By Interim Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Evans

The first UNE in Conversation for 2023 will be held next Thursday 16 February. All colleagues should have a diary invitation in their inbox by now. UNE in Conversation will focus on an overview of the year ahead. I encourage you to attend the in-person option if you are on the Armidale campus, but a webinar is also available for all other campus participants.

UNE’s Senior Leadership Team held a number of planning and training sessions last week, as we look toward 2023. As a group we worked to understand and shape the year ahead – the opportunities and the challenges and the approach we plan to take.

A key take out from this session was a reaffirmation that in 2023 we will prioritise safety, culture and wellbeing. This will include further SLT training, Black Dog Institute Training, and an emphasis on the principles for managing flexible work arrangements. Meanwhile, the procurement process for the review of safety, culture and wellbeing is on track with an announcement expected soon.

The senior leadership team considered how we can uplift our digital capability and productivity, including through tools like MS Teams. We spent some valuable time with representatives from Microsoft to better understand how Teams can be utilised for both staff and for teaching and learning, while recognising that plenty of teams at UNE are already using such tools with great success to enable efficient work practises. There is a body of work already underway to provide guidance around successful introduction of Teams to meet our regulatory compliance and reporting obligations.

In 2023 we will also be concentrating on important decisions to achieve the objectives of our strategy, including placing stronger emphasis, and therefore resources, on some of the already existing initiatives and activities. This will mean focused attention on growth with the new Growth Team coming online to address the sector wide impacts of COVID-19, low employment in the economy and increased competition on student load; and the continuing commitment to safety and wellbeing means focused attention on where we can simplify our complex processes and systems.

There are also so many positive stories to talk about and celebrate as well. Atrium is delivering impact – with student retention improving in the areas where we have implemented this program, our residential college numbers for 2023 are above where we have forecast them to be, and the campus is opening up following the storm damage, with Café Life the first precinct to re-open in time for students return.

I look forward to seeing you at UNE in Conversation.