Opportunities to engage:

• Book to attend a workshop with the Vice-Chancellor this month, to consider new futures for the University and our strategies for those futures
• Provide input to the Macquarie University response to the interim report of the Australian Universities Accord by email to vc@mq.edu.au by 18 August

OUR UNIVERSITY: A FRAMING OF FUTURES

Professor Dowton said Our University: A Framing of Futures had provided a broad strategic frame for the University over the last 10 years.

“The external environment has changed significantly over that time, due most recently to the COVID-19 epidemic and the rapid evolution of many aspects of how organisations work in a post-pandemic environment.”

Professor Dowton said the changes expected through the Australian Universities Accord also made it timely to begin a process over the next few months to define a starting place for some key elements that might frame the University’s future and, from that, derive a new operating plan for the University.

He will be engaging widely across the University in meetings and workshops, on campus and digitally, to draw ideas to guide a framing of ‘new futures’ for the University.  Once that consultation is completed, the process will be paused pending the outcome of the Universities Accord and finalised in early 2024.

Register to attend a workshop >

Professor Dowton said Macquarie’s submission to the Universities Accord process is in development following the mid-July release of the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report. Colleagues are encouraged to contribute to the submission via email to vc@mq.edu.au before 18 August. The Accord panel also welcomes submissions from individuals and groups within universities and the wider community.

EDUCATION STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

The Vice-Chancellor was joined in the Town Hall by Professor Rorden Wilkinson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), to introduce a consultation program on the next stage of the University’s education strategy – the Macquarie Advantage.

Professor Wilkinson reflected that, almost a year after joining Macquarie, he had learned a great deal about the institution and he had been humbled by the welcome he had received.  “The collegial and collaborative culture at Macquarie is very special and I have been impressed by the engagement of students and staff alike.”

In setting out the development of the education strategy, Professor Wilkinson said that much of the work would centre on the benefit that students take from their university education through the rest of their lives and how we might articulate and ensure we continue to deliver on the benefits of a Macquarie University education.

Exploring the concept of Macquarie as a ‘university for everyone’, particularly in the context of the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report, he said “the sector is now challenged to ensure not only equity of access to higher education across a diverse student population, but also equity of success. This would require new thinking on teaching, assessment, feedback and student support services”.

The work on Macquarie Advantage strategy is gathering momentum in five key areas:

• Wellbeing and belonging
• Employability
• Academic excellence
• Digital technology
• Assessment and feedback

A series of consultation and engagement opportunities for staff and students will inform the next phase of strategy development. Opportunities to participate and contribute will be shared with the University community in the coming weeks.

The Town Hall is part of the University’s commitment to regular communication, ensuring staff are up-to-date with strategic priorities so that we can collectively celebrate our achievements.

For staff who missed the Town Hall, here are some of the key points from the Vice-Chancellor’s presentation.

Much to celebrate

• Among the recent achievements commended by the Vice-Chancellor were Associate Professor Ronika Power’s highly prestigious Crawford Medal; the progress to final stage of evaluation for one of our Centre of Excellence applications to the ARC; and recent graduation ceremonies when several thousand new graduates received their degrees.

 Global megatrends are impacting universities

• Notable social shifts include ageing populations, bigger cities and escalating networking power and connectedness.
• Global challenges such as food security, climate change, urbanisation, economic upheaval, and unpredictable epidemics remind us that Macquarie is “in the service of the big questions of today”.
• Universities in many countries are facing pressures from government, particularly regarding funding.
• All these highlight the need for universities to adapt and change to meet societal shifts while standing firm in defending the position of institutional citizenship of universities.

What do we stand for at Macquarie?

