Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 7. 19 April 1972

Vic. Administration Report

page 6

Vic. Administration Report

Vic. Administration Report

Vic. Administration Report

Everybody knows that the University Administration is in a mess, but it took the University $7000 to find it out. And that doesn't include the salaries they have been paying to men they have now been told are unnecessary.

A certain A.J. Dale, Director, North Eastern Universities O & M Unit York, was invited to examine the administration of this university, and stayed here for five and a half weeks from September 1971. O & M means organisation and method, which we apparently lack, as opposed to Oligarchy and Muck-ups, which we have plenty of. Mr Dale eventually produced a 28 page report, addressed to the Vice-Chancellor.

For several weeks this report circulated silently amongst the inner sanctums of the ruling clique of the University. The word, however, began to leak that Dale had laid it on the line about what a fuck-up the place really was. Taylor, the Vice-Chancellor, prayed that everyone would forget about it, and began to spend hours of his precious and scarce time writing a report on the Report. Eventually, after Tim Groser, the Studass rep. on Council, asked politely where the report was. (no comment, said Dan as he slipped out of his chair and headed for the Council grog), the Dale report turned up together with the Apologia by Danny Taylor. The Council and the Professorial Board have received a copy, which they will discuss at next month's meetings.

The Dale report is concerned solely with the organisation of the central administration of the university, which on its own is pretty boring. Still, it says something about the state of the University when an efficiency man has to be brought out from the mother-country. What do our administration departments do? Are they really that incompetent? And the other interesting question the report raises is this: if the guy Dale is so bloody marvellous that he needed to be brought out here at no little expense in a tight financial year, why is there so little apparent inclination to adopt his recommendations, which are reprinted here for the benefit of the students and junior staff who are most unlikely to be consulted on the matter.

"Before you continue to denigrate the student faculty as a whole with your petty generalisations, may I be allowed to point out that I am in fact the Vice-Chancellor."

"Before you continue to denigrate the student faculty as a whole with your petty generalisations, may I be allowed to point out that I am in fact the Vice-Chancellor."

Recommendation 1

That the University establish an Administrative Review Committee. God knows why we need another committee, but the purpose of this one would be to take an overall look at University Committees and suggest changes to the Professorial Board or Council.

Recommendation 2

That the University Establish an Academic Development Committee. This committee would look into some forward planning on the academic side of the university. Dale felt that "The decisions...on the desired ultimate objectives and on next year's priorities simply must not be taken in an atmosphere controlled exclusively by financial considerations", as he quite rightly feels they are at the moment.

Recommendation 3

Involves the all-powerful Committee of Vice-Chancellor and Deans, .and alters its terms of reference so as to complement the proposed Academic Development Committee.

Recommendation 4

That the post of Deputy-Vice Chancellor be retained, but that, as opportunity presents itself, it be filled by a Senior Professor on a part-time basis for a period of say, three years, (and renewable for a second period). Dale believes that administration should be carried out by trained administrators, and he quite rightly points out that our present top administrators are not so qualified. Apparently even the Deputy-Vice-Chancellor himself, I.D. Campbell, agrees that his duties could be "discharged in some other way", i.e. by some lower paid administrator. It is worth noting that for years the Deputy-Vice Chancellorship was in fact a part-time post, and remained so until, a couple of years ago, when Taylor began to realise that his job was too much for him.

Recommendation 5

That as opportunity arises, the post of Assistant Vice Chancellor be discontinued and that the responsibilities at present attaching to that post be allocated amongst a wider range of professors and present Registry staff. There is no record of Prof. Slater, the present Assistant Vice-Chancellor who has only recently received his post as a full-time sinecure, agreeing with Dale's estimation that "there is no justification for the post". This is another of the posts which Danny Taylor has gathered around himself over the last couple of years. Dale seems to be worried, quite rightly, about the centralisation of power which the present situation implies. Spreading the convenorship of committees etc. around amongst the various professors is conservative enough, but it is at least some improvement.

Recommendation 6

That a (Senior) Assistant Registrar (maintenance) be appointed. This is connected with the next recommendation, which provides that the post of Assistant Principal be disestablished and that the remaining responsibilities of that post be reallocated amongst Registry staff. This is beginning to look like a full-scale purge. Now the vicious Dale is getting into poor old George Culliford, who retired from being an academic years ago to worry full time about how far behind schedule our building programme is falling. The expansion of this university will eventually come to an end and we apparently will not need a worrier cum apologist at that point.

The rest of the recommendations in the report deal mainly with less widely interesting matters of administration, but do include some points of interest. Dale wants accounting procedures amongst the larger departments unified, or at least mutually coherent, which is apparently not always the case now. He also has some recommendations concerning personnel administration and particularly, suggests some ways of taking an overall look at non-academic staffing. There were 315 non-academic employees of this university in October 1971, representing an annual wage bill in excess of $1 million.

The Vice-Chancellor's Report on the Report is being circulated along with the Dale Report. Sagely he warns that "the report should not be regarded as a blueprint for overnight change". Heavens above no, Danny, that would mean throwing overboard the old university principle of never sacking anybody, not to mention the old administrative one which you seem to have perfected, of never admitting that you have made a mistake.

Taylor sets the background to the Report which evolves from an extended junket he had over 1969-70. On this tour he looked around at various administrative procedures in American and British universities, and the ways in which they could be changed. Eventually he decided Dale was the man for us. However, Taylor decided (some might have thought Council should decide this) to have the report made to him personally, it was, he claims his "initial intention to circulate it to the Board and Council but, on reflection (or perhaps more accurately after reading what it said) he decided to limit its circulation to the Officers of Council, members of the Committee of Vice-Chancellor and Deans and my immediate assistants" Taylor doesn't say what changed his mind again, though possibly he was so impressed with his own report that he felt it made all else harmless. Salient has decided the report deserves wider publicity still, and feels sure that Dr. Taylor won't object. He does, after all, say in his own effort that the report does not contain "any information which I do not want given general publicity."

Taylor's report is based on his belief that "success is more likely to come from a continuing process of adaption of existing practices to new conditions, rather than 'root and branch 'reforms". No doubt the Professorial Board will agree with him when they consider the report at next months meeting. On the question of his mates' jobs, Taylor pleads for time. On each case he is prepared to agree in some way, but tends to put off the evil moment until "Professor Slater (or Campbell, or Dr. Culliford!) retires from the service of the University." The report raises many points of detail, but already several important queries are arising from the whole episode. Was the Dale Report worth the money? Why couldn't the job have been done cheaper and/or more comprehensively? After all, if you change the central administration to meet the current total situation, what happens if other events demand a new central approach - to the Vice-Chancellor the Dale report seems sweeping, to the present writer it is damned piecemeal.

And the last question. If Dale is really that bloody good that he took a world trip to discover, and a lot of money to put to work, why the bloody hedging over what he reccommends?

Flapdoodle Kitkaboodle Kitty Kitty Cow Cow!

Flapdoodle Kitkaboodle Kitty Kitty Cow Cow!