The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education edited by Elaine Evans, Roger Burritt and James Guthrie inStitute of ChArtered AccountAntS AuStrAliA The Institute is the professional body for Chartered Accountants in Australia and members operating throughout the world. Representing more than 72,000 current and future professionals and business leaders, the Institute has a pivotal role in upholding financial integrity in society. Members strive to uphold the profession’s commitment to ethics and quality in everything they do, alongside an unwavering dedication to act in the public interest. Chartered Accountants hold diverse positions across the business community, as well as in professional services, government, not-for-profit, education and academia. The leadership and business acumen of members underpin the Institute’s deep knowledge base in a broad range of policy areas impacting the Australian economy and domestic and international capital markets. 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The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education edited by Elaine Evans, Roger Burritt and James Guthrie All information is current as at June 2013 First published 2013 Published by: Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia 33 Erskine Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000 Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability, University of South Australia 37–44 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000 Academic Leadership series, volume 4: The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Evans, Elaine. Burritt, Roger. Guthrie, James. Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education/ E. Evans, R. Burritt and J. Guthrie, editors ISSN: 2200-2820 Accounting – Practice 0213-28 Preface Reading the articles in this latest edition of the Academic The volume features 13 articles that challenge our Leadership Series I was struck both by the range of thinking about education, analyse the latest research contributors and the synergies in their work. The articles in online education and provide experiences in the consider one of the grittiest challenges of all – the future. world of the virtual university as it develops. What makes this Academic Leadership Series issue The Institute’s thought leadership activities are part of so particularly compelling is that we are undergoing our strategic objective to invest in accounting education a period of profound change, with the potential of and research including: support for academics in terms technology affecting everything we do. of research funding, participation in wider community That we attempt to confront this issue is testament debates and representation at the highest levels in to the leadership of both the Institute of Chartered government. Our aim is to invest in activity that will Accountants Australia (the Institute) and the Centre meet the needs of our members and future members. for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability at Investment in aligning our organisation, in part, to the the University of South Australia. Together we have needs of accounting academics and transforming our drawn together thinkers from industry and academia links with the academic community is an important to provoke thought about where we are heading and platform for continued dialogue and debate. how we can best equip ourselves as business and On behalf of the Institute I wish to acknowledge those accounting educators and professional bodies to who participated in the Forum and in this volume. meet the challenges of the future head on. The collaborative spirit in which these ventures are In February this year, these leading academics, undertaken demonstrates that wherever the future practitioners, policymakers and leaders of the profession takes us, we are in capable hands. participated in the fourth annual Thought Leadership Forum at The University of South Australia. I was fortunate to be able to attend and the discussion was stimulating to say the least. The debate continues in this collection of articles. While all authors agree that the future holds significant changes for education, particularly higher education, each provide a different Tim Gullifer FCA and equally fascinating perspective. President Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia Preface Universities throughout the world are currently incorporate all of the available technologies but in strategising about the development of massive open a way that adds value. This is the key challenge for online courses (MOOCs) distributed through virtual the universities and the business schools of the technologies. In this context I very much welcome future. We must package our university education the focus of the Centre for Accounting, Governance experience to include technological innovations but and Sustainability (CAGS) / Institute of Chartered also add much more. We cannot compete only on Accountants Australia (the Institute) Forum. Through cost or technology. We have to sell the quality of the the Forum, and through this publication, the issue student experience. We will still educate students of the growing virtual space for accounting education and credential them too, but we will educate in a can now be explored nationally and internationally. different way while continuing to focus on aspects such as networking, linkages, lifestyle and development In recent months I have regularly been asked two of lifetime friends in a package that says, ‘This is the interrelated questions about MOOCs. First, do such university experience’. What we must do is use all of technologically entwined courses mean the end the tools that are available to us, including technology, of the business school, and indeed of departments to make sure that the product we produce is worthy of accounting, as we know them? My view is ‘no’, of the premium price we are going to charge. Because largely because universities will continue to adapt if we cannot convince the market to pay us that price, to the changing competitive environment as they then we will