Progress towards an exciting future

A message from the Acting Provost, Professor Zlatko Skrbis:

I am always impressed with of the quality of graduates that ACU produces. Invariably they are individuals who are driven to serve others and advance the common good.

Recently, I had the pleasure of chairing the inaugural meeting of the ACU Alumni Advisory Board. This brought together some of our most our prominent alumni who are undeniably leaders in their industry – whether it be in health, information technology, education, or business.

These inspiring individuals have generously agreed to serve as a sounding board for ideas that will shape the future of our university. Given their intimate understanding of the university and its Mission, I believe they will play an integral role in helping ACU move towards a new and exciting future, while at the same time ensuring that our core traditions and values are upheld.

It is truly a pleasure to work with these members of our alumni community and I am grateful that they are so willing to offer their skills and insights in support of their alma mater.

Innovation in education

As I have said previously, innovation is about being creative, persistent, and ambitious. It is about imagining how things could be done better and then implementing positive change. In terms of the ACU education proposition, innovation means continuously striving to be at the cutting edge of learning and teaching while at the same time maintaining the university’s core identity and purpose.

Our Executive Deans are now responsible for leading our innovation efforts. I am delighted to report that excellent progress is being made towards revising our curriculum, extending ACU’s digital learning and teaching capability, improving the student experience, and diversifying our revenue sources.

• Professor Michelle Campbell drives course innovation and is working with faculties to develop a more contemporary course product portfolio – one that is future-focused and responsive to market demands.
• Professor Terri Joiner is responsible for digital innovation and is closely collaborating with our Digital Education Office to ensure that ACU’s digital education offerings are both advanced and comprehensive.
• Professor Elizabeth Labone is focusing on finding new ways to improve student experience. Her objective is to collaborate with the ACU community to ensure that our students have every opportunity to achieve their full potential.
• Professor Dermot Nestor is working with our Finance Directorate to advance our goals to achieve greater revenue diversification. This involves developing a holistic and innovative financial model that will enable us to diversify our revenue mix. 

I remind you that innovation is a whole-of-university endeavour and that everyone can, in various ways, help improve our innovation capability. I invite you to follow the Innovation@ACU Workplace group and stay informed about recent developments. I welcome your feedback on the work that is currently being undertaken and would like to hear your thoughts about what we might do in the future to make ACU a truly innovative institution.

New ACU Enrolment Plan

We have recently finalised the strategic narrative for ACU Enrolment Plan 2021-2026. Its objective will be to systematically move the university towards creating a more balanced course and student profile. First, we will consolidate and rationalise our current offering to ensure that we are managing our course loads as efficiently as possible. We will then look for opportunities beyond what we are currently doing, to judiciously strengthen and diversify the ACU student base.

We all know that the current COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant challenges for Australia’s higher education sector, and although ACU has not been impacted as badly as other universities, we are still vulnerable. I believe that this new enrolment plan will help increase our capacity to manage future risk and uncertainty.

I look forward to updating you on these efforts as they progress.