University of Technology, Sydney

1. Quality objectives

The University’s key quality objectives are to:

• sustain the University’s traditional and recognised strengths;
• develop and link the University’s capability for continuous quality improvement and innovation in its core academic activities and the range of quality assurance and support functions which underpin them.

2. Teaching and learning

2.1 Student outcomes

• To monitor and continuously improve all aspects of the quality of the student experience, with a particular emphasis on the development of a more flexible learning environment and increased opportunities for work-based and international learning (Working for Our Future UTS 1998 - 2000, pp14-24);
• To maintain and further build the University’s strong reputation for providing higher education aimed at enhancing professional practice.

• The University will continue to conduct both its triennial 'student satisfaction survey' covering all aspects of the student experience and its semester-based 'student feedback on teaching' schemes.
• Enhancements to the annual course monitoring and improvement process are under development. These include tracking the quality of each course’s implementation and its impact on students, with particular reference to faculty-specific versions of the UTS graduate profile (Section 2.2).

The University also periodically engages in joint projects in this area with other universities. A recent example is its participation in 1998 with Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of South Australia in a survey of the career experiences of young Australian professional graduates. Areas where we are proceeding well are: 20.5 per cent of UTS respondents were born in a non English-speaking country compared with 10.9 per cent from the other four universities; the mean salary of UTS respondents was $32 095 compared with $29 810 for those from the other four universities; and womens' salaries for the UTS graduates as a percent of males’ were 90.8 per cent compared with 81.2 per cent for respondents from the other four universities. An area in which there will need to be a focus for development is the job/course relationship (UTS: 53.8 per cent, all other respondents: 61.5 per cent).

UTS tracking measures and implementation outcomes

The following benchmarked tracking measures are being used to monitor overall University performance in the area of teaching and learning:

Code: A = not working full-time in final year of study; B = full sample

The UTS triennial survey of student satisfaction, which uses a representative sample of 3000 currently enrolled students, demonstrates sustained high performance or statistically significant improvements in performance in the following aspects of the student experience, which the students also rate as being of high importance:

• course design and delivery;
• learning outcomes;
• student support and facilities.

Areas identified by students as high in importance and needing improvement (eg. user support with computing facilities) are addressed as a matter of priority using cross-functional action teams.

The University intends to correlate results of the CEQ with those on the course and learning outcome sections of the UTS student satisfaction survey (SSS). This will initially entail a comparison between results of the 1996 CEQ and those of the 1994 SSS to achieve some comparability between the target cohorts of the two surveys.

 The University currently relies on a number of indicators to measure employer satisfaction:

• graduate employment outcomes;
• employer willingness to participate in cooperative education and work-based learning programs;
• employer evaluations of the students who participate in the campus interviews program and the extent of repeat business generated by the program;
• employer participation on professional advisory boards used as part of the UTS quality assurance process for course development and review.

2.2 UTS graduate profile

The University has adopted the following graduate profile:

• UTS graduates are more likely to have engaged with the professions than students at other universities. They have an enhanced awareness and understanding of professional practice, and through a focus on internationalisation, they have an understanding of the role of the profession in both the local and global societies. Professional practice requires the ability to continually combine theory and practice. This means relating all theory to practice and theorising while practicing, so that theory and practice become one. Like other graduates they understand the concepts of professional responsibility and ethics, they possess a range of general capabilities which enhance professional competence (eg. technological literacy, teamwork skills, problem solving skills, oral and written communication skills) and they are sufficiently adaptable, flexible and innovative to cope with, and contribute to, continuous change.

• Professional practice requires a certain level of relevant knowledge. This knowledge is a characteristic of UTS graduates, and they construct it in relation to the workplace and the community. It includes understanding how best to use strategic networks and information location and retrieval skills as well as facts, theories and practices, and it implies an understanding of the nature of knowledge and the way it is created.

• An awareness of sustainability and its social benefit is a defining feature of UTS graduates. They understand the social impact of knowledge, and feel able and permitted to relate their social concerns to their learning and professional life.

• UTS courses expose students to more workplace learning experiences than most other courses. Graduates have developed a capacity and desire to learn from experiences in the workplace and from more formal training or educational opportunities. The UTS graduating lifelong learner and reflective practitioner has independent study skills, is able to plan their own learning, recognises learning opportunities in workplace settings, learns from others, is able to assess the effectiveness of their work, and regards learning as a key to professional and personal development.

3. Research

Objectives

Over the triennium the University aims to:

• Achieve recognition as a national leader in selected research areas;
• Develop a lively and innovative research culture at UTS;
• Establish a significant number of strategic links and collaborative programs for research with industry, business, community, cultural and other public sector organisations;
• Attract and effectively support high quality post-graduate students;
• Establish a national reputation for innovative and high quality doctoral programs;
• Establish a national reputation for multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. (Working for Our Future UTS 1998 - 2000, pp10 - 13)

Strategies

In addition to a wide range of quality assurance and improvement strategies being used at the faculty level, the following overall tracking measures are being used to monitor performance and identify areas for quality improvement:

UTS tracking measures and implementation outcomes

Consistent with the University's focus on the strategic development of research partnerships there has been a steady increase in successful cooperative research initiatives. For example, in the last two years:

• The Cooperative Research Centre in Satellite Systems was established with UTS as a core participant, making the University a partner in six cooperative research centres;
• The Family Health Research Unit, led by UTS Faculty of Nursing’s Professor Lesley Barclay, obtained one of the first of eight National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) centres for excellence in hospital-based research;
• The UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures has undertaken major research projects with Sydney Water and Sydney City Council.

