Colin MacDonald, Victoria University - The implementation processes of a Disability Action Plan in a...
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Transcript of Colin MacDonald, Victoria University - The implementation processes of a Disability Action Plan in a...
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The implementation process for a Disability Action Plan in a time
of major change
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Introduction
• The national context
• The Context disability at Victoria university
• The changes
• Their impact
• The new process
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The speed and magnitude of change in education is
increasing
• The transformation Higher Education agenda of the previous government
• Demand driven with uncapped student places
• The efficiency dividend
• Changes to the TAFE system in Victoria
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• A multisector University servicing a large, low SES and NESB population in the West of Melbourne with a high number of first in family students
• Lower than the sector access and participation rates for Students with a disability
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Students with Disabilities
• In 2010 1,600 students with a reportable disability
• In 2013 3,300 Students with a reportable disability
• Retention rates for 2010 were comparatively low
• Satisfaction with the Disability support service is high based on internal research
• Benchmarking information indicates it can be improved
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The Disability Action Plan
• To identify how the University can address impediments for students and staff with disabilities
• Lodging the Action plan with the human rights commission under the DDA supports a defence against complaints.
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The 2010 situation at VU
• 24,000 TAFE 24,00 HE students
• Student equity section had ten staff and responsible for the distribution of HEP funding
• Large committee structure within University that included equity committees in each faculty and across the university
• Our Disability Action Plan was coming to an end
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What happened then
• A new Vice Chancellor
• Cuts to TAFE funding per contact hour and for disability support
• over 40 million cut from TAFE budget
• Drops of 5,800 TAFE student EFT numbers between 2010 and 2013
• Increase in HE number of 1,400 EFT
• Significant reductions in the overall University Budget
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And the impact was
• Committees removed – response to VC’s audit
• Proportion of Professional staff to academic staff seen as too high (this appears to be a common theme across universities)
• Move to centralised shared services model
• Significant staffing cuts across the board
• Student Equity cut as a result of the move to a social inclusion policy approach- more money and more senior control of the money
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Where was the DAP?
• A penultimate draft of the DAP had been written • Developed by the Student Equity Unit with outside
consultants • Developed with the aid of consultations with Staff and
students via focus groups and questionnaire • Discussions with Senior managers only part of the
consultation process • significant input via the committee structures • But not approved i.e. no committee structure to go
through • No administrative support ??
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The Foci of the plan
• Web based accessibility
• Physical accessibility
• Improvements to the curriculum
• Recruitment admissions and exams
• Improvements to the complaints process
• Staff related improvements
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Consultation and approval
• Senior leadership team approval required
• Further consultation required
• Identification of the responsible stakeholders
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Consultation with the stakeholders
• Moving the plan from aspirational to achievable
• Moving from legislatively driven to cooperatively driven
• Not driven by champions
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Approval
• Agreement from the stakeholders to the goals in the current financial climate
• Presenting the agreement to the Senior leadership Team
• Getting approval of Senior Leadership team
• Lodging with the human rights commission
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Auditing
• No feedback through committees
• Interview with the managers
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Implications for the future
• Cheaper process
• Buy in and commitment from the University community
• Ownership for the actions
• Where are the champions
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How will we know if this had worked
• Have the actions been completed?
• Increases in the retention of students with disabilities
• Increase in students satisfaction
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The development of the next DAP
• Its size and scope will depend on the financial commitment of the University
• Developing new consultation process
• “Supporting students with Disabilities and Long Term Illnesses at Victoria University: the Student Voice”
• Benchmarking with the Student Services Satisfaction survey
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