The nature of the university

All those people who care about the future of Dunedin are concerned about the success of the University of Otago. Every thinking person also recognises Dunedin, with every passing year, is becoming more and more dependent on the university as its economic, and even social, cultural and sporting, foundation.

The nature of the university will, in significant part, determine its ability to attract and retain students and the best staff, and if the university goes through hard times the city certainly will. This is why discussion of the university's character is relevant beyond the campus. This is why it is disconcerting to read about staff concerns in this area.

The university last week organised a debate on whether the university was too big and losing its special character. As such, debaters took positions they may, or may not, have believed in. But after the contest, Prof Jim Flynn said a sense of participating at decision-making level at Otago had decreased among academics.

"Layers of bureaucracy" contributed to a sense of detachment, he said. His remarks parallel similar comments some staff make privately.

While attempts were made under the latest regime to reduce the bureaucratic edifice, the university, even as it grows bigger, needs to maintain as flat a management structure as possible and minimise the burden bureaucracy places on staff.

It is in the nature of organisations to build layers, with the Dunedin City Council a clear example. But it should also be the role of the top leadership to quash that tendency.

New Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders has that role as the council seeks to save money and become more streamlined, and the new university head, Harlene Hayne, will have to consider carefully both the cost of university management and its effects on staff participation and satisfaction.

Universities are peculiar because of the role and nature of academics. Private business can more easily operate a command-like structure where staff report to their managers and, to a large degree, must follow orders.

Many academics by their training and their inclination debate and disagree. They are supposed to be not only "critics and consciences" of society but their work in teaching fields leads them to hypothesise, question and disagree. Most will not automatically accept passively what they are told, and most will expect to have a say.

This participation is built into academic staff selection and the structure where the senate acts as a forum for academic views and input. Nonetheless, while managing universities is especially challenging, intentional endeavours must be maintained to keep staff engaged and involved.

Another management tendency, if bureaucracy is given the resources and the opportunity, is to require seemingly endless reports and to repeatedly assess and review. The danger here is staff feel they lack sufficient independence and cannot be trusted.

Although good reasons can always be put forward for more bureaucratic requirements, university management must be wary of possible downsides on staff morale and effectiveness. All the time spent here can be time not spent researching and teaching.

Prof Flynn also said academics now focused on their own departments, rather than contributing to an overall view of university life. Again, while recognising a certain inevitability because of the size and diversity of the institution, university authorities have to continue to be aware of, and tackle, this tendency.

Otago, not just in student life, but also for staff around its Dunedin campus, has advantages because of relative coherence and proximity and the university's impact in a small city. These benefits need to be fostered, not lost.

Royal recognition
The university should revel in last week's success at the Royal Society of New Zealand awards. Prof Christine Winterbourn, from the university's Christchurch campus, won the country's top scientific honour, the Rutherford Medal.

Prof Warren Tate, of Dunedin, was the recipient last year, both acknowledgements adding lustre to the university's reputation.

How pleasing it was, too, to see veteran Jim Flynn receiving the inaugural Humanities Aronui Medal as well as two other staff members, Chris Pemberton and Robert Poulin, being given prestigious medals.