Our services

Policy and program research and analysis
PhillipsKPA’s consultants have been directly involved in developing and implementing some of Australia’s most far-reaching education and training policies and programs.  To develop comprehensive and robust policy and program advice for our clients, we:

• conduct qualitative and quantitative research projects, nationally and internationally
• research emerging social and community issues, government directions, policy developments and issues, statutory requirements, best practice and benchmarks
• investigate and explain the environments within which our clients operate and the environmental factors that affect them
• research our clients’ external relationships, including stakeholders’ levels of knowledge, attitudes and expectations

Strategic planning and institutional positioning
PhillipsKPA provides strategic advice to education authorities and institutions around Australia and overseas.  We work with our clients to:

• analyse the environments within which our clients operate and provide advice to better position them to sustain organisational efficiency and effectiveness within changing environmental circumstances 
• provide strategic advice about the teaching, research, community service and commercial activities that will set them above their competitors
• design and manage institution-specific planning processes for organisational change
• facilitate professional development, improve performance management, and build staff support for change
• improve outcomes from their relationships with governments and their agencies, and interpret and influence government decision-making

Organisation, policy and program evaluation
PhillipsKPA reviews and evaluates the performance, systems, programs and policies of education institutions and government and other public organisations.  We work with our clients to:

• help clarify their objectives
• assess strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement
• apply our knowledge of effective practices in similar organisations
• recommend future courses of action

Quality assurance and benchmarking
PhillipsKPA helps education institutions and authorities reassure their stakeholders about the quality of their programs and services. We work with our education authority and institution clients to:

• develop quality assurance frameworks best suited to their institution’s particular mission
• evaluate existing quality processes and develop benchmarks;
• conduct quality reviews
• draw on our extensive knowledge of international quality assurance resources and approaches to conduct self-reviews to develop the best-possible quality approach
• meet the requirements (in the case of universities) of the Australian Universities Quality Assurance Agency

Resourcing models, strategies and management systems
PhillipsKPA helps our education institution clients effectively address the challenges of expanding their sources of income and controlling their expenditure to meet the demands on institutional budgets.  PhillipsKPA helps education institutions and other public organisations to build robust management reporting systems that will provide the information needed for decision-making.

We work with our education authority and institution clients to:

• develop and implement financial strategies and models to generate income and control expenditure
• produce financial planning and management models
• draw on our substantial knowledge of approaches to institutional budgeting to advise our clients on effective resource allocation models and ways to improve the linkages between strategic and resource allocation plans
• advise on remuneration, incentives and rewards strategies.

Support for institutional leaders
PhillipsKPA helps institutional leaders maintain their clarity of purpose and direction in the face of the sector’s – and their institution’s – complexity and daily challenges.  We work with education authority and institution leaders to:

• help newly promoted academic leaders make the transition from discipline specialist to team leader, strategist and change agent
• make presentations to senior management workshops and seminars
• run conferences and seminars on important issues affecting institutional leaders
• help individual leaders focus on their values and goals, build on their earlier successes and understand what it takes for them to perform at an optimum, yet sustainable, pace.