Effectiveness in Education: A Case Study of Victoria University

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of effectiveness, particularly within the context of higher education. It begins by defining effectiveness as the achievement of desired outcomes and explores the complexities of attaining it. The essay then establishes five key criteria for evaluating effectiveness: efficiency, reliability, adaptability, ethical and organizational performance, and synergy. Using Victoria University as a case study, the essay analyzes how the institution applies these criteria to achieve effectiveness, highlighting its strategies for resource management, international partnerships, industry relationships, and stakeholder engagement. The analysis emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach, considering all criteria equally, and underscores the significance of organizational vision, stakeholder management, and corporate social responsibility in driving effectiveness. The essay concludes by emphasizing that focusing on all aspects of effectiveness is crucial for overall success in the competitive landscape of higher education.

Running head: EFFETIVENESS
Effectiveness
Student Name
University name
Author Name

EFFECTIVENESS
The effectiveness is the simple act of desiring something and achieving it rightly.
However, it is not so simple to describe the effectiveness or how exactly one achieves it, as there
are multiple complicated ways. If the university in Sydney is more effective than the university
in Melbourne is not so simple for me to answer. I will select a university, which is capable of
representing other universities and analyze how the university is applying several strategies in
order to achieve the effectiveness. The university will be acting as an education industry partner
and an effective organization in the education business of Australia. Before that I will discuss
and explain what effectiveness is or what its various aspects are. Effectiveness is producing the
desired result and accomplishing the purpose (Darling-Hammond 2013). Effectiveness is a
concept that has immediate implications in real life. The strong relationship between the theories
and the practical implementation are at its core. I will discuss the five key criteria to evaluate the
effectiveness. Efficiency is the first important criteria, which is basically the action part of it.
Through efficiency the organization manages to perform tasks effectively without wasting the
resources. I believe for an educational organization it is very important to be efficient in order to
contribute effectively in the business market. A university like Victoria always focuses on
utilizing the available resources at its fullest. Victoria University is a popular research and
educational organization in the education industry. This Australian university has established
partnership with Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, India, China and USA helps it to
establish its presence effectively in international network (Vu.edu.au 2017). Melbourne campus
utilizes money invested by the foreign exchange students by offering them other tourism degrees.
The study is designed so that it is desirable and achievable for any students from other countries.
The business school of the university has close relationship with the industry which enables the
students to get academic excellence and hands on experience.

EFFECTIVENESS
An effective organization must meet the second criteria which is the reliability. All the
information it is providing, should correlate with each other and deliver a single truth. Victoria
University is in the 19th position in the list of top 50 Generation Y universities (Times Higher
Education (THE) 2017). It received first grade rating from CEO magazine in their 2017 Global
Ranking. The claim to offer limited number of students for each class, industry professional
experts, various study options for international students and vale-for –money. Their consistent
good performance over the years has made them a reliable study option for foreign students, this
is effectively adding to their financial benefit. The university possesses unique quality for self
adapting human factors. Many universities fail to become effective organizations because they
fail to adapt certain changes or needs. Recent controversies about the international students’
dissatisfaction in Australian universities have caused financial and organizational crisis for many
universities in the country (Thecitizen.org.au 2016). The Victoria University with their free
environment and various cultural exchange programs established it as an elegant organization,
which takes it one step ahead to achieving effectiveness. Not only aspects related to ethics or
organizational performance, their role and performance in the business is also important while
measuring its effectiveness. Along with the education industry, the tourism, food beverage and
hotel industries also get benefitted from the students studying in the university. 2009’s Access
Economics report reported that international students spend more than 4 billion on living and
food expenses and more than 6 billion on tuition fees. The family and friends visit them
occasionally which also increase the profit (Cameron 2010). Victoria University implements
premium pricing because of their brand equity which results in effective business. All these parts
add to the organization’s synergy. The various departments and activities are integrated which is
another criteria that contributes significantly to make it an effective organization. The support

EFFECTIVENESS
from the faculty, administrative staff, other staff and students make the effectiveness happen.
However, most people or organizations believe that efficiency is enough to achieve the
effectiveness, I disagree. After researching and analyzing various aspects of effectiveness I came
to realize that several other criteria are as important as efficiency. Majority of the organizations
only concentrate on the efficiency part and ignore the others. In this way overall effectiveness
cannot be achieved. All the factors should be considered and utilized with equal importance in
order to create the best of effectiveness. I believe the vision of the organization plays important
role in the development of effectiveness. The values and vision of the organization lead it to
achieve the effectiveness (Anderson 2016). The Victoria University’s vision is to provide
students with ‘career based tertiary education’ (Vu.edu.au 2017). As I discussed the various
strategies it is developing and implementing to fulfill its vision and mission and eventually
achieving intended goals.
External and internal stakeholders are the key drivers for any effective organization.
Stakeholders are key drivers for any organization’s successful financial run. The organization
must protect the shareholder interest in order to sustain the effectiveness, which is strongly
related to corporate social responsibilities (Benn, Dunphy and Griffiths 2014). The organization
must promote the shareholder value in order to increase the effectiveness. Just like Victoria
University takes initiatives to protect the stakeholders’ interest by updating the VLP partners
about the programs and the student benefits. The university management leadership engages in a
project related to stakeholder management to develop a coherent organizational effectiveness.
The selection of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness was the primary challenge that I had to
face in the initial phase of preparing materials for this essay. The criteria are all interlinked and
work collaboratively in achieving the effectiveness. If an organization focuses on one particular

EFFECTIVENESS
criterion more and ignore the others achieving the effectives gets more difficult. That is the
reason I chose a university which is working on all the aspects with equal importance and is
marking its strong presence in Australian education market. I closely analyzed the criteria in
relationship with the practical example and its activities.

EFFECTIVENESS
References
Anderson, D.L., 2016. Organization development: The process of leading organizational change.
Sage Publications.
Benn, S., Dunphy, D. and Griffiths, A., 2014. Organizational change for corporate
sustainability. Routledge.
Cameron, A. (2010). International students: in our best interests. [online] ABC News. Available
at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-11-10/international_students3a_in_our_best_interests/
40900 [Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].
Darling-Hammond, L., 2013. Getting teacher evaluation right: What really matters for
effectiveness and improvement. Teachers College Press.
The Citizen. (2017). Study finds foreign students often underpaid, mistreated. [online] Available
at: http://www.thecitizen.org.au/news/study-finds-foreign-students-often-underpaid-mistreated
[Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].
Times Higher Education (THE). (2017). Young University Rankings 2017: top 50 Generation Y
universities. [online] Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-
rankings/young-university-rankings-2017-top-50-generation-y-universities [Accessed 19 Aug.
2017].
Vu.edu.au. (2017). International agents | Victoria University | Melbourne Australia. [online]
Available at: https://www.vu.edu.au/study-at-vu/international-students/international-agents
[Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].

EFFECTIVENESS
Vu.edu.au. (2017). Vision, mission & strategy | Victoria University | Melbourne Australia.
[online] Available at: https://www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/vision-mission-strategy [Accessed 19
Aug. 2017].