Faculty of Arts Strategic Plan 2006-2010

The Faculty of Arts acknowledges the original owners of the land of the Camperdown campus – the Cadigal people of the Eora nation. We recognise and respect the educational traditions which ensured the transmission of knowledge for tens of thousands of years before the establishment of the Faculty.

The Faculty of Arts was the foundation Faculty of the University of Sydney. Since 1850 it has grown and diversified in its pursuit of excellence in the humanities and social sciences.

The Faculty’s vision is to aspire to be

An outstanding national and international centre for research and teaching in the humanities and social sciences.

Thus our aim is to nurture disciplines at the heart of the humanities and social sciences tradition and to pioneer new disciplines and interdisciplinary programs to keep the Faculty at the cutting edge of developments in our fields of inquiry. The Faculty cultivates respect for tradition while seeking to promote innovative explorations of contemporary human culture and society. It believes that disinterested contemplation of the human condition, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and responsible academic freedom are public goods that need to be promoted. At the same time we strive to ensure that the humanities and social sciences remain useful and relevant for social, cultural and economic progress.

Our core purpose is to be:

the custodian of foundational disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and the pioneer for new ways of understanding human experience. We seek to foster tolerance, understanding and prosperity and invigorate civil society through the cultivation of engaged and informed citizens.

The challenges facing contemporary cultures are significant. Mass communications, unprecedented movements of peoples across borders, heightened international tensions and an increasingly globalised economic system raise profound questions about human aspiration, social identity, cultural boundaries, technological development, environmental sustainability, social and religious tolerance, the strength of contemporary civil institutions and the course of social progress. The Faculty of Arts believes that the humanities and social sciences play an integral part in the search for meaningful solutions to the questions that confront contemporary cultures and economies. It rejects narrow utilitarian concepts and solutions and seeks to place technological, environmental, economic and social problems in their full human and social context.

The Faculty is well placed to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. It retains the greatest range and diversity of humanities and social science disciplines in Australia. In a global age when cross-cultural communication is vital to social and economic progress the Faculty’s maintenance of the widest array of language and culture programs fits it very well to be at the forefront of efforts to advance the cultural capacities of Australia’s future citizens.

The sources of the Faculty’s strengths, however, also represent our most significant weaknesses. The maintenance of disciplinary and interdisciplinary diversity is resource intensive. Preserving core disciplines regardless of their current marketability places significant strains on the budget and uneven teaching and resource burdens across the Faculty. The key strategy for the Faculty is to enhance its resource base, by diversifying its sources of income and seeking internal administrative efficiencies, to enable it to sustain its current range of programs and be at the forefront of new developments in the humanities and social sciences. If the Faculty is to align itself effectively with the University’s larger aspiration of 1:5:40, then the Faculty will need to make significant strides in its core areas of teaching, research and community outreach. This in turn involves the setting of clear aspirations and targets and the development of effective strategies to achieve these ends in relation to research and innovation, learning and teaching, student experience, community engagement, alumni relations and philanthropy, capability, infrastructure and organisational performance.

Thus this strategic plan sets the objectives and strategies of the Faculty over the next five years. It also outlines the key benchmarks for measuring the success of the Faculty in meeting its stated objectives. This plan seeks to position the Faculty to be one of the pre-eminent humanities and social sciences teaching and research faculties in Australia, the region and the world.

Through innovative research the Faculty will sustain the contemporary significance of its disciplines and promote the centrality of our fields of inquiry to social and economic progress. The Faculty aims to be recognised, nationally and internationally, as a centre for high quality research in the humanities and social sciences.

The Faculty’s goal is to promote excellence in research and innovation.

Objectives

• encourage research of national and international standing in existing and emerging disciplines
• achieve recognition as a Faculty producing high quality research
• identify and enhance areas of research excellence
• identify and build areas of potential research growth and innovation
• attract research students and postdoctoral fellows of the highest calibre
• create opportunities for staff and students to maximise research output
• foster greater engagement of research in the humanities and social sciences with the needs of industry and the wider community
• create a more dynamic high quality research culture through the establishment research concentration areas and interdisciplinary programs
• sustain research and innovation through the creation of world class research infrastructure