• In briefly reviewing the founding of the modern university, the Vice-Chancellor highlighted the different origins of universities around primacy of focused disciplines versus the search for breadth and integrated understanding.
• At Macquarie, we value a blend of those origins and are committed to both fields which educate students to specific careers whilst also protecting and celebrating the HASS disciplines which are the foundation of modern civic mindedness.
• Our shared vision for Macquarie – as documented in A Framing of Futures – is being realised through accomplishments such as the rollout of the Student Success Strategic Framework, growth in research income and recent ERA results.
• The communitarian spirit at Macquarie University is a critical element of our history, and it is strengthened through our shared core values.

The challenges

• Excellent and dedicated work is in full swing to realise the transformation of the curriculum architecture in 2020. The Vice-Chancellor thanked all those across the campus for their significant work in this area.
• There is more work to be done to improve our rankings, however we need to remember that renown can be measured through a number of lenses.
• Noting the current media focus on freedom of speech and academic freedom, the Vice-Chancellor emphasised that he strongly supports the promotion of free speech on university campuses as responsible institutions in our democracy. He noted freedom of speech and academic freedom are of fundamental importance to the life and vitality of a university.  

Looking ahead

• Major campus developments such as the Central Courtyard, Arts Precinct and Clinical Education Building are helping us realise our vision for a sustainable and future-focused campus.
• The Curriculum Transformation work being done across the Faculties will equip Macquarie students for the career transitions of their futures.
• The University will be particularly focused on service improvement for students over the next 12 months, through Project Beacon.
• Systems improvements are also expected in the areas of HR and Finance.

Staff Q&A

The Vice-Chancellor welcomed questions from staff as part of the Town Hall. He received an overwhelming response and appreciates colleagues’ engagement and interest. Answers will be shared in the coming weeks.

Feedback?

If you would like to provide any feedback on the Vice-Chancellor’s mid-year Town Hall, or suggestions for future event topics, please email vc@mq.edu.au.

The Vice-Chancellor and the Executive Group will hold Town Halls at particular points throughout the year to keep the Macquarie University community up to date on important information for the University. In addition to sharing progress against our strategic priorities ­–­­ as outlined in Our University: A Framing of Futures – the Town Halls provide an opportunity to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions we all make as Macquarie staff to achieving this success.

Here’s a quick summary of what the Vice-Chancellor had to say. If you’d like to watch the full presentation, a video link will be available in the coming days.

We have worked together to achieve great success

• Student numbers are healthy, with international student recruitment targets exceeded for 2019 and domestic numbers close to the target.
• Research income is increasing. The number of MRes students going on to complete a PhD is also on the rise, which the Vice-Chancellor described as an ‘unmitigated success’.

Embedding the idea of service and engagement in our everyday work

• The Vice-Chancellor urged staff to welcome and assist, wherever possible, new students embarking on their education journey at Macquarie. Every single student that comes to our University should experience a ‘transformative education’.
• He highlighted the impact of rankings and encouraged academic staff to register for an ORCID number to appear in published papers, so they are properly credited for their work and their link to Macquarie University.

There is important and exciting work to look forward to

• The Vice-Chancellor updated staff on the curriculum transformation project and explained the process behind refining unit offerings. He noted that 100 units had been identified to date to be discontinued in 2020.
• An update was given on progress against the Campus Development Plan. (See What we’re building for you in 2019, also in this issue.)
• The Vice-Chancellor highlighted the upcoming launch of Venture Café – part of the Macquarie Park Innovation District success story.
• He flagged the current development of a new internal communication strategy to improve information sharing across the University.

What is the Pure Research Management System?

It is one of the many systems that will be part of Macquarie’s new Research Hub

The system will be used by researchers or research administrators to create a public profile, track and manage published research, apply for funding, process awards, record research outputs, prizes and other activities and create CVs for showcasing on the Macquarie University Research Portal.

The Information Technology (IT) department at Macquarie University regularly reviews its infrastructure and systems to ensure alignment to priorities in A Framing of Futures. A new Research Management System was a priority because of the new and exciting research performance targets set by the University.

The University chose the Pure system as one of the many systems to support the delivery of the Research Hub. Many institutions in Europe, the US and Australia use this system to support researchers’ publications, applications and awards data and to facilitate reporting across our research community, aligning research information management to contemporary practices.

