The last time I blogged on this subject I was ridiculed by an academic from another University on Twitter. Well good on him - shows we are getting noticed and if we gave him cause to laugh I am happy to do that. I like a good laugh myself.
When we set out about three years ago to make the University financially sustainable in two years, a strong regional in five years and a great University in 10 years many scoffed. But last week at the Senior Leaders Conference about 80 leaders reflected on what has been achieved and where we would go next.
There is now no doubt about our finances. Domestically we are just about the fastest growing university in Australia. A recent article in The Australian demonstrated that our finances are the envy of many in the sector. We had a good operating surplus last year. We have invested tens of millions in the past three years to put us in a very strong financial position. Yes our international student numbers are down but we have implemented innovative strategies on our metropolitan campuses to minimise the impact of the international down turn. So our two-year goal has been met and our reputation is in the ascendency.
We said we were going to be a strong regional university within five years. I would argue that we have met this goal in three years. We now offer about 30 new programs which are meeting the skills needs of the communities that we serve. Potential students love what we are doing - our Term 2 offers are up 70% on this time last year. We have made a stepped improvement in our research outputs. We are attracting some great researchers to our University. We are a strong regional university.
We have modified our five year goal. We now plan to be one of Australia's strongest universities.
So now to our ten year goal. We will be a great University by 2020. Last week all senior leaders in the University agreed that this was possible. We started to define what a great university would mean for us. It will mean being:
Australia's most engaged university
A dual sector university
Australia's leading DE provider
A national university
A university that gives back
A research intensive university
An inclusive university
We are going to make this happen. Many will laugh and scoff - it does not matter - we are going to make this happen.
Scott
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
When we set out about three years ago to make the University financially sustainable in two years, a strong regional in five years and a great University in 10 years many scoffed. But last week at the Senior Leaders Conference about 80 leaders reflected on what has been achieved and where we would go next.
There is now no doubt about our finances. Domestically we are just about the fastest growing university in Australia. A recent article in The Australian demonstrated that our finances are the envy of many in the sector. We had a good operating surplus last year. We have invested tens of millions in the past three years to put us in a very strong financial position. Yes our international student numbers are down but we have implemented innovative strategies on our metropolitan campuses to minimise the impact of the international down turn. So our two-year goal has been met and our reputation is in the ascendency.
We said we were going to be a strong regional university within five years. I would argue that we have met this goal in three years. We now offer about 30 new programs which are meeting the skills needs of the communities that we serve. Potential students love what we are doing - our Term 2 offers are up 70% on this time last year. We have made a stepped improvement in our research outputs. We are attracting some great researchers to our University. We are a strong regional university.
We have modified our five year goal. We now plan to be one of Australia's strongest universities.
So now to our ten year goal. We will be a great University by 2020. Last week all senior leaders in the University agreed that this was possible. We started to define what a great university would mean for us. It will mean being:
Australia's most engaged university
A dual sector university
Australia's leading DE provider
A national university
A university that gives back
A research intensive university
An inclusive university
We are going to make this happen. Many will laugh and scoff - it does not matter - we are going to make this happen.
Scott
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Brisbane Airport
2 comments:
How is the dual sector proposal progressing? there hasn't been any updates for a while.
Thanks for your comment Wendy. Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve given an update on how the University’s dual-sector plans are progressing. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty happening. The merger with CQ TAFE is progressing well; the due diligence process is now complete and we are hopeful the Qld Government will reach a positive decision in the next few months. The Commonwealth’s $74M will then begin to flow, and we can start working at pace towards day one of being Queensland’s first dual sector institution.
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