Chancellor Dr Martin Parkinson and Professor S Bruce Dowton, Vice-Chancellor, welcomed Federal Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP and Jerome Laxale MP, Federal Member for Bennelong, on a tour of Wallumattagal campus last week.

The event took place against the rich backdrop of public consultation about the Australian Universities Accord, the establishment of a teacher education expert panel and the development of a migration system for Australia’s future.

The meeting included a tour of campus facilities, such as the learning spaces in and around the Central Courtyard, the Arts Precinct and Jannawi Pavilion. Professor Chris Dixon, Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, and Professor Matt Bower, Interim Dean, Macquarie School of Education, discussed the faculty’s experience in initial teacher education and options to address the teacher skills shortage across Australia. Bower related the importance of recognising prospective students’ individual needs, prior learning and experience.

Dr Leanne Holt, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous Strategy, and Macquarie University teaching student Mel Wurramarrba briefed the Minister about Macquarie University programs that support First Nations Peoples and effective approaches to provide opportunity to students in regional and remote communities.

This video address ‘Reflections on 2022 and the year ahead’ recaps some of the achievements of Macquarie University during the past year – of which we can all be proud – and highlights areas of focus for 2023.

The University continues to demonstrate significant evidence of our commitment to service and engagement. We are a university prepared and well positioned for the future. I look forward with optimism and anticipation to our continued contribution to the transformative power of education and advances in research that occur at Macquarie.

I thank you all and wish you well for the year ahead.

Sincerely

S Bruce Dowton MD
Vice-Chancellor

Watch the Vice-Chancellor’s address

You may be working on our Wallumattagal Campus – the beautiful Dharug land that we are so fortunate to spend time on. Our campus has once again become a vibrant and welcoming place where our students and staff can feel a sense of belonging and a full appreciation of our collective as an institution. I am certain you have shared my happiness in seeing our students converging in the Central Courtyard this year, once again being able to enjoy the university experience in all its rich and rewarding facets. I acknowledge our academic staff for their continued commitment to teaching innovation this year, as we evolve to provide Macquarie students with a transformative learning experience that offers the best of both digital and traditional modes. I also acknowledge the outstanding results that have been achieved among our research community.

Some of you may be reading this message overseas, with the opening of borders allowing us to resume the international activities that are so crucial to us as a globally engaged research institution. I have been proud to represent Macquarie University on several international visits this year. Each time I am reminded not only of the outstanding calibre of people representing us in the global sphere, across a broad range of research, teaching and engagement functions, but also of how special a place our University is to return to.

A number of you may be reading this message at home, reaping the productivity and wellness benefits that have come from the implementation of our Flexible Work Framework. It is gratifying to see the positive results of the recent Flexible Work pulse survey and I am pleased that teams across the University have successfully refined their ways of working with balance in mind.

We have welcomed many new staff to Macquarie this year, including new members of the University Executive. I welcome you all and greatly value your contribution to our mission. Some in our community have found themselves in new roles or teams this year, as the important work of our Professional Services Transformation to ready us for new opportunities has been completed. In speaking to many colleagues in the last few months, I have noticed a feeling of great anticipation and optimism as momentum builds and we accelerate towards the delivery of our shared Operating Plan objectives. Our professional staff have excelled during the year with real purpose and dedication for which I am especially thankful.

Wherever you find yourself as the year ends, I am immensely grateful for your role in the University’s success. I trust you will take the opportunity to rest and enjoy time with your loved ones over the holiday period and wish you a safe and happy new year.

With warm good wishes

SBD

Professor S. Bruce Dowton
Vice-Chancellor, Macquarie University

There has not been the progress for students that was hoped for when the Respect.Now.Always program launched in 2016.

There is still a prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault across all universities, including Macquarie.

Of particular concern, too few students know where to find out information about sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Bruce Dowton, described the results as disappointing and said is very clear that we all have a role to play in addressing this issue and supporting our students. “We must all keep working to ensure that no student experiences these behaviours and every student knows how to seek support or make a report,” he said.

