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THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS

ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM

ANNUAL REPORT 1977

General Comments

The Administrative Studies Program is broadly concerned with policy analysia and evaluation, policy decision making and policy implementation. The program is designed in such a way that it i's both multidisciplinary, in that it involves a role for the variety of skills necessary for the attainment of the program objective, and interdisciplinary, in as much as a set of disciplinary skills and methodologies must be demonstrated to form a composite, coherent body of knowledge, and formally integra~ed in a new synthesis or way of thinking and approaching policy analysis, decision making and implementation'. The program is intended to be problem oriented rather than discipline constrained. Although the Master of Admin­istrative Studies is a course work degree, the need to remain "policy relevant"' requires that staff integrate their teaching wi1;h research activities. ·

Courses

The Master of Administrative Studies Program is defined ~o comprise, first, eight degree units, the interdiscipl·'.nary seminar and the dissertation and, second, a set of bridging units in fields of Accounting, Statistics, Economics, Psychology, Law and Politics. These bridging units would require up to a maximum of one year full- ' time or two years part-time, the time depending on the student's previous qualifications.

The eight degree year units comprise two semester units of Economic Policy Analysis, two semester units of Applied Systems Analysis, and one semester unit of Procurement and Analysis of Data, Financial Reporting and Accountability, the Politics of Policy Formation and Administration, and the ·Psychological Aspects of Policy Development. The interdisciplinary seminar is an attempt to link methodology to real world problem solving by way of case studies, projects and evaluation of published reports.

Enrolments and Examination Results

In 1977, five graduates of the M.A.S. Program were awarded their degrees. Twenty-two degree year students were enrolled ·­three on a full-time basis, and some eighteen students will complete the degree at the end of February 1978, b~ the submission of a dis~ serta tion~ · ·

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Other students enrolled in the program are engaged in bridging and/or quaiifying work. (Bridging units are those required to intro­duce the student to one of the degree year subjects in which he has no previous experience; qualifying units are those taken by students who require either to upgrade their previous degree to at least an honours !IA or to broaden their previo~s qualifications). Thirty­four students in total were enrolled -in the .program in 1977. In addition to the twenty-two enrolled in the degree units there were twelve students undertaking some form of qualifying/bridging work,

Student participation and work of graduate students.

Major student parti,c-ipation in the program comes by way of the interdis6iplinary seminar:.• In 1977 the activities included:

1. An evaluation of the Fox Commission of Inquiry. into uranium mining;

2. The preparation of a submission for the Committee of Inquiry into Education and Training; : and

3. An overview and evaluation of the broad objectives of the M.A.S. Program.

I.n ... addition to ~h.ese fonual projects two workshop week-end's were held with students at which a number of management simulation ', ~ames were undertaken.

Staff •• • "l •

Professor: f,.~d J:~~~gram Director:

J. Cutt; M.A.(Edinburgh), M.A., Ph.D.(Toronto)

Senior Lecturer:

J. Tydeman, B.Sc.Hons, M.Sc.(Sydney), B.Ec.(A.N.U.)

Research Assistants:

... ~ . S. Jackson) B.A.(Newcastle) B. Quinn

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.The research base, which was established in 1975 and 1976 was maintained at;td developed thr.oughout 1977. Three major research projects were comp!~te~;· )ii.:.· · ,, ' · 1. A dynamic simulation model of income support policy in Australia

was developed and tested using a Social Welfare Commission Research Grant.

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2. A conceptual model of resource allocation in· tertiary education was constructed using ·.· a grant· from the Aus~ralian Advisory Committee for Research and Develop~ent in aducation.

3. A study o£'··~~$~µt~~ all.ocation :J,n the health de1ivery system in : L Australia inr th~ · context of uncertairity was presented to the Hospitals Qnd Health Services Commission. (This was funded by way of a HHSC grant).

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In 1977 two major research initiatives were begun in the areas of accountability, efficiency and effectiveness within the public sector and health manpower and training needs over the next two decades.

In addition to research, the teaching staff were engaged in con­ducting seminars and workshops for public sector and private sector organisations including the Joint Services Staff College, Institute of Administration, Department of Construction, Department of Science and Westrail.

Three workshop seminar sessions on policy evaluation were condµc,t~d for the Centre for Continuing Education. Seminar topics were:

1. Health-manpower ~nd training needs,

2. Government assistance to the performing arts, and

3. Resource allocation in post secondary education.

During 1977 Professor Cutt and the Comptroller General of the U.S.A. were jointly responsible for conducting a series of seminars in each of the capital cities on accountability and efficiency aud-its.

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Mr. Tydeman was invited to present papers to the ANZSERCH Con­ference, Adelaide, May (''An approach to evaluating alternative modes of consumer participation in Community Health Centres"; ANZAAS Con­ference, Melbourne, August ("Subjective Probabilities and Scenarios"); and ASOR Conference, Adelaide, August ("Working with Subjective Data or Extending Analysis into Managerial Judgements").

Publications

4- t Cutt, J. with Nagourcka, B. 1 and Dixon, J. "An Application of

Simulation to the Analysis of Welfare Policies", Queensland University Press, 1977, in a volume entitled Simulation and Modelling.

t t Cutt, J. with Nagourcka, B. and Dixon, J. A Dynamic Simulation Model of Income Support Policy in Australia, Administrative Studies Program, Research Monograph Series No. 2, A.N.U. Press, November, 1977.

t Cutt, J. with Staats, E.B. Efficiency Audits in Government, ASA Publications, Bulletin No. 20, 1977.

t Tydeman, J. with Mitchell, R.B. Subjective Conditional Probability Modelling, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1977.

Tydeman, J. with ~Iitchell, R.B.t !forking with Subjective Data or Extending Analysis into Managerial Judgements, published in R.G.J. Mills (ed.) "Proceedings of the 3rd National Conference of the Australian Society of Operations Research", R.M. Osborne, 1977, pp.38-64.

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I t ' Tydeman, J. wi.th· Mc~hon, A.M. A Systems Framework for Library .

Analy};lis, 'paper ·published in the proceedings of the NATO sponsored International Conference on Applied General Systems Research, Binghampton, U.S.A., August, 1977 • . ' :_,._;' :• . . . .·.

Tydeman, ·J ~' :: Evaluating . Alt"ernative Modes of Consumer Part.icipation in COniinuni.ty .. Health Setvfces, Australian Journal bf Socia,l Issues, VoL' ·12, Nb. 4, 1977, pp~ 2s·1-293.

t t Tydeman, J. with Mitchell, R.B. and Curnow, R. Scenario Generation:

:... · _L_i_m_i_t_a.,..t ... "i_o_n_s_a_n_d_D_e_v_e_l_o .... 'p_m_e_n_t_s_i_n_C_r_o_..s_s_-_I_m_.p_a_c_' t_An_a_l_.y._s_i_s, Fut'ures, Vol. <J;'No. 3, 1977, pp.205-215.

t .. Tydeman, J. with Mitchell, R.B. Subjective Futures for Decision

Making, Administrative .Studies Program, Resear:ch Monograph No. 3, 1977.

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t Not . a memb~r o·f this Un:i,-v:ersity.

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