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ED257332.Pdf DOCUMENT RESUME ED 257 332 HE 018 360 AUTHOR Meek, V. Lynn TITLE Brown Coal or Plato? A Study of the Gippsland Institute of A 'Ivanced Education. ACER Research Series No. 105. INSTITUTION Ala lien Council for Educational Research, Haw, rn. REPORT NO ISBN-0-85563-373-5 PUB DATE 84 NOTE ?08p. AVAILABLE FROMAustralian Council for Educational Research, 9 Frederick Street, Hawthorn, Australia. 3122 PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Advisory Committees; Bachelors Degrees; Case Studies; *College Administration; College Role; *Curriculum Development; Educational History; *Foreign Countries; Government Role; Postsecondary Education; Research Methodology; Rural Schools; School Business Relationship; *School Community Relationship; *School Organization; Statewide Planning; Teacher Education; Technical Education IDENTIFIERS *Australia (Victoria); *Gippsland Institute of Advanced Educ (Australia) ABSTRACT The relationship between the internal structure of the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (GIAE) in rural Australia and the structure of the social and physical environment are considered, based on a sociological case study. A review of higher education covers the technical school system, the development of colleges of advanced education in Victoria, the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Advanced Education, and the Victoria Institute of Colleges. In addition to reviewing the history, current problems, and future concerns of GIAE, attention is directed to early efforts to found new academic programs and upgrade existing courses, the establishment of the School of Education, and the introduction of the Bachelor of Arts degree. Competing paradigms of institutional management and academic decision-making are addressed, along with the influence of the region's power generation industry on the need for technological education and the structure and character of GIAE. Theoretical and methodological considerations are also discussed, including the case study method, the concepts of community and environment, evaluation research, organizational analysis, and participant observation. (SW) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ****i****************************************************************** U $ 0 .0ANTINENT Of EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO N TIONAL INSTITUTE Of EDUCATION MATERIAL IN REPRODUCETHIS EP ATIONAL FASOURCES INfORNIATH1N HAS BEEN MICROFICHEONLY CENTER 1FRCf GRANTEC BY GocAffnent NI* polio repcoducedifs fciyd From the personcilosganuation °ow 3ting ,I Mono' changes nave been crier& to irowovi reprodui 1YUI ,gualty 4 4i "?. TO THE Pants nt vww Ir oolmunS5171,1n this docti EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES ntCeSSanlyIMO official NIE CENTER (ERIC)" Ofpolicy --...7. .{- ,,, -- -;.-:,-..'-::',---,' ..-,..:, r ._:,:".....--,,,,'?-,,,L. ') _,::*.... '''' 4L--L-22".1,tr.s4, <...,:,.:''k --,.., rr ' d-.':.L.' A, I.'" ,,..-::,.,- ,, .- i, _ : ..-ft - ,'";,;,,-..,7 -` --,')';4,3:;,,,;. rs.N.......) 2 Errata p. 76 Footnote 12 should occur after '.. is competitive sport'. p. 83 Sentence: 'Robertson was Manager, Power Generation . after 32 years of service'. should occur as main text not quoted matter. p. 85 Sentence: 'In an interview, Hopper was asked why he was interested in the position'. should occur as main text not quoted matter. p. 94 Sentence: 'In his letter, Robertson said that, in the light ... 3.3 million dollars in capital funds'. should occur as main text at quoted matter. p. 142 Top two lines should read: . political process of interest articulation - policy decisionsexecution generation of new conflicts (pp. 11) 26). p. 170 For 'Greenwood (1978, 1981), ..' read 'Greenfield (1978, 1981), The ACER gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Committee on Research and Graduate Studies of the University of Melbourne in the preparation of this publication. BROWN COALOR PLATO? A STUDY OF THE GIPPSLANDINSTITUTE OF ADVANCEDEDUCATION V. LYNN MEEK Australian Council for Educational Research ACER Research Series No. 105 Published by The Australian Council for Educational Research Limited Radford House, Frederick Street, Hawthorn Victoria 3122 Typeset direct from Wang diskette to Itek typesetter at the ACER Printed and bound by Brown Prior Anderson Pty Ltd 5 Evans Street, Burwood, Victoria125 Cover design by Louise Coutts National Library of Australia Cataloguingin-Publication data. Meek, V. Lynn (Vincent Lynn), 1943 . Brown coal or Plato? Bibliography. ISBN 0 85563 373 5. 1. Gipps land Institute of Advanced EducationHistory. 2. Educational sociologyAustralia. 3. Education, RuralAustralia. 4. Universities and colleges AustraliaHistory. I. Australian Council for Educational Research. IL Title. (Series: ACER research series; no. 105). 