Paul Lloyd interview, 19 November 2012

Paul Lloyd interview, 19 November 2012

Business

During the interview Paul Lloyd discusses at length his experiences of the University of Western Australia, firstly as a student from 1985, then as tutor, lecturer and Sub-Dean of the Business School. Inspired to make a career as an academic at the university early in his studies, Mr Lloyd speaks at length of the changes he sees in place when comparing his career path progression to that available to students today. He currently works closely with students and has been involved in admissions committees as well as the establishment of new courses at the University of Western Australia.

Lloyd, Paul

University of Western Australia Historical Society

Copyright holder University of Western Australia

MP3 files

Oral History

John Bannister

Paul Lloyd

Interview 1: 51 minutes, 24 seconds
Interview 2: 50 minutes, 30 seconds
Interview 3: 33 minutes, 42 seconds
Total: 2 hours, 15 minutes, 36 seconds

128 kbs

Interview 1

00:00:00 Paul James Lloyd born in Shropshire. Coming to Australia 1971 and schooling. Hopes to study architecture and accounting. Degree choices, career paths. Commerce degree. Impressions of University of Western Australia. Save the Children Book Sale. Bursar at Thomas More. Stepping it another world. Impressions of University of Western Australia and Murdoch University.
00:05:50 Thoughts of Murdoch University. Thoughts of degree choice. Memories of coming to University of Western Australia. Enrolment process of the 1980s. Orientation process and classes. Finding your way through UWA.
00:09:35 Initial transition and shock. Preparation, students and academic work, doing work and the experience. Academic qualifications and motivating self. Community of University of Western Australia. Students and lectures. Connection to tutors and staff – lecturers as people. Staff and clients today. Delusion of students as a client. Marking and performance measures.
00:15:55 More concerned with the individual. Thoughts of a developing career. Part-time Masters study. And part-time tutoring. Ongoing job at University of Western Australia. Direction of career. Different process for employment of academics. Tutoring and lecturing. University is a place for a career. Comparing work in the corporate world.
00:22:45 Thoughts of student and employee at University of Western Australia. Memories of the university in the 1990s. Hierarchical system. The benign hierarchy and the god professor system. Knowing your place at the university.
00:29:20 Not meant to speak. Understanding by example. The social benefits of the university. A 9-5 place. Being a student was a full time job. Expectation to be around the place. Comparison to the student of today. Part-time work. Interaction with the tutor and students.
00:34:20 Treasurer of University House. Memories of University House. The University House committee. The bar and menu. Comments Complaints book. Social interactions. Interfaculty relations encouraged. Bar manager goes to gaol.
00:40:55 Inter-faculty relations. The warring factions. A unified whole portrayed to the community. Faculty interactions and faculty meetings. Self-serving faculties.
00:47:06 The reputation of the University. Pride in traditionalism. Curtin, Murdoch and the real university. Needs of the struggling student and the survival of the fittest. Competing with other universities. Not as easy for the successful self-motivated students to distinguish themselves.



Interview 2

00:00:00 Moving into the role of lecturer and views of the student of the 1990s. Attracting less-motivated students. Lower achievers in the range. Changes in assessing and teaching. Building students up from the basics. Lower entry scores, student quality drop. The question of money. Fees and home circumstances affecting the students. Incurring a debt. Getting the degree as fast as possible. Students self-funding. Different units and different HECS debts.
00:06:20 Changes to the business school. The trans-Atlantic name. Small management subject. Much smaller structure. Dean elected by the faculty. Drifting into a managerial approach. Grouping faculties. Grouped with law and education. Changes to the election system and the structures merge. Paul McLeod*. Moving toward a larger model.
00:10:50 Buildings and infrastructure. Design by P&O. Explanation of the buildings. The change to the management authority, immediacy of interaction between staff and students. Security. Working from home. The loss of the community. University meetings conducted at the morning tea.
00:15:30 The management of the University. Boards and committees. Changes and the Learning and Teaching Committee. Faculty board. Board of Studies and Academic Council. Changes and decisions made well in advance. Talking with some meaningful outcome. Leadership and Vice Chancellor Smith. Fay Gale. Faculty did not have an easy relationship with Fay Gale. Restructure and merger. Opposing the Vice Chancellery. Success of the Faculty in opposing change. Dept VC Roy Lourens. Bob Wood’s impression of Samson. Dissolving structure.
00:20:55 Bob Wood has a difficult relationship with accounting and finance. Setting of course materials, salary loading and market demand. A great deal of tension in University centrally. Allan Robson dvc and VC. Schreuder*. Allan Robson instigates new structure. People broadly happy. Decisions without Faculty interaction. Layers of bureaucracy – academics have less input. Larger bureaucracy and government reporting.
00:24:43 Allan Robson and the modern movement of the University. Predecessor did not change things the same way. Paul Johnson and his direction. University’s financial approach. Serving on Academic Board. Elected member. The system of the voting and decision-making on the academic board. Academic Council more operational. Elected to board and within the board. Interest in policy making and nominating.
00:30:37 Experiences of initiatives at the Business School. Name change. Ken Robertson. Perceptions of the school. Paul McLeod and the new building. Old perceptions of the front door and the sheep pens. Renovations and locations for the new school. Tracey Haughton*. Concerns about the design. Restructuring of Faculty. The Graduate School of Management & School of Economics and Commerce.
00:37:40 First time for the restructure happening from within. New course structure. Postgraduate offerings and future initiatives. Rewriting the MBA rules. Slow evolutionary system. Overall University structure. Structures of the BCom.
00:43:27 Personal ability to do academic work. Tutor and lecturer and administration. Course structures and assessing learning directives. Lecturers and extra duties. Growth in administrative responsibility. Interactions and specific individual skills. Formal performance measures. Accountability.



Interview 3

00:00:00 Ideas of internationalisation of University of Western Australia. The change of emphasis. Contacts with polytechnics in Singapore. Working harder to maintain 20% of international students. Full time international negotiators employed. Reason for changes. Expense associated with studying in Australia. Projections of the University ranking. In the Group of 8.
00:04:32 Paul Johnson* and the international standing. The success of the response to change. Technology and online courses. Stanford University and interaction. Lectures online. Gradual evolution, Second Life and online word. Virtual university. The University experience about more than just a degree. Removing structural barriers. Bureaucracy and the academics’ time. Annual development report writing.
00:12:00 Encouragement of leadership and of staff. University of Western Australia on a global scale. Number 96. Ratings and impact. Nobel Prize winner. Building beyond a community outside Australia. Specialization using target areas. MBA in mining. Change in the collective character of the staff. Long-term and staff moving on. Staff career path.
00:18:15 Personal future and direction. Enjoying the job. Concerns and question of the new student. Idea and exchange. Few examples of discipline and misconduct. The character of the school system. Students less self-effacing. Students have a greater sense of self.
00:23:12 Recollections of misconduct. PROSH pranks and the shiny new Volvo. Hole dug in the terrace and the lobster. The nature of the sense of camaraderie. Fewer characters at the university. Barriers and sense of fun. Demands on time. Sense of community and sense of home. Entering the system and leaving the institution.
00:30:21 Looking back on the experience to date. The university on the edge of the world. University of Western Australia technology and international image perception. Phrase that springs to mind. UNIVERSITY. The University that does not need qualification.
00:33:46

Lloyd, Interview 1, Track 1
Lloyd, Interview 1, Track 2
Lloyd, Interview 1, Track 3