4. Management

4.1 New sources of income

• Attract external research funding and support from agencies, industry partners and other institutions both nationally and internationally;
• Increase income from internationalisation activities;
• Pursue opportunities to secure income from key developments like flexible learning;
• Continue to implement the UTS fundraising strategy.

(Working for Our Future UTS 1998 - 2000: pp8-9)

Strategies

This target is being achieved through strategic developments in the University's core activities, specifically flexible learning, work-based learning, two-way internationalisation of learning and research partnerships.

UTS tracking measures and implementation outcomes

4.2 Organisational development

1. Facilitate staff understanding of and engagement with, the strategic direction of the University;

2. Enhance management and leadership capacity;

3. Develop an environment of ongoing individual, team and organisational learning;

4. Integrate continuous improvement into all areas of the University's activities;

5. Improve the University's capacity to manage change processes and adjust its structure, systems and staffing profile to meet emerging needs;

6. Reduce the University's use of energy, water and materials purchased and reduce waste streams.

Strategies

The University is pursuing a number of strategies in support of these objectives, including: developing resource and knowledge-sharing partnerships with other universities; enhancing staff development and mentoring programs in line with objectives and reviewing recruitment practices.

UTS implementation outcomes

We are working to further improve ease of access to the resources of the library through our initiatives in flexible learning.

UTS is in the process of implementing its Tracking Measures: Supporting Quality Improvement policy. This outlines a key set of tracking measures which will be reported to the University community and analysed on a regular basis. The focus is on identifying priorities for improvement and action as a result of the data analysis, at both a University and a local level. Each faculty and unit will undertake an analysis of its own outcomes and provide exception-based reports indicating quality improvement actions in light of the data available. Other outcomes relating to organisational development include:

• Performance enhancement processes are currently being introduced for all academic, technical and administrative staff. They are being used to introduce all UTS academics to its strategic developments and, with a trained mentor, to explore their role in implementing them;
• Leadership development and sustainability strategies have been endorsed and are currently being implemented;
• Significant organisational reform and restructuring is occurring in support areas to improve student and internal services and to realign resources and functions with University future directions.
• Trend data from the UTS student satisfaction survey indicates significant improvements (at the p<0.001 level) in:

• quick and convenient enrolment (from a mean rating of 2.52/5 in 1994 to 3.05 in 1997);

• ease of access to the resources of the Library (from a mean rating of 3.69/5 in 1994 to 3.94 in 1997);

• library study areas (from a mean rating of 3.42/5 in 1994 to 3.60 in 1997).

In addition to these outcomes, the University continues to implement its long-standing policy of developmental reviews for all faculties and academic support areas. These reviews are undertaken by independent committees comprising external members with special expertise in faculty disciplines and the professions they serve. Members are usually drawn from industry and business. Review committees produce public reports which outline the judged strengths and weaknesses of the areas under review, together with recommendations for strategic development and quality improvement. Faculties and institutes recently reviewed include: the Institute for International Studies, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Nursing and the Centre for Learning and Teaching. In all cases, review committees commended the quality of the outcomes being achieved and made valuable recommendations for change which have been or are currently being acted upon.

Supplementing this policy is the policy for the regular review of all centres and institutes, which operates very similarly to the developmental review policy but on an appropriately reduced scale.

5. Community service

Objectives

To build sustaining relationships with the professions, business, government and the wider community for mutual social and environmental benefit.

Strategies

UTS runs a triennial survey of community service activities. The last survey was held in late 1995 and the next will be held in late 1998. Results from the 1995 survey were as follows.

The survey, given to full-time academic staff, identified 14 separate areas of community service. Approximately 40 per cent of the sample (268) responded. Almost 80 per cent of respondents reported participation in professional bodies and over 60 per cent reported participation in expert committees and policy advisory and accreditation groups. Approximately 50 per cent of respondents reported their service to public events and forums, contributing to schools, contributing their professional expertise to voluntary groups, engaging in research of direct service to a particular community and offering continuing professional education. Twenty per cent rated their contribution as outstanding, 35 per cent as major and 40 per cent as satisfactory in terms of the UTS standards for promotion for academic staff.

UTS has established 20 centres and three institutes to help it fulfil its commitment to community service and cultural development. These range from the UTS Design Studio and the Australian Legal Information Institute to Radio 2SER, the Institute for Sustainable Futures, the Centre for Australian Community Organisations and Management, the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, the Centre for

Popular Education and the Centre for Ecotoxicology. The UTS Shopfront provides the interface between the University and its surrounding community.

UTS implementation outcomes

Examples of the outcomes being achieved are provided below.

The Shopfront provides under-funded community groups with access to University skills, knowledge and resources (35 new projects in 1997 compared with six in 1996). Over 30 UTS courses currently contain a community service project or subject. Every faculty engages in a wide range of unpaid community service work. Of particular note is the unpaid contribution currently being made by staff from across the University to preparations for the 2000 Olympic Games. This work ranges from staff placements, student projects, volunteer training, technical advice to instrumentalities like the Olympic Roads and Traffic Authority, technical operator training for the Sydney Olympics Broadcasting Organisation, the coordination of waste management and site reclamation projects to assistance with the Village Newspaper, the development of Internet exhibitions, enhancing operations at the main press centre, and advice on the Cultural Olympiad.

UTS (1998): Working for Our Future: UTS 1998 - 2000, Corporate Plan, Sydney, UTS.

Contact

Associate Professor Geoff Scott
UTS Quality Coordinator
Tel: (02) 9514 1316
Fax: (02) 9514 1351
Email: geoff.scott@uts.edu.au

Endnote

Back  -   Return to Contents  -  Next