Power Struggle at The University of Queensland (UQ).
Most Academics and others involved
with Universities will be aware of the usual power struggle between the
university Administration and the Academic Staff. This has occurred
at UQ.
Pursuant to Queensland Legislation,
the Governing body of UQ is its Senate. By various methods,
UQ Administration has been successful in ensuring that they have a compliant
Senate. The prevailing attitude within Senate, engendered
by UQ Administration by numerous means including the feting of members
of Senate, is that they are an elite and justifiably so.
It has evolved that Senate now consists mainly of Sycophants.
On the advice of UQ Administration,
Senate appointed a new Vice-Chancellor John Hay, starting in January, 1996.
I am sure that Senate and UQ Admin considered it a stroke of genius, in
the way that he totally undermined the Academic Staff. He deemed
for whatever reason, that UQ should be restructured from 23 faculties to
seven Super Faculties. All senior Academics
were effectively sacked and all senior positions in the new Academic hierarchy
were vacant.
I submit that it is clear
that those positions were not filled on the basis of Academic merit but
on the basis of the appointee being prepared to do the bidding of the new
VC. I submit further, that that is NOT smart but
is corruption.
It is well known that when
a new head is appointed to an organisation with an existing multi level
administrative hierarchy, the new head finds a great inertia within the
organisation, and that it is impossible to have any real changes made.
This was the case with the previous Police Commissioner, Ryan, in
New South Wales. He found the existing hierarchy
made him impotent with regard to improving the NSW Police Service.
He left without having made the changes which were essential to cleaning
up the NSW Police Service.
The quid pro quo!!!
In return for the New Academics
in the pivotal positions doing the bidding of Hay, they were allowed effective
carte
blanche. I have been a teacher and academic and know the
most agonizing and thankless chore has been marking and assessment.
UQ's New Academics were permitted to mark less rigorously.
Students' rights to fair marking suffered. Student Union representatives
have been compromised. Needless to say, the ranking
of UQ in both Australia and and as a University in the Greater Asian region,
has suffered alarmingly in a very short time.
It is interesting to note
that junior academics have two routes to "advancement" in Academic Administration.
They can go the slow route of research and Academic Merit, or the quicker,
easier route, favoured by the less able, of obsequious favour.