Succession Planning and Australian Higher Education

Abstract

There appears to be little systematic discussion of succession planning in Australian universities. A review of the literature internationally on succession planning in higher education institutions reveals that little of it originates in Australia. However, Australian higher education is not unique in not seriously considering the wide-spread use of succession planning. The Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom, Professor Diana Green (in LFHE 2005, p.8) states that: "Succession planning is essential and universities on the whole are not very good at it, I guess for two reasons. One, because we are not very good at talent spotting, but we have had to get better at it not least because in the much more competitive world we live in, if you do not spot your talent, someone else will spot it and seduce it away. So one of the things that we, like many other institutions, are trying to do is to find some effective mechanism for succession planning." Estepp (1998, p.51) also concludes that "in higher education, succession planning does not appear to be practiced, at least not as industry individuals would define it"; and Clunies (2004, p.1) further emphasises that "there is little new research on succession planning in recent years ... and an ongoing dearth of writing about succession planning as applied in higher education". However, just because succession planning has gained little prominence in higher education, particularly in Australia, does not mean that it is not important.