Paul Sherlock, the University of South Australia’s UniSA first chief information officer, is scheduled to retire after 20 years in the position. Sherlock, also in charge of the university’s library in Adelaide, will leave his role at the end of the year.
Sherlock joined UniSA in September 2001 as the director of information strategy and technology services, a position he maintained until becoming the university’s first CIO in February 2013. Between September 2011 to June 2017, he served as the university’s project director for the federally sponsored National Research Network project. Before joining UniSA, Sherlock spent over 12 years at the Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and ten years at BHP. In an interview, Sherlock emphasized the radical changes in the role of technology for the institution throughout his tenure, with digital migrating from the margins to the center. With technology invading every element of life, he claims that students, like clients in any business, now have “constantly growing anticipation of what you can give for them.”
UniSA has initiated the search for a new “high-impact technology leader” to manage the information strategy and technology service business. In response to Covid-19, the institution has recently concentrated on preserving service delivery for its students and employees by ensuring they can continue learning and working from home. “That has transferred into helping people to study online and, early on, from overseas,” he added. However, Sherlock stated that, while it has “been a really hectic period,” the institution’s use of a hybrid delivery strategy before the pandemic meant that the university was well-positioned to transition to a completely online delivery model. “We have the majority of the tools and infrastructure to achieve it.” “All we had to do was swiftly raise certain of our capacity,” he explained.
UniSA is also working on a “360 degree picture of students” based on Oracle software, aggregating knowledge from their freshman year until graduation. “We’ve now reached the point where we have a very consolidated picture of a student’s experiences with the institution that we want to be able to utilise to create the greatest customer satisfaction,” he added.
In response to the increase in risks during the pandemic, UniSA has increased its cyber security team and is increasingly aiming to incorporate security in “every element of its operation,” according to Sherlock. “You can’t simply have a little group of three or four people sitting off to the side saying, you know, ‘our responsibility is cyber,'” he said, adding that the institution is still looking for a chief information security officer. Sherlock intends to spend more time with his growing family while serving on several boards, notably St Peter’s Girls’ School. “I depart quite happy with what I’ve been able to do and on very good terms with the institution, and I want to continue to be affiliated in some manner in the future.” “It’s a fantastic position that will provide you a lot of opportunities to make a lot of impact in a dynamic field.”