The Canterbury institution will no longer be a stand-alone traditional university, instead being reorganised and repurposed to become an enabler of collaborative initiatives involving multiple parties and various academic fields of study.
It aims to help solve the “grand challenges” of the land-based sector, Lincoln vice-chancellor Professor Robin Pollard said.
“The Transformation Board report has set a high bar for the institution to achieve a globally ranked top-five agriculture university and a top-five university in New Zealand.”
The model is a radical change from the traditional university model but is the right one for a new era in tertiary education and to meet the modern challenges facing the land-based sector, he said.
“Many might wonder how we intend to realise this lofty ambition.
“After all, the report, while insightful about the issues Lincoln faces, offers few specific solutions by which the goal will be achieved.”
Pollard said it was clear nothing short of radical structural change would be sufficient.
“My team and I have embarked on significant and ongoing change, which we believe will in time place Lincoln University in the top academic ranks, domestically and internationally.
“By grand challenges, I mean sustainable food production, more efficient land use, restoring and protecting water sources and fortifying the resilience of NZ’s ecosystems.”
The issues are global challenges and when addressed will put Lincoln at the forefront of both academic endeavour and real-world problem resolution, Pollard said.
At the heart of Lincoln’s revolution is the collaborative network involving the university’s academics and students, researchers from the Crown research institutes and sector organisations, academics from other tertiary institutions, both in NZ and overseas and, in time, more private sector companies.
Substantive collaboration is already under way and underpinned by the harmonised self-interest of each party to make the arrangements work.
“All parties have to do research – universities to build reputation and CRIs to generate revenue.
“These motivations do not preclude co-operation and in fact the different strengths of each partner enhance the capability of the overall collaborative network.
“The value for students, studying cheek by jowl with NZ’s finest scientists, industry researchers and academics is likewise enhanced and will drive enrolments.”
The new structure is based around disciplines and initiatives.
The collaboration between the different parties will be organised around the initiatives so the learning is results-based and delivers value to all participants.
Each initiative will have a specific timeframe. Pollard suggested four to eight years, ensuring the constant refreshment and relevance of Lincoln’s academic programmes and the ongoing delivery of value to students, partners and investors.
The process of defining the disciplines and setting the initiatives is already under way.
Criteria had been internally established and is set to go to the CRIs and other partners for consultation.
Partnerswill contribute members to an advisory board that will finalise the criteria for the disciplines and initiatives and implement them..
“We’re looking to get multiple initiatives up and running early in 2018 and we will develop and populate the other initiatives as we grow and substantiate the success of the new multidisciplinary, multi-institutional model.”
Pollard said collaboration has been ongoing for many years, more so since 2012, but on an ad-hoc basis.
“What we’re doing now is systemising it at an institutional level.”
Lincoln already has a programme that illustrates what the initiative programme will look like – the biological protection research centre, funded through the Tertiary Education Commission.
The centre is a result-focused, highly collaborative project involving researchers from the CRIs, other universities and elsewhere working alongside Lincoln lecturers and students to discover and resolve biological protection issues for NZ.
It is a nationally important project and shows how Lincoln will operate in the coming years to deliver nationally and internationally important research and innovative solutions to the issues facing the land-based sectors around the world, Pollard said.
Lincoln has already committed more than $1 million this year to a recruitment drive to attract international researchers to head Lincoln’s initiatives projects.
“We will be bringing in the best we can attract from around the world and we are agnostic in our approach.
“For instance, if one of our initiatives involves water quality and restoration involving students, educators and researchers it may make sense to increase our capability by bringing in a leader from Massey University.
“Whoever is best equipped to do the job is welcome at Lincoln, both for education and research.”
