Category: Predictive Model

Strategic Academic Resource Management in Higher Education: Evaluating Courses and Forecasting Programs

Why Evaluating Courses and Forecasting Programs Is Critical As universities navigate increasing complexity and financial pressure, academic leaders are seeking more data-informed ways to evaluate programs and forecast resource needs. In the fifth episode of Pilbara Insights, host Lea Patterson speaks with Fred Reich, Corporate Management Accountant at the University of Wollongong, to unpack this […]

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Understanding University Budget Models: Incremental, RCM, and Strategic Planning

This article is written for senior leaders in higher education, including vice-chancellors, provosts, deans, chief financial officers, and institutional planners. It assumes an advanced understanding of university operations, strategic planning, and the nuances of higher education finance. Why Budget Models Matter for University Strategy University budget models are more than accounting tools. They are strategic […]

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AI and Higher Ed Academic Program Management

There has been a remarkable surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage, generating a significant amount of news and interest. The utilization of ChatGPT has skyrocketed, and new tools emerge regularly, aiding in the creation of images, videos, music, and short films. Microsoft has introduced their co-pilots to assist with code generation, writing Word documents, creating […]

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Reducing Academic Workload

Last week, I read a blog post by Alex Usher titled “Reducing Work” where he suggests some ways universities can make teaching more efficient. These include: Driving down the real cost of wages by keeping wage rises below inflation, Dropping the average rate of pay per instructor, by increasing the sessional teaching load, Changing the […]

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Managing in a Period of Stagflation

Stagflation: An economic situation in which prices keep rising but economic activity does not increase (Cambridge Dictionary) TLDR High Inflation hasn’t been around since the 70’s and 80’s. During periods of high inflation focus on defending margins and cashflow. This requires sophisticated and detailed Activity-Based Cost models (which were prolific in the 80’s and 90’s). […]

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Testing the New Higher Ed Funding Model

By Lea Patterson, Michelle Brooke, Andrew Faulkner and Professor Alan Pettigrew BSc (Hons) PhD FAICD On the 19th June 2020, Dan Tehan – Minister for Education, announced a proposed new funding model for Australian Universities.  The objective of the change is to shift student attention to jobs of national importance, such as teaching, nursing and […]

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COVID-19: Higher Ed Crisis Management – Part 2: 2020 Deep Dive

Using the Pilbara predictive model to test crisis management options for university leadership. By Lea Patterson, Michelle Brooke, Andrew Faulkner and Professor Alan Pettigrew BSc (Hons) PhD FAICD Preface This article has taken a little longer to write than usual because we have been busy running a wide range of different scenarios. Rather than creating […]

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COVID-19: Higher Ed Crisis Management

Using the Pilbara predictive model to test crisis management options for university leadership. By Michelle Brooke, Lea Patterson, Andrew Faulkner and Professor Alan Pettigrew BSc (Hons) PhD FAICD Introduction Although they are no longer run, the LH Martin Institute (University of Melbourne) used to offer courses for aspiring University Vice-Chancellors (VCs) covering a range of […]

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Higher Education Financial Stress Test

The Coronavirus is creating headlines around the world and here in Australia it’s having an impact on some universities who are delaying the start of the school year or starting the school year online initially.  There might also be a financial impact but hopefully not a permanent one, but what if there was a permanent […]

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Why is Math Cheaper than English?

This was a question posed by Steven Hemelt (UNC – Chapel Hill), Kevin Stange, Fernando Furquim, Andrew Simon (University of Michigan) and John Sawyer (University of Delaware) in their paper “Why is Math Cheaper than English? Understanding Cost Differences in Higher Education” https://www.nber.org/papers/w25314 Their “analysis reveals appreciable variation in the cost of delivering a unit […]

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