Opinion
It isn’t easy being George Williams.
Unless you are George Williams; in which case, it seems like there’s not much choice in the matter and you have to just get on with it.
There is no one more authentic in the HE sector than the man currently serving as Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor and the highly influential Chair of the 2050 Alliance. By authentic I mean the public and private face that he presents appear to be identical.
George, or ‘that guy on tik-tok’ as he is known around campus, is perhaps the most visible in a new crop of HE leaders, who have eschewed the traditional command and control template for a leadership style distinctive for being collaborative, transparent, principled and hubris-free.
That’s not to say the new breed or the new style are perfect, (or sometimes, even sufficiently effective) or that the divide and conquer approach is not still working for some institutions. But it does mean that the new breed of leaders have a visibility and a brand value to their institutions that the iron fist brigade cannot match.
The presidentialisation of our university system has been driven by the attention of naysayers and discontented staff on the salaries, actions, words and deeds of Vice-Chancellors at the expense of all others. This include the executive teams they lead, who are also on often stratospheric pay packets with shared accountability for policies and outcomes, but far less public scrutiny.
The rise in visibility of the figurehead leader has also meant that when you have a good talker, happy to put themselves out there regularly, you have a brand weapon to make up for some of the millions that your institution lacks in advertising budget. Think the explosion of University of Canberra’s profile under the media savvy stewardship of Bill Shorten and his inner circle. The growth of Victoria University under Adam Shoemaker and the first steps forward of Adelaide under Nicola Phillips – just to name a few.
The power of an engaging VC able to connect to staff and community is not an essential attribute to brand growth and community esteem, but it is a powerful tool when available.
Herein lies the challenge in marketing the modern university, especially one facing as many challenges as Western Sydney. The development of a new brand campaign and the story behind it is far more than marketing – it’s about operational sustainability for the institution – which is why we will be featuring a session by George Williams and Western’s Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Younis providing their take on why and how they have rebranded at HE FEST next month. That will be their take. This version is strictly my own.
George Williams entered the VC club two years ago and immediately started to attract headlines, of the good kind. Speaking out against inequality, student fees, poverty and yes even VC pay, he has been one of the highest profile university leaders in the Australian media over the past couple of years. Uninvested in the prestige of the role, he has also pioneered a path in collaboration with his social media team, building Western’s profile on Tik-Tok and other key platforms with often humorous takes on the often grindingly-boring minutiae of university student comms.
He faced a range of difficult decisions to bring the university’s structure and budget in line with revenue challenges, which he talked about in a recent interview.
After surfing an upwards brand trajectory for Western on the back of brand George for two years it is probably then a bit of a heart in mouth moment for the marketing department to try to redefine the University’s brand. Especially since the last big marketing pivot back in 2015 proved to be one of the most memorable and yet ineffective HE marketing moves in recent times; a $20m campaign notable for featuring the powerful story of Deng Adut – and ushering in a new logo, but fewer students. Despite the big spend, commencing students declined in 2016 and still hadn’t caught up in 2017, and Western’s share of the NSW commencing student market shrank from 10.2 to 8.9% during this time, as increasing numbers of students went elsewhere.
As custodians of a distinctive and now well-established visual identity for the university, Western have chosen to leave their logo alone this time; and the brand refresh revolves around a new corporate messaging and ad campaign Charge Towards Change.
The rebrand is significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is grounded in a hefty chunk of market research which shows that students recognise – and presumably are apprehensive about – changing employment options and education expectations, particularly post arrival of Gen AI.
Secondly, it is a recognition that while Brand George worked, no doubt better than expected, an institution cannot coast indefinitely on the coat tails of an individual, particularly given fickleness of audiences towards individuals.
Western Sydney needed to build broader bridges to connect with prospective students. At a time when higher-status universities are pitching places and scholarships to the best and brightest in Sydney’s west, Western could no longer rely on charm and a home ground advantage.
So the university has chosen to not resist or dismiss change, but instead bond itself to it, seeking to be known as the institution that equips graduates with the skills ready to adapt to whatever is ahead.
This is a clever position – not requiring institutional reputation to be staked on predicting where the world will go at a time of great unpredictability, but instead be like an adventure outfitter – allies for the journey ahead.
It’s early days and the team clearly didn’t have $20m to play with this time around, but it is a strong position to own if it can evolve the brand alongside the things that stimulate or scare students of the future.
So where does that leave the man himself?
A prominent advocate for lowering VC salaries and setting them via an independent mechanism, George has been an outspoken critic of the cost of degrees ever since he stepped into his role two years ago, and appears completely comfortable being out of step with the hubris, hardness and assumed veneer of infallibility that have been associated with occupants of The Big Chair at other institutions in the past.
His affinity for the people of the west comes from his own childhood. Brought up for most of his childhood by a single mum, often with not enough food on the table, he was threatened with expulsion from primary school four times, he told the Future Campus HE People & Performance conference.
“I spent a good time off the rails. I was absolutely the kid that no one wanted in their class,” Professor Williams said.
“One of the key turning points in my life was actually when I was about 9 or 10, when I was facing yet another detention and the teacher said, "Look, we both know that this is just such a regular occurrence. Let's just put you on permanent detention. 'Cause it doesn't matter what happens, we know you're gonna have a detention every week."
“And my response was to say, "That seems a bit unfair. I haven't actually done anything for the future weeks yet." I absolutely accepted that it was going to happen, but maybe it was my lawyer instincts coming out early.
“The teacher did put me on permanent detention every Thursday lunchtime in year 5 in primary school. And that teacher spent an hour with me every Thursday lunchtime, educating me essentially, and saw something in me and basically constructed this detention in order to spend time with me. And that was absolutely a turning point in my life from having been off the rails because suddenly I started to get self-esteem.
“I felt somebody believed in me. I actually started to enjoy learning, and for the first time I thought, well, maybe I can make something of myself. Maybe I can do something that matters.
“That particular story is one that's really resonated with me because in my current job, I just want every person to have the same opportunity.”
Is it hard to find friends at VC gatherings when you have a national profile for speaking out against VC salaries, Job Ready Graduate (JRG) fees and institutional self-interest? Apparently not anymore, as his gang of nine universities in the 2050 Alliance, built on an expanded version of the IRU group, align with Western on many of the key issues that he has spoken about.
With JRG looking entrenched until 2028, a welter of legislation changing the operation of the entire tertiary system and plenty of people in his neighbourhood still unconvinced of the value of a university degree, George Williams has his work cut out for the foreseeable future. Which is no doubt just the way he likes it.
Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor George Williams and Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Younis will present their take on the Western Sydney rebrand and what it means for the future of the university at HE FEST next month.