including greater transparency of data both centrally and in Colleges;
• Implemented standard workplace controls to manage our financial position, including a centralised hiring committee and review of Q-accounts and R-ledgers; and
• Reviewed and wound down the Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic Fund, rationalising liabilities to local areas. 

Operations and systems

• Reviewed University policies to streamline and provide greater clarity on governance and procedures across campus, including implementing sunset clauses and regular reviews to ensure our policies align with best practice and are fit for purpose;
• Reviewed the cadence of the academic calendar, including deferred assessment periods and conferral of award ceremonies to relieve pressure on teaching staff and students; and
• Realignment of similar functions and reporting lines, including People & Culture, Finance, ITS, Division of Shared Services, Scholarly Information Services, Drill Hall Gallery, Information Security Office and academic units including Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership.

 Engagement

• Reinvigorated the University’s National Institute’s Grant Report to better tell our story and relationship with the Federal Government;
• Commenced a naming project to physically reshape campus with buildings named for women (to be announced in coming weeks!); and
• Commenced a review into academic promotions to acknowledge expertise in non-traditional academics.

I appreciate that reflecting on change creates uncertainty, and I encourage you to speak with your line manager or Portfolio/College lead if you have questions. 

I will provide another update in the coming weeks. 

Genevieve

Vice-Chancellor and President