Risk Shmisk

The University as a Risky Environment
McWilliam, E. (2004). Changing the academic subject. Studies in Higher Education, 29(2), 151-163.

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http://ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0307507042000190769

Yes, there is always risk that an organisation, a university will fail (in some respect anyway). What was interesting was the described management of the risk when talking about ‘soft marking’ that they don’t go straight to the source and ensure that the teachers/markers are not doing soft marking, but go about it in a round-about way with policy, pedagogy and technology. Is it so bad that there is a risk that there are bad teachers or soft markers? That should be dealt with directly – shouldn’t it?

Having just been through an audit, it is interesting to see the comments. I don’t think it was trying to make the uni the same as all the other unis in Australia. I think it was good at looking at the unique needs of our clients. I think it is a good risk management (or negation) technique only because of the actions that I see leading up to and as a result of the audit. Pity there is a couple of years in between when it would be really good to still have the pressure to perform, and not just in the year lead up to the audit. So much for unwelcome, it should be embraced as a opportunity!

They can go on and on about risk, but I don’t think it is any more or less of a problem than in any other organisation. Indeed, I’m sure banks get a whole lot more auditing and risk focussing than universities.