Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 www.qut.edu.au
BLUEPRINT
MAY 2014 4
- - .. :i.;.
a university for the re 8 I world®- ~
Blueprint 4
QUT is a major Australian university that ambitiously positions itself as a university for the real world of today and tomorrow.
Recognising that we are in a state of fundamental change, the Blueprint’s role is to anticipate the nature and impact of change, and to enable the University to thrive and adapt in ways that ensure we continue to meet the needs of students and serve more effectively the professions, industry and the wider community.
Over the period ahead, QUT will strengthen its reputation for producing graduates who can thrive in volatile environments over the long term, work productively in teams, and combine depth in professional knowledge with broad perspectives based on exposure to new ideas and different cultures. This focus on the undergraduate experience will be complemented by a much stronger emphasis on ongoing professional education. Meanwhile our research will grow in impact by combining disciplinary strength with interdisciplinary application and be distinguished by the extent to which we embed and deliver on a commitment to working in major partnerships with industry. In particular, evolving technologies of automation, personalization and big data are advancing disciplines, transforming professions and disrupting business models. QUT is beginning to build critical mass in these enabling
technologies and is well positioned to differentiate its research and teaching by exploiting their application. This technological edge, coupled with our interdisciplinary culture and willingness to work with end users, represents an important competitive advantage for QUT.
Meeting all these challenges will require a sustainable and highly capable workforce, world- class facilities, sound financial management, robust operating systems and, perhaps above all, our continuing to foster QUT’s proud sense of community and engagement with alumni.
Key priorities
Realign the composition of our student population
With a student population already around 46,000 QUT’s priority is to provide high quality learning experiences and student support services at all levels from undergraduate programs to postgraduate and corporate education. We aim to broaden the composition of the student body by:
• Aiming for 6 per cent of our student population to be higher degree research students by 2016
• Increasing the proportion of domestic undergraduate students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to 16 per cent in 2016 and lifting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander undergraduate student representation to 1.7 per cent by 2016
• Reducing the commencing bachelor-degree attrition rate from more than 16 per cent to 14 per cent by 2016
• Retaining a balanced level of international student enrolments in the range of 15–20 per cent of total, with an increasing proportion being international higher degree research students.
Measurably strengthen our teaching quality and learning outcomes
• Continually transform the learning and teaching environment embracing the dynamic nature of our ‘real world’ positioning. This includes whole-of-course design and accreditation, increasing flexibility, appropriate use of technology and providing enhanced opportunities for collaborative and social learning for the future
• Further improve English language proficiency for all students and academic staff. Our universal entry requirement of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is 6.5. In the medium term we aspire to lift that further
• Continue our commitment to staff capability-building in the changing higher education environment and to the recognition and reward of teaching excellence
• Maintain a position in the top quartile of Australian universities for graduate employment outcomes
• Aim to ensure that by 2016 at least 15 per cent of all graduating students have had an international study experience
• Further develop courses and programs that capitalise on the opportunities of a deregulated market and make a difference to the real world
• Strengthen offerings in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas, and in postgraduate coursework and customised education
• Enhance opportunities for work-integrated learning (WIL) and transitions into professional practice across all undergraduate programs and increase WIL opportunities for postgraduate students. Our target is for 60 per cent of our 2016 graduating cohort to have had a WIL experience.
• Enhance the development and inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges within the curriculum
• Develop more comprehensive approaches to strengthening student engagement with learning and with the University.
Build QUT’s reputation as a selectively intensive research university
• Increase the number and scale of collaborations with end users, and significantly enhance QUT’s research income from business and international sources
• Renew focus on research potential and quality in staff recruitment, with a particular emphasis on building productive research teams in our areas of strategic advantage
• Aim for ‘top-two’ position in national competitive grants in at least five areas (education; creative industries;
applied mathematics/statistics; information technology;
and robotics, avionics and automation)
• Aim for all research disciplines at QUT to achieve an Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) rating of 3 in the medium term and to achieve an ERA rating of 4 and 5 in the long-term
• Distinguish our health research through leadership in prevention and early intervention research and the use of technology to achieve better health outcomes.
Aim to be a national research leader in areas of health determinants, health systems, injury prevention, trauma management, chronic disease and ageing
• Strengthen STEM areas by developing the research themes of the Institute for Future Environments to strongly engage with the innovation needs of the resources, primary industries, environment, information and communications technology (ICT), manufacturing, and the services sectors
• Aim to lead at least six nationally endorsed centres of excellence in thematic areas of strength
• Develop a research culture supportive of
commercialisation and a broader view of knowledge transfer including consulting services, customised education and use of advanced scientific infrastructure by end users
• Aim for 430 annual higher degree research (HDR) completions by 2016
• Continue to build research capacity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HDR students.
