In Real Time

Abstract

This paper uses the personal and professional experiences of two academics working on a collaboration project in order to elicit some general principles of practice for similar undertakings. This paper shows that it is possible to find a resolution to the tension between the human and the bureaucratic that often exists when working in collaboration in the tertiary sector. The reflective process engaged in by the two collaborators has generated two main proposals. The first is that of a metaphor of working that aligns the essential governance paradigms of the two institutions and has context specificity. The second has more general application and is a set of three principles that has emerged from this work: finding time; making space; and being real. This paper follows the journey of the initial collaboration at a program level between two Northern Territory tertiary institutions; Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (Batchelor Institute) and Charles Darwin University (CDU). This collaboration was generated within a context of change management specific to education course reaccreditation and the opportunities afforded through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). In Real Time is the authors’ personal reflections on a journey motivated by a common goal - ‘to enhance the ability of each institution to fulfil its role and to enrich tertiary education for Indigenous people’ (Batchelor Institute/CDU 2005 p.1)