Here’s what members of staff can do for our students:

• Call out behaviour that is unacceptable, where it is safe to do so
• Report concerning behaviour or concerns about student safety via our Inappropriate or Unwanted Behaviour online report form
• Submit a Care MQ Referral form if you’re worried about the wellbeing of a student, for other reasons
• Familiarise yourself with our student wellbeing support options so you can connect students in need

Once you submit a report, Student Wellbeing will contact the student, if they are identified, to discuss the situation and plan next steps. If the student is not identified, Student Wellbeing staff may contact you to discuss the situation. For a student who has experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault, the initial focus of Student Wellbeing is on providing support and identifying response options. Response options depend on the individual situation.

Professor Dowton is committed to preventing these behaviours and improving the University’s support to students. “As a start we will reframe our student code of conduct and further embed our expectations in student education programs. We will do further work on our staff and student training initiatives and review our resourcing for peer educators,” he said.

You can access the general Universities Australia report here, and our Macquarie University report statistics, and a commitment from the Vice-Chancellor, on our student website.

With many of us now returned to campus, I welcome you back for a new year. I offer my particular thanks to colleagues who remained on deck throughout the holiday period.

With the previous year so dominated and disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I had several reflections over the break. Firstly, I acknowledge what a difficult year 2021 was on so many fronts for members of the Macquarie community – many dimensions of work changing and a multitude of alterations to personal, professional and family life. At the same time, I was and remain so impressed by just how adaptive our community was in responding to the continued challenges presented by the pandemic in 2021, further strengthening the strong sense of community and purpose that defines Macquarie University.

While 2021 offered us the increased protection provided by the COVID-19 vaccines, the emergence of new variants reminded us that the pandemic continues, as has its impact on the University and wider community. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to get vaccinated and increase your protection with the booster as soon as you are eligible.  We continue to be thankful for the coordinated approach to manage the pandemic being taken in New South Wales, and the University continues to base its response on NSW Health advice, which includes wearing masks indoors and checking into buildings with QR codes where available. With COVID-19 still circulating in the community, if you are feeling unwell or have symptoms please do not come to campus. Get tested and follow NSW Health advice.

As we know, proof of vaccination is no longer required to visit campus. However, if you are unvaccinated, it is your personal responsibility to consider the wellbeing of others with whom you may come in contact, both on and off campus.  We encourage the use of Rapid Antigen Testing to help you make an informed decision about coming to campus.

We continue in 2022 to implement the necessary steps to set the University on a course of sustainability and transforming the way we work to better meet the needs of our students and our staff. As rapid resolution of the impact of the pandemic has eluded the global community, we have all acknowledged the reality that things will not return to the way they were before, ever. So much will have changed, from the expectations of our students for a more consistently blended experience in their education, requiring the academy to adapt our approach to pedagogy, to the changes in approach to collaboration. We have all adapted to new ways of working and will continue to do so.

I believe this is the year where opportunities will far outweigh the challenges we confront. The work of the Operating Plan will accelerate on many fronts as we focus on aspects such as continuing the important work around placing our students truly in the centre of our consideration of our education mission. Our digital transformation will speed up with the enhanced investments approved by University Council at the December 2021 meeting as a part of the 2022 budget. We will see our service levels transformed as we implement shared services into reality. I have asked the ‘Our People’ program board to bring forward a proposal on how the University will embed flexibility in time and place of work for the future.

I remind us all that the Operating Plan defines our pathway to come together as a community to secure the medium and long-term future of Macquarie. This work is far more than finding a financial solution to the reality of continued downturn in international student enrolments due to border restrictions. It is about deriving a new operating model on so many fronts to increase the University’s performance, resilience and sustainability.

My commitment to the University community, and that of the Executive Group, is to ensure that we continue the established patterns of regular communication, underpinned by transparency and engagement, reflecting the values of our institution.

As we embark on our work together, I look forward to seeing you on campus – especially as we enjoy the new amenities of the Central Courtyard precinct and other locations. I am very proud of our campus, and I hope that, as you move around it, you too feel the pride and privilege of working on such beautiful country. It is the coming together of the community that I think really signifies what Macquarie means to us all. Our community is about shared purpose and joint aspiration. Despite the challenging times of the last two years, our community has shown incredible performance.  We must keep our sights on ascendant performance going forward as we grasp the opportunities to secure the future of the University. Being a community is also fundamentally about caring for each other and for the sustainability of the University going forward.

