Mood of the Boardroom: University of Auckland leads innovation strategy amid higher education challenges (NZ Herald)

Mood of the Boardroom: University of Auckland leads innovation strategy amid higher education challenges (NZ Herald)

Higher education is one of the country’s most valuable assets, and in a time of economic uncertainty and evolving global challenges, we must ensure it is integrated as a critical component of the country’s ambition and broader national strategy.

That is the view of the University of Auckland vice-chancellor, Professor Dawn Freshwater, who believes building a future-focused, quality-driven education strategy for the country is more vital than ever. She highlights the growing intersection between education, industry and Government as crucial to this effort.

Freshwater says education in New Zealand is often overlooked, and siloed, hampering the country’s ability to position itself credibly globally.

“We must be clear on how we differentiate New Zealand on the world stage. We are coming from a strength-based approach in terms of building our economy and engaging internationally for the future.

“But I have not heard a strategy that addresses that.”

She says education is not seen as a business and it is not seen as an integral part of NZ Inc, but rather sitting outside it.

“The absence of a coherent approach across science, innovation, education, research — that links with immigration settings and future employment skills development — is a concern.”

She emphasises the need for businesses to understand their future skills requirements and engage in shaping the conversation.

“Businesses will need more highly qualified graduates with diverse skills for the future, but the reality is they won’t need everyone to be a graduate. We need to work in a much more cohesive way to drive an agenda that truly meets the needs of business.”

Freshwater believes the era of “massification,” or mass participation in higher education, is over.

“That was never a business model that was going to be sustainable, nor does it deliver the right employment outcomes,” she explains, calling for a different approach that is integrated into the country’s long-term planning.

“We need to shift towards a multi-layered education sector that brings about differentiation for future skills, and the quality required to graduate people into highly skilled jobs.”

However, Freshwater cautions against reducing the purpose of higher education to solely prepare students for employment. “It may seem contradictory, but our goal should be to graduate students who can drive business and innovation. That goes beyond just preparing them for jobs.”

Quality vs volume

The balancing act between quality and volume in higher education, she notes, is not unique to New Zealand.

She highlights how some international institutions, including some in the Russell Group (the 24 leading UK universities) and the Group of Eight (Australia’s leading research-intensive universities), tweak their entry requirements to maintain student numbers — often concerning cross-subsidies and in response to the challenges of funding research excellence and maintaining and investing in a world-class student experience that remains competitive.

For the university and New Zealand, Freshwater favours prioritising quality over volume. “As soon as you start to get into volume-driven decisions over quality-driven, you start to lose your credibility internationally and nationally,” she explains.

“Access to higher education is both a privilege and a right. The University of Auckland is a comprehensive university, and so it is important that we focus on breadth, but not at the expense of quality, that doesn’t drive the right message and send a signal about who we are and what we stand for.”

However, focusing on quality at the expense of student volume presents its own risks.

“If New Zealand drops volume and instead focuses on quality, then we are not going to have eight comprehensive universities in this nation,” Freshwater warns.

“And if you drop volume, you need the sector to work through what the overall education sector is going to look like to pick up those people to make sure that everybody has access to an education that is relevant and impactful.”

Forging ahead

In the absence of a clear overarching national strategy, the University of Auckland is taking the lead to do things that will drive the agenda.

“We are really thinking about the innovation strategy for the nation,” Freshwater says.

“We are prioritising entrepreneurship, innovation and the commercialisation of research at the highest levels of the university.”

This commitment is evident in initiatives such as the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), providing students and staff across all faculties with opportunities to develop entrepreneurial thinking and capability.

Another example is the university’s newest campus in Newmarket, the centre of a growing innovation precinct. Acquired in 2013, the site focuses on engineering, science and health technologies, and is home to more than 20 start-up and growth companies. The precinct includes purpose-built research facilities and co-location amenities designed to advance the university’s broader innovation goals.

By creating an environment that fosters research, innovation, and collaboration, the University of Auckland aims to attract top talent, students, and thought leaders. It’s a strategy Freshwater sees as essential to strengthening New Zealand’s global competitiveness for the future.