370'.19'34 Copyright 0 V. Lynn Meek 1984 Note on the author Lynn Meek's special interests lie in the field of the sociology of 'complex organizations' and social theory and method. Dr Meek has studied in the 1lnited States and the United Kingdom, and is now a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne. CONTENTS Page Foreword vii Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xv Part I Theory and Method 1 Theoretical and Methodological Considerations Part IIHistory and Background 2 Some Aspects of the Structure and Development 25 of Australian Higher Education 3 The Gippsland Inotitute of Advanced Education 50 and its Region 4 Ancestry and Heritage 66 Part III Metamorphosis: A New Institution froman old Structure 5 A New Image 81 6 An Institution in Transition: Intended and 91 Unintended Consequences of Development 7 Structural Conflict and Normative Behaviour: 119 The Case of Competing Paradigms of Institutional Management and Academic Decision Making 8 Conclusion 179 Part IV The Institution in its Exogenous Environment 9 Educational Change in the Context of 189 Environmental and Historical Influences Page 10 The Future: The Role of a Multi-Level, 234 Multi-Purpose Tertiary Educational Institution in a Rural Region Part IV Conclusion 11 A Brief Theoretical Review 257 Notes and References 271 Bibliography 281 Tables 1 GIAE Student Enrolments by Mode of Study 62 (full-time, part-time, external) for the Years 1970-81 2 GIAE Effective Full-time Tertiary Student 64 Enrolments in Each School for the Years 1970-81 (not including single course or short course enrolments) 3 Length of Service of GIAE 1980 Academic Staff 4 1980 Year 12 Enrolments in Gippsland High 239 Schools and Registered Secondary Schools Figures 1 Victoria and the Gipps land Region 51 2 GIAE Authority Structure, 1981 147 Plates 1 Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education: 54 The Rose Garden 2 The Yallourn Power Station in the Latrobe Valley 58 3 Interior of Hazelwood Power Station 74 4 Drama Rehearsal in the Video Studio at the 87 Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education 5 Coal Dredge at Work in the Open Cut Mine 216 6 Yarram Farm Land with the Loy Yang Power 244 Station in the Distance vi FOREWORD This sociological case study by Dr Lynn Meek providesan in-depth organizational analysis of the Gipps land Instituteof Advanced Education (GIAE), a regional college of advancededucation located in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. With the aim of makingan evalua- tive study through exploring behaviour of members of theorgani- zation in relation to structural and historical forces, DrMeek has substantially increased our understanding about thecharacter, functions, and role dilemmas of Australian collegesof advanced education in general, and of regional colleges inparticular. He has also made an important contribution to the scholarlystudy of both higher education and complex organizations. For almost two decades, colleges of advancededucation have played an increasingly important part in post-secondaryeducation in this country. Their origins go back to the Martin Reporton the future of tertiary education in Australia whichwas presented to the Com- monwealth Government in 1964, althougha number of individual colleges can trace their origins back to technicalinstitutes created late last century. The period immediately afterthe Second World War saw a marked increase in demand for post-secondaryeducation. In response to pleas from state; governments and theuniversities, the Commonwealth Government provided substantial fundsto facilitate university expansion. These fundswere given at first essentially on an cid hoc basis, but in the 1950s, on the recommendations of the Murray Committee, the government of Sir Robert Menziesmade a long-term commitment to supply regular financialsupport to univer- sities. At the same time, it established the AustralianUniversities Commission to provide it with detailed policy advice. Thenin 1961, conscious of the increasing strong demands for studentplaces, the Menzies government appointeda committee chaired by Sir Leslie Martin, the Chairman of the Universities Commission,to consider the pattern of tertiary education required for the futurein relation to needs and resources available. This committee recommendednot only major expansion in student places and numbers ofinstitutions, but also diversification including development, with federalassistance, a of colleges offering higher-level courses with a strongly technological and vocational emphasis. It was the colleges that were developed in line with this recommendation that soon became known as colleges of advanced education (CAEs). It is not
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