Statement of Direction 2015
Building a sustainable future
1. Positioning Statement
Our future
Swinburne’s staff and students will be: Entrepreneurial in their work, International in their outlook and Intersectoral in their approach. Through these characteristics, Swinburne will become a University recognised as being: Flexible in Learning and Teaching, Focused in Research and Engaged with Industry and the Community. This vision will be underpinned by a commitment to a sustainable Swinburne.
2. Organisational Characteristics (the Swinburne ‘flavour’)
It is the unique characteristics of our staff and students which will define the future of the University.
Swinburne’s staff and students will be:
Entrepreneurial in their endeavours
An entrepreneurial university culture will encourage staff and students to generate innovative ideas and will develop an environment which is creative and dynamic. This will be achieved through the development of approaches to curricula and innovative teaching, research and administration which empowers creativity, flexibility and responsiveness.
The institution will be self-reliant, resourcing these developments from a range of sources. An entrepreneurial culture recognises and supports innovation and underpins this with strong risk management and quality assurance.
Entrepreneurs add value to the community and Swinburne will contribute to this through its education and research outputs and through the commercialisation of these outputs.
Our graduates will be able to meet the challenges of competitive business environments and rapidly changing communities with the flexibility and awareness to be successful in their chosen fields. Swinburne’s curriculum and learning activities will develop creativity and innovation in our graduates to allow them to contribute to community and economic wealth creation and, where appropriate, they will take with them the best ideas from Swinburne’s cutting-edge research programs.
International in their outlook
Swinburne will be an international university that recognises its international role whilst meeting local and regional needs. Our students will come from around the world and our graduates will be prepared for an international workplace.
Staff will be members of an international education community and will strive to build Swinburne to be a significant international university. International perspectives will enrich the delivery of learning, teaching and research at all Swinburne campuses.
Swinburne will further develop an international perspective for its learning and teaching and enhance the experiences of all students; on-campus and offshore.
Swinburne will benchmark itself internationally and develop its
international presence based on strong partnerships.
Intersectoral in their approach
Swinburne’s dual-sector nature will create unique and distinctive
advantages for students, staff, and industry.
Students will be able to take advantage of effective pathways between
TAFE and Higher Education. These pathways will add value to students
in both Higher Education and TAFE.
Staff will be able to take advantage of opportunities to collaborate across sectors to develop capabilities that strengthen Swinburne’s future as a sustainable university.
Industry will be able to take advantage of solutions for its education, training, operational and research needs. These range from workplace training to PhDs and from one-off research projects and industry training, to continuing research collaborations.
Swinburne will increasingly utilise resources from across the University to achieve its vision. The physical, human and financial resources of the University will leverage advantages from both the TAFE and Higher Education sectors and use these in the most efficient manner.
3. The Core Outcomes (how we are recognised)
The unique organisational characteristics will result in a University recognised as:
Flexible in learning and teaching
Swinburne will be recognised for its flexible approaches to learning and teaching which will create an engaging, stimulating and modern environment in which students can learn in different ways and in different places to achieve their desired outcomes. Our approaches will be learner-centred and sustained by a co-operative, stable and supportive community for students, with programs informed by scholarship and research.
Educational programs will be available in a number of different modes, using modern approaches and the most up to date technologies, with delivery approaches aimed at best meeting the needs of a diverse and dispersed student body.
Our staff will provide high quality teaching which equips students with knowledge and thinking skills needed to work in an international workplace. Our quality assurance and improvement processes will ensure that our students are ready to meet industry and wider community expectations.
Focused in research
Swinburne’s research base will be focused and targeted to deliver impact in a selected number of areas of strength, chosen to support and address the technologies and social issues of the 21st century. We will strive to develop an international reputation for research excellence within these focused areas.
Our research activities will span both basic and applied activities. However, in keeping with our history, research relevance and real life applications in industry and community will be key defining features.
Our focused research excellence will provide research opportunities for students and an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish.
Engaged with industry and community
Staff and students will be engaged with industry and the community, building productive educational and research partnerships. Professional practice will also be encouraged as an important element of building these partnerships.
Our strong heritage in providing high-quality, professionally oriented education, training and research to industry partners will provide the foundation to build Swinburne’s international reputation as a leader in industry-based learning and focused industry research.
Underpinning industry and community partnerships will be key commitments to sustaining graduate employability.
Copy of Statement of Direction diagram
(NB This document is only available to staff logged into the Swinburne Network.)