Develop a sustainable and highly capable workforce profile
• Enhance and make more flexible our recruitment, induction and workforce programs and planning, and our development activities
• Build further a strong and effective leadership culture across the University
• Strengthen QUT’s position as a preferred employer
• Improve student: staff ratios to be clearly in the national top half of universities by 2016
• Maintain the momentum of building academic quality and achieving major demographic change by recruiting 400 people to the Early Career Academic Recruitment and Development program by 2016 (currently 205) and appointing 50 new research-capacity professors by 2016 (currently 27), including increased representation of women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Build further QUT’s sense of community
• Promote a culture of community, philanthropy, scholarship, service and high achievement
• Maintain the University’s two city campuses as extremely attractive destinations for students, staff and the wider community. These campuses combine excellent facilities for research and learning with precincts offering social spaces, services and amenities including venues suitable for food services, sport and recreation, arts, entertainment and the exchange of ideas
• Continue to develop QUT’s Caboolture campus as an exciting and seamless model of educational provision, connected to the social and economic needs of that community, developing significant educational aspiration and attainment in communities between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast
• Further develop our international and alumni networks and partnerships, with enhanced strategic engagement of alumni across all areas of the University.
Focus on the various dimensions of our sustainability—environmental, social and economic
• Sharpen our focus on environmental sustainability through academic activities (coursework and research) and QUT’s own operations
• Continue to integrate information and communications technologies into our teaching, research, business support functions and infrastructure. QUT recognises that this task will require a coherent and strategic approach to the allocation of resources and deployment of new systems, developments and applications
• Strengthen and diversify our resource base to support the aims of this Blueprint, reduce our reliance on government funding, and maintain the financial viability of the University by achieving an appropriate underlying operating surplus.
Vision and values
QUT is a major Australian university that ambitiously positions itself as a university for the real world of today and tomorrow.
Recognising that all aspects of society, including the professions and the workplace, are subject to profound and disruptive change, QUT embraces its obligation to ensure that those who emerge as graduates from our University are able not only to adapt, but also to thrive in their lives and careers.
In planning for the future, QUT’s position is underpinned by a strong record in serving the community and building a distinctive national and international reputation combining academic strength and practical engagement with the world of the professions, industry, government and the broader community. It is also reflected in QUT’s culture of collaboration, both externally and internally, and a pervasive commitment to extending the benefits of high quality scholarship as widely and effectively as possible.
In line with this commitment, QUT’s overall vision for the future is:
• to provide outstanding learning environments and programs that lead to excellent outcomes for graduates, enabling them to work in and guide a diverse and complex world characterised by accelerating change
• to undertake high-impact research and development in selected areas, at the highest international standards, reinforcing our applied emphasis and securing significant commercial and practical benefits for the community and for our partners
• to strengthen and extend our strategic partnerships with professional and broader communities to reflect both our academic ambitions and our civic responsibility.
QUT is a richly diverse and multicultural university, teaching Australians from a wide variety of backgrounds and international students from some 160 countries. We have a particular commitment to the improvement of educational opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous Australians. This Blueprint acknowledges that both staff and students will achieve their greatest potential in an environment which is intellectually invigorating, open and egalitarian, which engages students, staff and alumni and engenders a sense of belonging.
QUT values:
• high levels of scholarship, learning and achievement in all student and staff endeavours
• engagement with and responsiveness to our diverse internal and external communities
• social justice and equal opportunity in education, employment and research, and a particular emphasis on strategies which support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to achieve excellent educational outcomes and which facilitate Reconciliation
• a safe, supportive and healthy working environment which supports work/life balance
• honesty, integrity and ethical behaviour and practices
• a spirit of experimentation, innovation,
entrepreneurialism, a commitment to client service and a strong sense of pride in the University.
Blueprint 4: the context
Recognising that we are in a state of fundamental change, the Blueprint’s role is to anticipate the nature and impact of change, and to enable the University to thrive and adapt in ways that ensure we continue to meet the needs of students and serve more effectively the professions, industry and the wider community. The Blueprint identifies major priorities, articulates broad strategies, and drives greater coherence and coordination of our efforts. This is the fourth version of a strategic plan first issued in 2004, enabling the University to retain continuity of expression of its broad vision and institutional intent for more than a decade while responding to changing circumstances and emerging opportunities.