I wish you all a productive start to the year and I thank you for your ongoing commitment to the University and our community.

With all good wishes for 2022.

Sincerely

Professor S Bruce Dowton
Vice-Chancellor

With Macquarie having recently submitted its annual report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, the Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Bruce Dowton provides staff with an update on our progress towards gender equity.

Many of you would be familiar with our Workplace Gender Equity Strategy Towards Gender Equity 2.0 which cemented diversity and inclusion as a key institutional focus for Macquarie. It remains an important personal focus for me as Vice-Chancellor.

Since the launch of the strategy, the higher education sector has faced significant challenges due to COVID-19 and other external factors. In keeping with our joint universities and sector partners commitment of June 2020, we have taken deliberate action to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on our goal of gender equity at Macquarie.

We continue to make significant progress across many of the action points in our strategy and have embedded diversity and inclusion principles within a number of our organisational processes in the last 12 months. I wanted to share with you some of the highlights:

• The success of our strategy is deeply dependent on engaging staff at all levels to progress diversity and inclusion. We have seen increased engagement from staff across all areas of the University in the last year, driven by the establishment of our MQ Inclusion Committee and eight local faculty and portfolio Diversity and Inclusion Committees. These committees have been given a broad remit to actively drive progress across all areas of diversity and inclusion and I am confident they will successfully accelerate our progress and success against our targets. We have also seen a significant increase in membership of our Ally Network and it is encouraging to see so many staff taking this active step to create a more inclusive campus.
• I have noticed a significant shift in the conversations around diversity and inclusion at Macquarie. Our ‘fixing the system’ approach has resonated with staff and, in many cases, extended beyond gender equity. A broad range of initiatives are being established to progress inclusion across the University, including a project in Academic Senate to understand and improve the diversity of membership, and the organisation of a conference focusing on inclusive teaching practice.
• The positive impacts of the Strategy’s recruitment and promotion model continue to be visible throughout the academic pipeline – particularly at Levels B and C. There was an almost 100 per cent increase in applications from women in the period 2017-2020, compared to the previous four-year period, and application rates from women have been in line with – or higher than – the available pool at each academic level under the new promotion model.
• Guided by recommendations from MQ Inclusion, inclusive principles have been embedded into our academic workplace change process. Actions included an analysis of diversity data at each stage of the process, and a progressive approach to assessment of achievement relative to opportunity. Training was provided to decision panels and impacted staff. Lessons learnt from this process are now being considered for other change processes.
• There has been an increase in the proportion of men accessing primary carers leave over the past five years at Macquarie, in part due to increased communication of support available and a focus on sharing case studies of male parents and carers.
• Macquarie has been recognised publicly as a leader on gender equity, receiving several external awards including the esteemed WGEA Employer of Choice citation.
• While COVID-19 has presented many challenges and negative impacts across the world, one of the positives has been monumental advance of flexible work practices for all staff. We must take this opportunity to embed flexibility in our ways of working, which has been taken up by the Future of Work project under the Our People stream of the Operating Plan.

While we should all be proud of this progress, there are several priority areas that I will ensure are progressed over the next year:

• Addressing bullying or harassment within our community is a priority for me and the leadership team. We have zero tolerance at Macquarie for any form of discrimination, bullying or sexual harassment and building a culture of inclusion is everyone’s responsibility. I implore everyone in our staff community to challenge bullying or inappropriate behaviours wherever they see them and work together to ensure our community is one of mutual support. The University has a Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response policy and an online training module for all staff, and we are currently reviewing our Discrimination, Bullying and Harassment Prevention and Response Policy.
• I am committed to ensuring our leadership roles reflect the diversity of our community and are gender balanced. This requires a continued focus on equitable career progression and development, and recruitment processes. We have seen significant progress resulting from the new promotion model for academic staff and will continue our work towards gender balance in leadership roles.
• We will continue to embed inclusive leadership as an expectation for all managers and provide training and resources to build capability in this area.
• We still have an organisational pay gap, and I am determined to see it reduce. We will be developing a remuneration policy and will take targeted action to address any identified gaps.
• To strengthen our commitment, we are proposing a new strategy to guide our collective efforts towards Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, and I look forward to sharing further details on this in the coming months. I welcome any feedback on how we can make further progress towards true inclusion and gender equity at Macquarie.

