The implementation process for a Disability Action Plan in a time

of major change

Introduction

• The national context

• The Context disability at Victoria university

• The changes

• Their impact

• The new process

The speed and magnitude of change in education is

increasing

• The transformation Higher Education agenda of the previous government

• Demand driven with uncapped student places

• The efficiency dividend

• Changes to the TAFE system in Victoria

• A multisector University servicing a large, low SES and NESB population in the West of Melbourne with a high number of first in family students

• Lower than the sector access and participation rates for Students with a disability

Students with Disabilities

• In 2010 1,600 students with a reportable disability

• In 2013 3,300 Students with a reportable disability

• Retention rates for 2010 were comparatively low

• Satisfaction with the Disability support service is high based on internal research

• Benchmarking information indicates it can be improved

The Disability Action Plan

• To identify how the University can address impediments for students and staff with disabilities

• Lodging the Action plan with the human rights commission under the DDA supports a defence against complaints.

The 2010 situation at VU

• 24,000 TAFE 24,00 HE students

• Student equity section had ten staff and responsible for the distribution of HEP funding

• Large committee structure within University that included equity committees in each faculty and across the university

• Our Disability Action Plan was coming to an end

What happened then

• A new Vice Chancellor

• Cuts to TAFE funding per contact hour and for disability support

• over 40 million cut from TAFE budget

• Drops of 5,800 TAFE student EFT numbers between 2010 and 2013

• Increase in HE number of 1,400 EFT

• Significant reductions in the overall University Budget

And the impact was

• Committees removed – response to VC’s audit

• Proportion of Professional staff to academic staff seen as too high (this appears to be a common theme across universities)

• Move to centralised shared services model

• Significant staffing cuts across the board

• Student Equity cut as a result of the move to a social inclusion policy approach- more money and more senior control of the money

Where was the DAP?

• A penultimate draft of the DAP had been written • Developed by the Student Equity Unit with outside

consultants • Developed with the aid of consultations with Staff and

students via focus groups and questionnaire • Discussions with Senior managers only part of the

consultation process • significant input via the committee structures • But not approved i.e. no committee structure to go

through • No administrative support ??

The Foci of the plan

• Web based accessibility

• Physical accessibility

• Improvements to the curriculum

• Recruitment admissions and exams

• Improvements to the complaints process

• Staff related improvements

Consultation and approval

• Senior leadership team approval required

• Further consultation required

• Identification of the responsible stakeholders

Consultation with the stakeholders

• Moving the plan from aspirational to achievable

• Moving from legislatively driven to cooperatively driven

• Not driven by champions

Approval

• Agreement from the stakeholders to the goals in the current financial climate

• Presenting the agreement to the Senior leadership Team

• Getting approval of Senior Leadership team

• Lodging with the human rights commission

Auditing

• No feedback through committees

• Interview with the managers

Implications for the future

• Cheaper process

• Buy in and commitment from the University community

• Ownership for the actions

• Where are the champions

How will we know if this had worked

• Have the actions been completed?

• Increases in the retention of students with disabilities

• Increase in students satisfaction

The development of the next DAP

• Its size and scope will depend on the financial commitment of the University

• Developing new consultation process

• “Supporting students with Disabilities and Long Term Illnesses at Victoria University: the Student Voice”

• Benchmarking with the Student Services Satisfaction survey

questions