Strategies

• provide seed funding for applications to external peer-reviewed research grant schemes
• increase the number of grant applications submitted to external support schemes each year
• increase the success rate of applications through research mentoring and peer support schemes
• increase the proportion of non-ARC research grant income through seed funding for applications to international grant schemes
• encourage and support applications for industry research funds (category 3)
• utilise PM&D process to encourage staff to focus on publishing in high quality journals
• develop a research quality management plan for the Faculty
• ensure adequate recognition for research and research supervision performance in workload formulas
• support areas of emerging research strength
• identify and support key research clusters and concentration areas that might best represent research quality within the Faculty
• maintain high priority on research performance in the appointment of all academic staff (by appointing research active staff, with good record in terms of quality or staff with demonstrable research potential)
• utilise research support schemes to reward and promote research excellence
• improve physical infrastructure for research students
• build recognition and rewards for excellence in research supervision
• sustain funding for co-funded UPA scholarships to sustain and grow our proportion of UPA/APA scholarship holders in the Faculty
• seek to obtain external funding to build number of PG research student scholarships in the Faculty
• enhance the HDR student management plan to increase completions within the Faculty
• allocate more funding to HDR student support

Through the guided construction of knowledge and the cultivation of the capacity for critical inquiry the Faculty seeks to create informed, responsible and useful citizens. The Faculty is committed to enhancing the research-intensive environment essential to this goal. It aims to challenge high achieving students to realise their potential for excellence, support and encourage access and achievement for students from diverse backgrounds and create a rich learning environment for all.

Objectives

• cultivate recognition of research-teaching nexus
• encourage the admission of high achieving students
• foster access and diversity for a wide range of students
• enrich the learning environment through best practice research-led teaching
• foster applied and professional training through combined undergraduate degrees and specialised postgraduate coursework programs
• enhance the learning environment through the provision of web enabled technologies
• foster learning through improved mentoring programs
• create better links between teaching and industry through internship programs
• continue to offer both breadth and depth in range of degrees and majors
• build greater sense of Faculty identity amongst students
• foster the involvement of outstanding researchers in teaching and supervision to benefit research-led teaching within the Faculty
• improve staff student ratios

Strategies

• sustain and enhance transition to University and peer mentoring programs
• sustain active program of mentoring and academic advisers
• provide better guidance and assistance to students through improved unit of study guidelines, degree pathways, grade descriptors, student retention and graduate attribute programs
• foster learning outcomes for all students through competence in written English and University English programs
• enhance teaching by encouraging staff to undertake formal training in teaching and through programs such as tutor’s development
• foster greater awareness of learning support systems such as learning centre, library, counselling and other student services
• recognise, support and reward teaching excellence
• implement Faculty e-learning plan
• develop ICT infrastructure to support staff in its application to learning contexts
• consistent use of student survey results to improve teaching strategies in units of study

The Faculty seeks to support the University’s aim of offering a comprehensive and rich student experience through student participation in a wider network of Faculty seminars, workshops and conferences and the provision of high quality support services for students.

Objectives

• encourage the participation of students in all aspects of University life
• advise students of the diverse range of academic, professional and welfare services available
• provide high quality and user friendly administrative processes and systems for students
• provide Faculty scholarship program

Strategies

• maintain strong links with Cadigal and elite athlete and performers program
• seek greater efficiencies and improved processes in student administration
• maintain and extend active program of student advisors and mentors to enhance student experience
• sustain Faculty scholarships program
• improve Faculty web presence to better facilitate student awareness of range of support services and facilities

The Faculty of Arts seeks to enrich the cultural, social and economic life of the community. It aims to sustain and build creative and meaningful relationships with students, schools, industry, the professions, alumni and community organizations.

Objectives

• foster and contribute to responsible public debate
• engage alumni and the community in a broad range of lectures, seminars, conferences and events
• provide informed, responsible and timely advice to a broad range of community and business organizations
• create greater links between the Faculty and industry to better link learning and teaching to broaden economic needs and enhance the student experience
• foster industry linkages tyo support socially relevant research

Strategies

• support Faculty participation in workshops, seminars and conferences
• increase the number of high profile public lectures supported by the Faculty
• encourage staff involvement with community organizations
• encourage participation in public debate
• enhance our program of HSC courses in Schools
• support applications for Linkage grants and other forms of industry and community research support (category 3)
• recognise useful contributions to public debate as an integral element of service to the University

Standards of Performance and Benchmarks

• sustain high profile of Faculty staff in public debate
• expand internships program
• enhanced Faculty reputation through RQF and other indicators
• greater community support for Faculty programs

Our alumni represent our most conspicuous contribution to the wider public good. Our commitment to learning and teaching, grounded in the finest research and scholarly traditions of the humanities and social sciences, produces outstanding graduates who go on to make significant contributions to our culture, other cultures and in the international sphere. In turn the Faculty is increasingly dependent on the support of the community. We have to reach out more effectively to alumni, community groups and business to engage them in the life of the Faculty and to foster a sense of commitment to sustaining teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences. We need to build greater external funding support for our endeavours and to do that we have to build and sustain the links with alumni, community and business groups to involve them in the life of the Faculty.