As I highlighted in our Operating Plan, our people are key to our success as an institution. We must have the humility to recognise areas where we need to be open to change, and commit to that change to ensure everyone in our diverse community has the opportunity to belong and fully contribute to our shared successful future.

Last week, the Vice-Chancellor joined Monique Crane – registered psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology – for an in-depth discussion on personal and organisational resilience. Here are some of the highlights.

Associate Professor Crane, on how stressors impact resilience
“Broadly speaking, for a person to demonstrate resilience, there are several processes interacting and operating. An individual has certain capabilities and vulnerabilities but, at the same time, the environment can also impose certain vulnerabilities, or provide resources that interact with the person’s capabilities.

“There is a plethora of different types of stressors [but you can simplify them to think about where you are most vulnerable].  Examples of stressors include things like loss of control; hindrance stressors like bureaucracy; ambiguity – where things are presently unclear and the person is not sure what they are supposed to do to get a successful outcome; threat to loss of life or limb, threat to esteem, threat to income or threat to your identity.”

The Vice-Chancellor, on recognising stressors
“I’ve always found that if I can understand the particular sorts of stresses I am feeling, in myself, I am better able to cope with them. We saw, particularly last year, an incredible resilience in our community as we worked to change things quickly. But certainly, for our community right now, uncertainty is a huge issue.”

Associate Professor Crane, on dealing with uncertainty
“Loss of control and uncertainty tend to be the super stressors. We want to problem solve but we don’t have control over our environment, and we don’t know what’s going to happen. It really inhibits our ability to plan and negotiate some of those stressors.

“People can react to uncertainty in different ways. It can depend on how high the stakes are for these situations, and how well we think we will cope with some of the scenarios we might encounter. If uncertainty occurs in a situation where the stakes are high, this can be incredibly stressful for people – they might project a future where it’s the worst-case scenario.

“People who tend to deal better with uncertainty put a lid on some of those thoughts – they don’t dismiss them necessarily, but they understand uncertainty can mean a lot of outcomes and there are lots of ends to the stories and they are not necessarily catastrophic.”

Associate Professor Crane, on the importance of recognising our coping efficacy
“Most of us haven’t led a charmed life and have had to deal with significant uncertainty and still we have managed to get through – maybe not perfectly, but we got there.  We are often really good at unpacking failure, in the sense we reflect on it and wonder what went wrong. But we are not that good at examining our successes and how we got there. When we succeed, we often go ‘that went well’ and leave it there.

“We need to give ourselves more credit for how we adapt and deal. Reflecting on those successes, even daily, is more helpful than reflecting on times where we failed, because coping efficacy is enormously important to resilience.”

Associate Professor Crane, on resilient organisations
“When we look at the attributes of organisations that are more resilient, they tend to be  organisations that have the ability to be self-aware in some way – they are aware of small red flags that they need to respond to, and when they learn to respond to those smaller risks it gives them greater capacity to respond to bigger risks.

“To be reflective as an organisation, you need to have a culture of learning, retain that knowledge really well and utilise it in a lifecycle of learning for large-scale dramas like the ones we are encountering at the moment.”

Associate Professor Crane, on how organisations can support resilience in times of stress
“When working with organisations, we always recommend that they try to put in place as many resources as they are capable of to enable coping. This might be flexible hours, flexible breaks, access to psychological support services, giving people decision-making autonomy where it is available or giving people greater control over the work they do.

“Leaders can help their team unpack success, which I spoke about before, but they also have a role in resourcing. If they can provide broader timelines or greater flexibility in practical resources, they should definitely try to make that happen. If they can reduce performance expectations, reduce ambiguity or other types of demands, this is helpful.  If they can down-regulate expectations or re-establish reasonable goals or reduce nonessential performance monitoring, these are the types of things we suggest to middle management, if it is within their capability to do so.”