Blueprint 4 aims to guide QUT against a backdrop in which the universities of today and tomorrow are challenged and invigorated by:
• growing public expectations of performance, accountability, quality and relevance
• a desire by government to broaden provider competition and deregulate fee settings
• increased pressures on public funding
• dynamic domestic and international economic and demographic environments
• an increasingly competitive and volatile global education and research scene
• an ageing workforce with significant turnover of key positions over coming years
• new cohorts of students bringing new expectations and requirements
• rapid growth of new higher education providers
• a national agenda to expand higher education access and retention, particularly among people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• new national regulatory arrangements for quality and standards
• the need to understand, adapt and transform societal responses to the challenges of sustainability
• an imperative to selectively concentrate areas of research investment
• fundamental changes to our learning and teaching models. Drivers of these changes include changes to the ways students engage with universities as well as rapid technological developments
Over the period ahead, QUT will strengthen its reputation for producing graduates who can thrive in volatile environments over the long term, work productively in teams, and combine depth in professional knowledge with broad perspectives based on exposure to new ideas and different cultures. Our research will grow in impact by combining disciplinary strength with interdisciplinary application and be distinguished by the extent to which we embed and deliver on a commitment to working with partners and addressing practical problems.
Evolving technologies of automation, personalization and big data are advancing disciplines, transforming professions and disrupting business models. QUT is beginning to build critical mass in these enabling technologies and is well positioned to differentiate its research and teaching by exploiting their application. This technological edge, coupled with our interdisciplinary culture and willingness to work with end users, represents be an important competitive advantage for QUT.
Blueprint 4 renews our commitment to the idea of an engaged, relevant and innovative University that makes a real and positive difference to its students and to economic and social development.
Students, learning and teaching
QUT will maintain its long record of excellent outcomes for graduates by remaining in the top quartile for GDS outcomes for bachelor graduates seeking full-time work.
New generations of students will have changing attitudes and expectations about the use of technology, individual and social learning, and their engagement with learning.
Students prosper when they have time and space to think and learn, and feel connected to their university and with one another. Overall our students have reported consistently high levels of satisfaction with their experiences, but it is clear that innovative and creative strategies will be needed to meet the learning needs of diverse groups of students in the future and, over time, we will need to transform our approaches to learning and teaching. As part of this, QUT seeks to harness technology to connect, engage and creatively support learners throughout their study in both face-to-face and virtual learning environments. While local experimentation will remain an important part of these endeavours, greater institutional focus will be needed on major strategic directions for change and on the resources needed to support such change.
‘Real world’ learning is a defining feature of the QUT experience, and takes a number of different forms including simulation, practical experience, international and intercultural experiences and engagement of practitioners in teaching. These make education more authentic and engaging, and they need to be refined and embedded more effectively across QUT’s courses. The contribution of our sessional, adjunct and visiting teachers, in particular, is acknowledged in this area, as is their ongoing need for enhanced support and development.
QUT will continue to encourage and enable people from lower-income backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to participate in tertiary study, though outreach partnerships with disadvantaged schools and communities.
We will also further enhance the quality of our teaching and secure the relevant program accreditation to remain at the forefront of national and international developments in standards.
Relevance and impact of courses
• Reposition and refresh STEM courses including the development of new learning approaches, which can be deployed across the University
• Pursue the development of thematic postgraduate coursework which is informed by market research and anticipates developments in the professions
• Strengthen the opportunities for intra-faculty and cross- faculty undergraduate program linkages, deploying budget incentives where relevant
• Target and tailor offerings for corporate education including linking postgraduate programs with our international and domestic partners
• Develop stronger synergies between teaching and research
• Enhance the development and inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges within the curriculum
• Explore offerings associated with climate change, the need for infrastructure, sustainability, social and demographic change, and health while addressing economic skills supply matters, and applying knowledge to encourage innovation in the economy
• Develop new postgraduate offerings that reflect the expertise of the new breed of professionals emerging in the workforce. Examples include data scientists and innovation and commercialisation professionals who combine business, legal and STEM skills.
