From Teaching to Learning—Leading Change at a Research-intensive University: A Personal Reflection (Part 1)

Abstract

It was an unusual request to see the Vice-Chancellor, but here I was in his office. He was explaining that UNSW was performing poorly in student surveys on teaching and thus the University had decided to create a senior management position with a direct responsibility for the quality of education. Next, I expected him to ask for advice on potential candidates, given my long-term interest in teaching, although at the time my research in gut microbiology was dominating my life. But no, he asked me if I would be interested in putting my name forward. “Oh no, John!” was my immediate response. “I retire next year and intend to keep travelling the world talking about my beloved stomach bugs.” Such is the persuasive power of VCs that I agreed to think about it and was given the weekend to make my decision. Two days of lists for and against followed, plus consultation with colleagues. Despite having successfully taught medical and science students for more than thirty years, global interest in my Helicobacter bacteria made the retirement and travelling idea very attractive. However, on ref lection I had complained about lack of attention paid to teaching, lousy staff development and a dominant culture of research over teaching for many years. Here was the chance to do something about it and to be able to try and change the culture, and so I realised I wanted to take on the challenge. Monday came and my hat was in the ring. After a gruelling interview by the selection committee, here I was crossing to the ‘dark side’ of university administration as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) of a large research-intensive university with 40,000 students who were not wild about their teaching and a perception amongst staff that teaching was not valued and research was king. (Abstract taken from Introduction)