Objectives

• develop a sense of belonging and life-long association with the Faculty amongst our students
• provide a program of alumni and community outreach related activities that sustain a connection between the community and the Faculty
• cultivate community and business contacts to create a context in which to encourage a culture of giving to the Faculty
• communicate more effectively the necessity of philanthropy to the future of the Faculty
• develop more effective ways of communicating our important contribution to the public good to alumni and the wider community

Strategies

• provide funding support for the Arts Association and other outreach activities
• promote staff and student involvement with the activities of the Arts Association
• ensure better communication of alumni events and the importance of alumni relations to current students
• encourage departments and Schools to build links with community organizations and business contacts
• use alumni database to forge closer links between Faculty and alumni
• greater focus on Linkage grant applications to foster links between Faculty and private and public organisations

The Faculty can only achieve its aspirations to international excellence in teaching and research through attracting and retaining the best staff. The Faculty is justly proud of the quality of both its academic and general staff and will work towards maintaining and improving the capabilities of all staff.

Objectives

• attract and retain the best staff
• create a stimulating and productive working environment
• reward staff performance
• improve communication between staff
• foster leadership in all staff

Strategies

• ensure appointment of research active staff (or those with proven research potential)
• effectively implement PM&D processes
• encourage and support the pursuit of relevant staff training opportunities
• sustain active support for promotion for high achieving staff
• implement communications strategy for Faculty
• utilise retreats and workshops for academic and general staff to ensure adequate alignment between staff aspirations and Faculty goals
• clarify goals and responsibilities in key leadership positions
• enhance new staff research support scheme
• create better research support systems for all staff

The Faculty is committed to providing the best intellectual and physical infrastructure possible to sustain its aspirations towards international excellence in teaching and research. Much of this infrastructure is part of the wider University infrastructure program. In a landlocked Camperdown campus site there are serious challenges facing the University and the Faculty in the provision of adequate physical infrastructure. This is most evident in the current level of infrastructure support for research students. The Faculty aims to work effectively with the College and the University to make key strategic improvements in infrastructure.

Objectives

• enhance the physical infrastructure for staff and students
• create more flexible and web enhanced teaching infrastructure
• increase the range and quality of physical infrastructure for research students
• create an improved research environment for staff and research students
• utilise University and College teaching and research infrastructure schemes to improve infrastructure facilities

Strategies

• collaborate with College and University to identify, refurbish and equip more spaces for research students
• equip more video conferencing, media lab and other ICT enabled teaching venues
• sustain active program of conference and travel grants for staff and research students
• maintain and enhance new staff research support schemes
• support the M.E.T.A. Centre to improve ICT enabled teaching and research environment (video conferencing, computer lab, language lab facilities)
• explore ways of creating more stimulating intellectual climate for staff and students
• sustained program of enhancement for Faculty specific teaching spaces
• create standard operating environment for all staff and student computers

The Faculty aspires to be an effective organization geared to the needs of staff and students. To achieve this aim, and its broader aims, the Faculty has to create an effective system of financial management and staff recruitment and training to ensure that it has the capacity to participate in and capitalise on the University’s program of best practice organisational performance over the next five years. This participation is in part dependent on the Faculty’s capacity to improve its own financial performance. At present the Faculty is too reliant on model income, constraining its capacity to achieve broader goals. It must diversify its income and make its expenditure more efficient to equip it for the strategic challenges ahead.

Objectives

• increase and diversity sources of revenue
• undertake sustained program of administrative efficiencies to improve performance and reduce expenditure
• expand and develop Faculty’s postgraduate coursework programs
• increase the number of international student enrolments in the Faculty
• ensure all staff are adequately trained to utilise new policies and procedures in key areas

Strategies

• in collaboration with College enhance marketing resources and strategies to grow fee income
• develop a 5 year plan to expand the Faculty’s PG coursework program offerings and improve the integration of the Faculty’s PG programs with those offered by other faculties
• appoint a new Director of PG Programs to develop and implement this PG plan
• develop a new Faculty marketing and recruitment team to develop and implement international and local student marketing and recruitment plans
• collaborate with University Relations to enhance program of bequest and donation support
• ensure effective engagement of all staff with new University policies and procedures
• reduce salaries as a proportion of total expenditure
• maintain budget surplus
• increase research income performance to enhance this revenue stream
• ensure maintenance of appropriate risk management and OH&S protocols
• maintain adequate reserves to fund future infrastructure improvements