The Vice-Chancellor, on how Macquarie’s leaders can support resilience
“There are a lot of leaders at Macquarie – both in and out of the executive – that have a responsibility for helping their teams manage during times of stress.  It is particularly important at the moment, I think, for leaders to feel a sense of empowerment to be able to act – to reallocate work to downsize expectations. I’m hearing very good information from across the University about how people are appreciating the team leaders, managers and supervisors that are exhibiting more flexibility or are rearranging some of the things that are not top priority now.”

The Vice-Chancellor, on his own personal experiences in drawing on resilience strategies through COVID
“I haven’t been able to see my family for two years, as they all live offshore. I’ve only seen my grandson twice and I’ve not seen my granddaughter at all yet. When I feel down in thinking about whether it will ever happen, I stop and say to myself ‘think about how fortunate you are to live in this wonderful country, at this time’. I’ve been in contact with colleagues around the world throughout the pandemic – folks who have had it tougher than we have had in Australia. So, for me, a sense of gratitude is very, very important in helping me to manage on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis.”

Recommended resources

Managing for Resilience: A Practical Guide for Employee Wellbeing and Organizational Performance
Associate Professor Crane’s guidebook for managers is published by Routledge. An eBook version is available via the Macquarie University Library.

Coping and resilience tips for front line staff
Professor Nick Titov, Executive Director of Macquarie’s Mindspot Clinic, takes you through practical psychological skills to help you stay mentally resilient during challenging times. These tips are also available in a PDF factsheet.

Strengthening your personal resilience
Rachel Clements from the Centre for Corporate Health provides strategies to build your resilience, particularly in the adjustment to a ‘new normal’.

COVID-19 We’ve got this covered!
A collaboration between the Centre for Emotional Health and the School of Education, this site provides evidence-based resources for families and schools on preventing anxiety and depression in children during the pandemic.

Macquarie University Employee Assistance Program

In a year so dominated and disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I had several reflections over the break.  Firstly, I want to acknowledge what a difficult year it was on so many fronts for members of the Macquarie community – many dimensions of work changing and a multitude of alterations to personal, professional and family life.  At the same time, I was and remain so impressed by just how adaptive our community was in responding to the challenges of the pandemic in 2020, further strengthening the strong sense of community and purpose that defines Macquarie University.

While 2021 offers the prospect of COVID-19 vaccines, we were reminded over the break, with outbreaks in the Northern Beaches and Western Sydney, that the pandemic continues to impact the University and test our response plans. We continue to be thankful for the coordinated approach to manage the pandemic being taken in New South Wales, especially as we receive news of the plight of so many societies around the world where the pandemic is far from under control. I appreciate too the work of the University’s COVID-19 Taskforce which continues to meet regularly to ensure the University’s operation in a COVID Safe manner.

We begin 2021 with continued change on the horizon as we consider the necessary steps to set the University on a course of sustainability and transforming the way we work to better meet the needs of our students and our staff.  As fast resolution of the impact of the pandemic has eluded the global community, there dawns for us all the reality of recognising that things will not return to the way they were before, ever.  So much will change, to mention just two: a) our students will expect a more consistently blended experience in their education, calling the academy to adapt our approach to pedagogy, and b) the need for travel for collaboration will lessen but of course not completely go away.  Both these arise directly from our experience of using technology.  We have adapted to new ways of working. These and many other adaptations will continue.

This year brings many challenges and also opportunities.  Our principal challenge is to continue to reinvent the University through the implementation of the Operating Plan.  At the very same time, that work is our opportunity – to come together as a resilient and adaptable community to secure the medium and long-term future of Macquarie.  This work is far more than finding a financial solution to the reality of continued downturn in international student enrolments due to border restrictions.  It is about deriving a new operating model on so many fronts to increase our performance, resilience and sustainability.

As we embark on our work together, I look forward to seeing you on campus – especially as we experience the new amenities of the Central Courtyard precinct which will be opened in coming weeks.

My commitment to the University community, and that of the Executive Group, is to ensure that we continue the established patterns of regular communication and that all change processes are underpinned by transparency and engagement, reflecting the values of our institution.

