Emerging policy management models in Australian and New Zealand universities

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) Annual Meeting April 14-17, 2013

Moscone Center West, San Francisco, CA, US

 Brigid Freeman

Centre for the Study of Higher EducationUniversity of Melbourne

brigid.freeman@unimelb.edu.au

• Australian and New Zealand university sector regulatory requirements

• University meta-policy (policy on policy) (Dror, 1971)• Strategic policy management• Policy cycle (models)• Policy evaluation and review• Policy overload• Online policy repositories• Networks and consultation• Building policy capacity

Why important, now?

The agenda has fundamentally shifted from policy development …to strategic policy management.

Australia:40 universities (including 3 private universities) 2 international universities, other self-accrediting tertiary education providers and state/territory accredited providers (TAFEs and private providers).

New Zealand: 8 universities, 18 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) and 3 Māori wānanga.

New regulatory requirements for evidencing policy implementation, policy improvement over time and

policy compliance are game changers for university policy management.

In Australia, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) requires ‘evidence of (policy) implementation;

evidence of (a) review schedule; evidence of approval processes …; evidence of

development and improvement over time’ and ‘evidence of active benchmarking (and)

formalised benchmarking relationships’

(Fitzgibbon & Treloar, 2013, n.p.).

The New Zealand Qualifications

Authority (NZQA) Tertiary Evaluation Indicators explicitly require that tertiary

education organisations ensure that ‘policies and practices are legal and

ethical’

(NZQA, 2010, pp. 24-25).

Familiar territory

New challenges

Comprehensive university meta-policy -

policy on policy - defines university policy, establishes the range of instruments, specifies approval

authorities, articulates policy cycle stages and defines the application of

policy instruments.

University meta-policy may also identify key policy categories as organising

constructs for governance, academic and administrative policy published in

policy repositories.

Policy is ‘a formal statement which gives effect to relevant University principles, values, procedures, requirements and

strategic goals and improves the University’s risk management’

(Swinburne University of Technology Policy Framework, 2009, p. 2).

Policy is ‘a concise formal statement that

outlines non-discretionary governing principles and intentions, in order to guide University

practice. … a formal statement of intent that mandate principles or standards that apply to

the University’s governance or operations or to the practice and conduct of its staff and

students’

(Charles Darwin University, 2012, Governance web-page, n.p.).

The place of local policy is vexed.

‘Faculty and other (Central Services Unit) documents are meant to add specificity to university-wide policy

documents or address issues that only concern the faculty or CSU. They must not contradict or conflict with university-

wide policy documents’

(Victoria University of Wellington Policy Documentation Development Information, 2007, p. 2).

The fundamental question for local

policy relates to the alignment between university policy and local policy, rather

than the existence of, or semantics regarding the nomenclature of, the

latter.

Strategic policy management = implementation of comprehensive

university meta-policy.

University meta-policy contains numerous provisions regarding policy development

and publication in online policy repositories, and supporting procedures

and templates contain prescriptions regarding presentation in terms of

consistent formatting and plain English requirements. However, policy

management involves considerably more than policy development, publication and

effective record keeping.

Policy management functions:• providing strategic oversight of the

implementation of (the meta-policy) • co-ordinating the development, approval,

promulgation and review of policy …• developing and delivering policy

development, evaluation and review resources and support

Policy management functions cont …:• maintaining the … Policy Library• facilitating consultation and

communication to support policy development, review and implementation

• developing policy implementation monitoring and evaluation tools

• managing and facilitating the Policy Review Schedule

(University of Melbourne Policy on Policy, 2012).

Policy process is represented by the university policy development and

review cycle (the policy cycle).

Basic policy cycle

A mature policy cycle: ‘identification and

confirmation of policy requirement, preliminary consultations, drafting, benchmarking,

consultation, revision, compliance with the (meta-policy …), endorsement, approval, communication and publication in … (the)

Policy Library, implementation, implementation and compliance monitoring, implementation

evaluation, (and) triennial review’

(University of Melbourne Policy on Policy, 2012, p. 6).

The ticking time bomb …

Large volumes of university policy are overdue for review

Policy evaluation is like the policy ‘black box’.

Generic policy review resources have been developed.

Policy review resourcesClauses for university meta-policy

Review questionsInclusions for a policy approval form

Feedback form Issues log

Review schedule Draft policy consultation notice board

Policy benchmarking URLs

Policy review approaches:

when you simply reformat the policy statement (that’s reformatting)

when you just make it shorter (that’s rephrasing)

when you just make it longer without adding substance (that's probably stupid)

when you don’t ask anyone if the policy works, or reflects current practice(s)

(that’s not evaluating policy implementation)xx

Policy review approaches cont …:

when you don’t ask anyone how it could be better (that’s a missed opportunity)

when you ‘review’ it sitting at your desk one afternoon in between other tasks

(that’s just not right, is it?)

when you don’t take any notice of feedback since the policy was implemented (that’s definitely stupid)

Policy review considerations:- consultation with stakeholders, including

students and student advocates- policy content

- how being applied/implemented- issues regarding compliance- resource management issues

- impact- responsibilities for monitoring

- data / evaluation metrics

The large volume of policy texts suggest many policy practitioners are

suffering from policy overload.

Policy repositories are not the be all and end all.

The policies themselves are the main game.

Good practice policy repository features include: • a high level of search functionality (topic or

category, title, instrument type, audience, alphabetical list)

• consideration of the file format for accessibility purposes (html, pdf, txt or other)

Good practice policy repository features include cont …: • inclusion of an interface between the

repository and the individual texts (title, summary, owner, approval authority, related texts)

• access to former versions.

Consultation and communication are deal breakers for effective policy

implementation.

The Association for Tertiary Education

Management (ATEM), the Institutional Policy Network, ATEM forums and policy groups,

and individual universities are building policy capacity.

Networking and policy borrowing will continue to be vitally important for policy practitioners.

Source of images in presentation

Confused - http://accessibiliteweb.com/presentations/2011/csun/a11y-lifecycle/ui/suck.jpg Scream - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg Bomb - http://blog.castsoftware.com/crash-report-exposes-millions-in-technical-debt/ Black box - http://www.rainiercrossfit.com/.a/6a00d8341d2d0353ef017d410fdae8970c-300wiOverload - http://www.nikdaum.com/news/2009/06/weird-shanghai-styrofoam.html Chirpy - http://www.thumbtackpress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Failure-To-Communicate-by-Colin-Johnson.jpeg

Communication - http://stuartjallen.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/effective-communication/

Acknowledgement

Participation in this conference has been supported by an AACRAO and Association of Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) scholarship, and University of Melbourne MGSE scholarship