The University of Auckland is a sponsor of the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom project

Mood of the Boardroom: New Zealand needs visionary leaders to tackle ageing population and healthcare costs (NZ Herald)

Mood of the Boardroom: New Zealand needs visionary leaders to tackle ageing population and healthcare costs (NZ Herald)

With the country facing significant challenges both domestically and internationally, New Zealand, more than ever, needs leaders willing to take decisive action and implement big ideas, one of our most influential lawyers says.

Dentons New Zealand chairman and global vice-chairman Hayden Wilson, says to do this, the nation’s leaders must understand there are big differences between managing a business and running a Government.

“Governments are complex. Compared to business, you don’t have all the same levers to pull – and the lag time between pulling a lever and getting tangible progress is much longer.”

He argues simply applying a corporate mindset focused on short-term wins and quarterly goals isn’t sophisticated enough, on its own, to manage the complex challenges the country faces.

Truce on infrastructure

Wilson is frustrated with the approach to major projects that has persisted over successive Governments.

“Every person you speak to in the infrastructure space in New Zealand recognises that we have got to end the stop-starts and flip-flops on projects.”

He says there is a critical need for political leadership that thinks beyond election cycles.

“New Zealand has significant infrastructure demands over the next five, 10, 15 years and beyond.

“We’ve got an ageing population, increasing healthcare costs, and a changing global environment. We cannot just rely on the same old solutions.”

Wilson says the tendency of new Governments to scrap their predecessor’s projects is a waste of time, money, and planning effort, pointing to the Government’s decision to shelve Auckland Light Rail and the Three Waters reform when it came to power.

“The economy and business community would be better served if both parties took an approach of improving or adapting what’s already there, instead of throwing it all out and starting from scratch.”

Wilson suggests bipartisan agreement on infrastructure is not realistic, because political parties legitimately have different ideas. Instead, he suggests a “truce” on infrastructure.

“Parties are always going to have different ideas. But there needs to be some understanding that Governments should be allowed do the things they want, and once a project starts, it gets finished, no matter who’s in power.”

He references Bent Flyvbjerg’s How Big Things Get Done. Flyvbjerg is an expert on large-scale projects who advocates for “thinking slow, acting fast.”

Wilson explains: “We need to spend more time on planning and testing ideas before breaking ground. Once we start, we should be able to complete it efficiently and quickly”.

He says New Zealand, and others around the world, tend to do the opposite.

“We rush the planning phase because we know that, in political reality, once shovels are in the ground, projects rarely get stopped.

“This leads to poor planning, underestimating costs, and exposes us to risks like political changes or global events.”

Efficiency over cuts

Wilson also sees room for improvement in the Government’s approach to public sector spending.

He believes there has been too much emphasis on cost-cutting, and not enough on making the system more efficient.

“I don’t think you could find anyone who would say that there isn’t waste in the public sector and that it is delivering efficiency,” he says.

“But while the wholesale reduction in spending might be the fastest way to give the Government something it can point to and say it has done, it is perhaps not the best way to go about it.”

Instead, Wilson argues for a more strategic approach that balances the number and quality of public servants, the use of consultants, and the government’s ability to achieve its priorities.

“You can have two of those three things, but not all of them at once,” he explains. “If you want to reduce the size of the public sector while also cutting down on consultants, then you’re going to struggle to achieve all of the Government’s priorities because the capacity to do the work simply won’t be there.”

He suggests a more collaborative effort between the public and private sectors would be more effective in delivering on the Government’s goals.

“It’s about delivering value over the long term, not just making immediate savings. It may be a slower process, but it would yield better outcomes in the end.”

Dentons is a sponsor of the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom project.

Mood of the Boardroom: New Zealand businesses navigate geopolitical risks amid global instability (NZ Herald)

Mood of the Boardroom: New Zealand businesses navigate geopolitical risks amid global instability (NZ Herald)

As global instability grows, New Zealand boardrooms are increasingly focused on assessing and mitigating geopolitical risks.

Now in its third year, the Russia-Ukraine war, alongside the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and rising tensions in the South China Sea, has made geopolitical challenges an unavoidable point of discussion.

These crises are affecting trade, sparking regional conflicts, and driving regulatory changes, with 72% of New Zealand’s top executives in the Mood of the Boardroom survey confirming that their businesses regularly assess vulnerabilities to these risks at the board level.

A further 27% of respondents say they do not have this on their risk matrix, and 1% remain unsure.

The growing complexity of global challenges has led New Zealand companies to adopt a more rigorous approach to risk assessment.