Student experience focus with new Uni appointment

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick
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Monday, 27 February 2012

The University of Adelaide will have a new head to oversee the student experience with the appointment of Professor Denise Kirkpatrick as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience).

In announcing the appointment, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic), Professor Pascale Quester, said that the new role will focus on providing an integrated experience for each student, based on high-quality learning outcomes and encompassing all aspects of University life.

"One of the greatest challenges facing universities in the future is meeting the complex expectations of the modern student," said Professor Quester.

"Professor Kirkpatrick has been at the forefront of creating and delivering strategies that recognise student needs, and more importantly, provide an environment that allows them to truly realise their potential."

"We want every student to complete their degree at our University having immersed themselves in all that higher education has to offer," she said.

Professor Quester said that Professor Kirkpatrick brings a strong understanding of student engagement and significant experience in a variety of learning and teaching settings, in Australian universities and overseas.

"Bringing Professor Kirkpatrick to Adelaide is a key part of our commitment to transforming the student experience. Her academic background and unwavering student-centred approach aligns perfectly with our agenda to further enhance learning and teaching."

Professor Kirkpatrick is currently responsible for the production and delivery of the Open University's learning materials and resources, in addition to the development and implementation of technology-based policy on learning and teaching.

She said that she was pleased to be joining the academic and student community at Adelaide and welcomed the opportunity to support the University's investment in teaching and learning.

"I am delighted to be joining such a prestigious and well regarded university," she said. "I'm looking forward to working with a vibrant campus community and particularly to ensuring that we use Hub Central to its fullest. Technology can really make a difference to the ways in which students learn and I believe that the University is really well positioned to provide our students with a rich, high quality, contemporary education. I'm excited about the opportunity to work with the University staff to achieve this."

BACKGROUND

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick has worked as an academic and senior leader and manager in open and distance, dual-mode and on-campus universities in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has worked as Pro Vice-Chancellor at the Open University (UK) and La Trobe University, Australia and led the strategic development of open, distance and e-learning in Australian universities including Monash, University of New England and Charles Sturt University. Denise has work as a consultant in Australia, Europe, South-East Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

She is an international auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency and the Austrian Quality Agency. She researches and publishes in the fields of open, distance and e- learning, and quality in Higher Education. Professor Kirkpatrick was President of the Australasian Council of Open, Distance and E-learning (ACODE) from 2003 - 2007 and is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Council on Distance and E-learning (ICDE).

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