Rate My Professor Ashley Symes

Ashley Symes serves as the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Centre Manager in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago, a position she has held since November 2016. In this capacity, she coordinates the implementation of IPE policy and strategy, leads a small virtual team of campus-based administrators across Otago's multiple campuses and regional learning centres, and supervises IPE activities hosted by various departments. Symes replaced Michelle O’Brien as project manager and has been instrumental in formalizing the IPE Centre's operations under a matrix model. Her contributions include establishing key aims, functions, and reporting lines; updating terms of reference for the Divisional Interprofessional Education Governance Group (DIPEGG); developing a Divisional IPE website; appointing an IPE director; creating fractional academic campus leader roles; ensuring formal disciplinary representation; and securing dedicated administrative time. These initiatives support coordinated, high-quality IPE learning activities for pre-registration students in health sciences professional programmes, guided by international trends and evidence-based standards.

Symes co-authored the report 'A Curriculum and Quality Framework for Interprofessional Education at Otago: Strategic Plan 2020-2024' (finalized November 2019) with Professor Sue Pullon on behalf of DIPEGG and the IPE Centre. She is first author on 'Programmatic evaluation of interprofessional education: a quality improvement tool' (2024, Journal of Interprofessional Care), with Susan R. Pullon and Eileen McKinlay, which identifies levers for continuous quality improvement in IPE. Additional contributions include co-authorship on 'Interprofessional Competency Acquisition in an Interprofessional Training Ward: Four-week Placement' (Australian Journal of Clinical Education). Prior to her current role, Symes published extensively on governance in South African higher education, including 'The Governance of merger in South African higher education: a research report' (2004), 'Democratisation and quality assurance in South African higher education' (2007), 'South African higher education in the first decade of democracy: From cooperative governance to conditional autonomy' (2005), 'The Culture of Governance in South African Public Higher Education' (2004), and a review of 'Creating public value: Strategic management in government' by Mark Moore (1999). Her work in these areas has garnered 192 citations on ResearchGate, with expertise in governance, policy, quality assurance, public policy analysis, public management, institutional analysis, good governance, and capacity building.