While I have no doubt that 2021 will also pose challenges, I am confident that together we can work to implement the changes necessary to ensure Macquarie emerges stronger and more sustainable.

I wish you all a productive start to the year and I thank you for your ongoing commitment to the University and our community.

With all good wishes for 2021.

Sincerely

SBD
Professor S Bruce Dowton
Vice-Chancellor

I write as we head towards the end of the year to send along my thanks for the work of the entire University community during this extraordinary year.  Along with other universities across this nation and around the world we have faced and addressed uncertainty on a scale that is unprecedented.

Our University community has shown great adaptability and resilience as we have confronted each challenge that appeared.  At each step of the way, often in uncharted territory, we have built new capabilities and strengthened our resolve and ability to confront new challenges and imposts on our daily work.  I am especially grateful for the concern and support shown to all our students as they have also adapted to new ways of learning and studying.

It is during this year that we have developed and begun the implementation of the new Operating Plan.  This is an important initiative which makes tangible the future steps needed to move to new ways of working and ensuring the University emerges stronger and sustainable.  Again, many staff have and are contributing to this important work.

While we have certainly had our share of issues to address, we gaze out across the world and see many more unsettled regions where the COVID-19 epidemic continues unchecked with health systems being overwhelmed and too many individuals being infected and losing their lives.  In NSW, we must be thankful for the excellence of the coordination of the public health response across the state.  I have been in regular touch with the NSW Chief Health Officer throughout and commended her and the team for their dedication and efforts in guiding us all.

This note of thanks for the work of the year past and encouragement for the holiday season ahead would not be complete without dwelling on the difficult decisions that have been made and are being made in order to secure our position as a sustainable and ascendant university for the medium and long term.  I thank those who have recently left us through the Voluntary Redundancy program.  I have written to each such member to express my personal thanks.  With more tough decisions ahead, the Executive Group and I remain committed to leading us through those decisions with a couple of key thoughts in mind.  Firstly, our primary responsibility is to secure the future of the University.  Secondly, when decisions have to be made about positions and individuals, we conduct ourselves with a willingness to consider alternatives, provision of timely and accurate sharing of information and with respect for each individual potentially affected.

Through all these fraught times, I remind myself what a privilege we all have to be part of this community.  Ours is a community where the sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves is more prominent than in most universities and organisations. That sense of collegiality helps us through the rough patches as has been amply shown in 2020 – thank you again.

As the year begins to close out, I send you all my warmest good wishes for the holiday season ahead, whatever tradition that brings for you, your families and friends.  For me, this will be a time of reflection on the year past and restoration for the year ahead.  I am especially mindful of those in our community who are not able to be with family as planned due to the prevailing travel restrictions or other impacts of the last year.  I join you in anticipation that we will in due course again be able to be near those we care about most spread across the globe.

My closing wish is that this holiday season will be safe for all our community, that we take time to relax and that most of all this season will bring each and every one of you that which you wish most for yourselves and those nearest to you.

Sincerely
SBD

The University’s Operating Plan 2020-2024 is underpinned by both staff and student insights garnered since February via face-to-face sessions, departmental town halls (pre-COVID-19), our digital engagement platform and a series of sessions conducted via Zoom.

It sets out specific priorities and initiatives to address six key areas of focus for the immediate, short-term, and longer-term. Extensive engagement has helped to identify opportunities and challenges facing the University as we enter a new decade and develop a blueprint for our future.

You can access the Operating Plan website here which details our work ahead and where you can download a copy of the plan. It also outlines our Shared Ambition and Commitment for the Future. Each aspect of the plan will be sponsored by members of the Executive Group, with programs of work involving many other members of the University community overseen by Program Boards.

There will be an opportunity to discuss the Operating Plan in more depth at the All-Staff Vice-Chancellor Town Hall on Thursday, 11 June.

Over the next few months regular updates and further detail will be shared with the University community about progress on our key areas of focus and specific initiatives.

“At the heart of this important work, we are reminded of our collective commitment to our students and their success,” says Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor S Bruce Dowton.

“I thank you for your ongoing engagement with the Operating Plan, and I look forward to working with the University community throughout its implementation.”