Helen Cooke The Open University Business School AUA Travel Award – Australia, April 2010

Overview  AUA and AHUA each makes £5,000 available per year to support a number of Travel Awards  Awards are available to cover travel and subsistence costs for AUA members to undertake intensive study visits overseas with the aim of enhancing career and professional development and to promote best practice in higher education management

Objectives  Administrative, managerial and policy issues  Study visits, typically of 2-4 weeks in duration  Attend international conferences  Enhance your own career prospects and ability to introduce changes or practices which will have direct benefits at their home institution and more generally within the HE sector

Eligibility  All full members of AUA and UK-based associate members are eligible to apply for a travel award  Priority will be given to applicants who hold a junior position or are new to the HE sector  Applicants must be able to demonstrate they have support from their institution to undertake the study visit

How to apply  The proposal – maximum 4 pages A4 Objectives and expected outcomes Institutions to be visited and contacts Methodology Endorsement by participating institutions Support available from the home institution Dissemination of findings  Abbreviated CV  Deadline end June/July

What next?  3,000-5,000 word report within 3 months of the visit  Article for perspectives (and/or another relevant journal)  Article for newslink  Present at AUA conference  Report made available on AUA website

Helen Cooke The Open University Business School, UK AUA Travel Award – Australia, April 2010

Finding my way...  6 years working in higher education  Management trainee scheme in the Business School  Member of the Association of University Administrators since November 2007  the OU branch coordinator team  One of the few that “chose” a career in higher education!

The study... The recruitment and development of trainee managers in Higher Education administration: A comparative study between the UK and Australia

What is the issue?  Need for high quality professional staff to support teaching and research  Essential for institutions to attract, retain and motivate talented staff  Ability of staff to adapt and change in response to new expectations placed on them by changing national and global higher education systems  Developing and retaining knowledge within institutions  Learning from the ‘outside world’

Who does it affect? Sector Institution Individual

What are the solutions?  AUSTRALIA: “...specific and focussed programs to prepare younger staff to move more rapidly through the ranks in institutions, to be positioned and to have some of the experience needed to replace those who will be leaving” (ATEM, 2008)  UK: “Due to the limited numbers of staff in HE aged under 30, some consideration is being given in the sector to formal apprenticeships and more informal trainee schemes, which encourage younger people to enter the HE workforce in specific roles that do not require formal qualifications” (hefce, 2010)

Lessons from the UK…  Management trainee schemes Nottingham Manchester Metropolitan Imperial College Leeds University Business School

A view from Down Under…  2 week study visit  2 cities Sydney Melbourne  9 institutions  50 professional staff  Association of Tertiary Education Management

Sydney

Melbourne

Main findings  No equivalent Management Trainee schemes in Australian institutions  Some structured training programmes for specific groups  Support from ATEM for such schemes  Lack of recognition for professional staff in sector  Institutions keen but unclear how schemes would be resourced and financed  Succession planning  “Buying in” staff or “growing your own”

Conclusions  Promoting higher education as a career of choice?  The ‘professionalisation’ of managerial and administrative staff in higher education  Flexibility and adaptation of universities in challenging times  Attracting and retaining high quality staff  More flexible or creative solutions?

Personal reflections  Confirmation that higher education is a good sector to work in - and that I made the right career choice  The benefits of establishing a network of contacts - and how they can occur in the strangest places!  Learning new technologies for managing my study  Difficult to know where to stop!  Valuable experience of international higher education

My Top Tips!  Be open to making new contacts in a variety of environments  Don’t underestimate the time needed to set up meetings and undertake desk research  Consider how to make your proposal stand out  Take responsibility for following up opportunities – don’t wait to be asked  Accept that you’ll learn more than you imagined possible and consider how else you might use the findings of your study  Don’t be too ambitious and try to cover too much

Helen Cooke Assistant Research & Enterprise Manager The Open University Business School Milton Keynes MK7 6AA United Kingdom T: +44(1908) W: