T1 Budget and Load

Following T1 Census date, the Heads of School, our Faculty Operations Manager, and myself, met with our staff from our Finance and Business Intelligence teams to understand the implications of our post-census load. You may be aware that once census date hits, our student load for the Trimester remains relatively stable and we’re then able to use that information as the basis for more reliable budget information.

There’s a mix of good news and bad new emerging from this. The bad news is, we saw some substantial drops in numbers in the final 48 hours, and as a result, UNE as a whole is now under our budget forecast. The good news is that the Faculty of HASSE has held up relatively well, and we remain marginally above budget forecast. Our overall load is still down compared to the same time last year, but the drop is not as bad as we anticipated. Our commencing student numbers are up, and we’re mainly seeing a drop in our continuing student load. We did anticipate some drop in our continuing load because of some of the course changes we’ve made, and because of lower than anticipated enrolments last year, but concerns with our attrition rates has come as a surprise. It’s surprising because, as has been reported, we’re seeing higher rate of student engagement with units than ever before, our Unit Coordinator Atrium use rate is among the highest it has ever been, and communications strategies are more targeted than they’ve ever been, and we’re taking more practical steps to engage and retain students than we’ve ever done before.

Community Engagement

One way that we hope to grow new enrolments in the future is by fostering closer collaboration with community and industry groups throughout our regions. There are many ways this can be facilitated, but to help spark some conversations, we’re developing a Faculty-based engagement publication. This will be a glossy booklet that will promote aspects of the work we do, and invite regional stakeholders to work with us. Over the coming weeks, all Faculty staff will be invited to submit several hundred words [plus some images] outlining an aspect of their teaching, research, or broader service activities that they’d like to promote, with a view to working with those external stakeholders. Contributors should keep in mind the type of audience they’d like to target, specific details on what type of engagement they’re seeking (is it a research partner, an industry collaborator, a new cohort of students, etc), and the core information that will be needed to capture stakeholder attention. Keep your eye on your email inbox for more information on this soon.

University Strategy and Planning

The University Executive is keen to gain feedback and input into both the process for developing the University of New England’s new strategy, and on the nature of that strategy. UNE’s Office of Strategy Management are developing a website that will reiterate the timeline previously shared by the VC, outline past, present and future developments, share the progress made thus far, and invite staff feedback on the plans as they develop. Again, I encourage you to keep your eye on your email inbox for more information on this, and I encourage you to access, review and provide feedback on the strategy information when it’s available.