Provost Rebekah Brown is settling in as Interim VC at ANU, with her package and priorities announced Friday
Professor Brown will receive $950,000 plus $30,000 super and the option to live in the official residence at market rates – thus keeping her pay just below the campus ire-inducing $1m pain point.
She told staff that she would continue while the Council recruits the next Vice-Chancellor, without providing a timeline for that process.
She specified six priorities in a message to staff – only two of which are specific; a balanced budget position by end ’26 and creating a “new budget and planning model.”
Others reflect the circumstances of her appointment, the staff revolt that brought down Genevieve Bell, including “leading the co-design and development of our next university strategy.” Others mean whatever Professor Brown wants them to mean, “strengthening engagement and trust” and “academic performance and impact.”
Professor Brown’s immediate agenda is to secure staff support by committing to a “transparent plan that unites us,” including a “a community led co-design” of the next university strategy, a quarterly staff survey – “a formal opportunity for you to be heard” and “a council endorsed set of principles to guide future change programs.”
Just about the only initiative that could improve university income, the need for which started ANU’s year-long crisis, is “redevelopment of the overseas student attraction strategy.”