Upon completion of the Research Hub in 2018, Macquarie will have a centralised Research Information Management System resulting in the following benefits:

• a single unified source of research information that connects all of the University’s faculties, research centres, clinics and the hospital on a single platform making it easier to understand the full scope of University research activity
• a useful tool for understanding existing research expertise at the University to assist in finding research collaborators and supervisors
• increased international visibility which helps the University attract high-profile collaboration opportunities
• research data that allow the University to make data-driven strategic decisions
• greater transparency of funding applications during the approval process
• more streamlined information to meet the policy requirements of grant funding bodies such as the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
• integration of additional component systems in the Research Hub including systems to support intellectual property and commercialisation, animal and human ethics, biosafety management, contracts and legal and online forms.

Research Publications

Over 100,000 publications were imported into the system which created the foundation of data that populated the system. Best practice review has confirmed that we have possibly the best repository of research publication data across the approximately 200 universities that are using the Pure system around the world.

Why are research publications so important to Macquarie University?

The Research Portal offers the ability to showcase Macquarie University’s outstanding research and one of the outputs showcased are publications.

Having an accurate record of publications authored by the University community enables confident and high-quality reporting to Government and funders and enables researchers to be able to showcase their research efficiently. It also helps with the discovery of research undertaken at the University, which can assist in attracting new connections and collaborations with researchers around the world. Making publications openly accessible for download (Open Access) increases the impact of Macquarie’s research on wider audiences and helps increase citation rates for our researchers.

What is the Library’s involvement?

The Library is working to ensure that the data quality of Macquarie University’s publication records is of the highest standard and facilitates the discoverability of all publications authored by staff and students at our University.

Researchers are now able to add or import their own publications into the system and as part of that process, attach the author manuscript (version of paper after peer review, as it was accepted for publishing by the journal) to the publication record in the system. Adding the author manuscript enables the Library to make research publications Open Access as allowed by publishers’ policies, so this step is very important.

The system also enables authors to link their publications to the grants that helped fund them and thus meet funder requirements. The applications and award functionality will go-live in the system over the coming weeks.

150 of Macquarie’s senior academic and professional staff have met to review progress of the vision outlined in the strategic framework, Our University: A Framing of Futures.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Bruce Dowton welcomed the leaders with a presentation on the value of effective, shared leadership and importance of strategic thinking. The presentation included a brief history of the University and formulation of the strategic framework, including an explanation of its key priorities, purpose, vision and values. Attendees were also invited to engage with each other as a broader, distributed leadership team for the University.

Staff who’ve joined since the strategy’s publication particularly appreciated the opportunity to understand the context in which it was formed and to talk with colleagues who provided more background and detail.

As well, the Vice-Chancellor revealed results from this year’s leadership group survey that show a team excited about our potential and ready to advance the University’s goals, but keen for more clarity around the prioritisation and application of the values to decision-making. The results also suggest leaders are eager to learn more about how we differentiate ourselves in a largely homogenous Australian sector, and about areas of focus for distinctiveness in the future.

For their part, attendees were encouraged to provide frank feedback on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the University, both externally and from within. The results were illuminating and will inform planning and resource allocation as we progress throughout the next year. This, underpinned by the start of a collective shift to a more shared approach to leadership, will strengthen the links to and responsibilities for delivering A Framing of Futures.

In closing the forum, the Vice-Chancellor asked staff to continue working together to find innovative ways to meet current and future challenges. “I encourage you to consider projects or challenges in your area that a colleague you met today could help you with, and to share your thoughts about the help you could offer someone else,” Professor Dowton said.

A key theme that seemed to resonate throughout the day involved the importance of ‘us’ rather than ‘me’ or ‘they’; recognition that a shared approach makes for a much more sustainable and optimised future for the University.

A second, follow-up retreat will happen later this year.

For more information or if you have questions about the event, please contact your manager or head of department.