‘Real world’ learning that engages a diverse population of students
• Clarify, exemplify and assure curriculum and pedagogical attributes of ‘real world’ learning
• Refine approaches for assuring course learning outcomes and embed threshold academic standards
• Provide high-quality, learning-centred environments that capitalise on both physical and virtual innovations
• Strengthen students’ cultural competence and understanding of Indigenous knowledges, significantly expand study abroad and exchange programs, and increase focus on integration within the curriculum
• Continue our commitment to work-integrated learning and increase our connection to industry through expanded work placement and professional experience
• Strengthen engagement with key stakeholders to identify their needs and expectations of graduates
• Stimulate demand for tertiary study in low-income schools and communities
• Develop new pathways for capable school leavers and adults from low-income backgrounds
• Intensify recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, aiming for 1.7 per cent share of domestic undergraduate enrolments
• Improve lower-SES and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student retention.
Comprehensive student engagement
• Build a culture of connectedness that promotes positive staff-student feedback/communication, and active and collaborative peer learning
• Continue to offer our students and staff services that are reliable, responsive, enabling, accessible, personalised and streamlined
• Develop a range of purposeful educational experiences that inspire student involvement, effort and deeper learning (for example, volunteerism, community service, international study and work experiences, and community engagement with a social justice dimension)
• Aim to ensure that by 2016 at least 15 per cent of all graduating students will have had an international study experience
• Proactively identify student learning needs and provide timely access to administrative, learning and personal support services from preparatory stages through to graduation
• Maintain emphasis on First Year Experience (FYE) and Real World Learning (RWL) programs. Aim to reduce commencing ex-QUT bachelor-degree attrition from over 16 per cent to 14 per cent.
Quality of teaching and courses
• Continue our commitment to staff capability building and to the recognition and reward of teaching excellence
• Refine systems and support services that focus academic attention and effort on strategic priorities and improvement
• Build well-articulated processes, systems and reporting to increase our capacity to map and track student progress towards course-level learning outcomes
• Further strengthen our approach to course design and accreditation through a whole-of-course design and re/
accreditation process
• Invest in developing the capability of our staff through centrally delivered development programs – including the Sessional Academic Development Program, the Sessional Academic Success Program, and the Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (for all Early Career Academics)
• Further improve English language proficiency for all students and academic staff. Our universal entry requirement of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is 6.5.In the medium term we aspire to lift that further.
• Continue to build mechanisms to gather student, peer and course team feedback; the development of a personal evaluation strategy through Performance Planning and Review for Academic Staff (PPR-AS), and the use of peer review, instant response and existing data to inform decision making.
Research and innovation
QUT’s key ambition in research and innovation is to undertake high-impact research in selected areas to secure significant public, commercial and practical benefits for the community and for our partners.
The research scene is becoming more complex and competitive. QUT recognises that interdisciplinary teams that bring multiple perspectives to a problem help create innovative solutions. Australia is in line with the worldwide trend towards strategic concentration of research funding, while assessment of quality will increasingly emphasise disciplinary depth and academic impact. QUT acknowledges the need to tackle the challenges of globally mobile research talent, an ageing academic cohort, and rapidly growing competition from other countries for high-calibre academics.
Major research area developments
• Ensure that QUT has world class research quality in disciplines with strong teaching programs and deep research linkages with end users
• Strengthen STEM areas by developing the research themes of the Institute for Future Environments (IFE) to strongly engage with the innovation needs of the resources, primary industries, environment, ICT, manufacturing, and the services sectors
• Build on the success of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) by taking advantage of the research infrastructure at the Translational Research Institute (TRI), the Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF) and the Centre for Children’s Health Research, and by forging new partnerships with hospitals and the life science industries
• Consolidate and expand research in creative industries and education and build strengths in business and law with a view to establishing a themed institute in the social sciences space to address the challenges and opportunities created by the use of information in a digital world where technologies are entering and changing every aspect of our lives
• Further develop the QUT interdisciplinary research institute model to encourage deep thematic research linkages within and external to the University
• Continue QUT’s leadership in eResearch, and build distinctive expertise in developing scientific knowledge underpinned by continuing advances in information and communication technologies
• Promote internationalisation of research by building strong collaborative partnerships with world-leading research centres in QUT’s areas of strength and by nurturing engagements with academic, corporate and public sectors partners, particularly in countries such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and other emerging economies in our region
• Build on our research in the area of public health and develop collaborations with key industry partners
• Develop stronger alignment and links to policy development, and improve external linkages at local, state, national and international levels.
Capacity
• Renew our focus on research potential and quality in academic appointments with a particular emphasis on building productive research teams in areas of strategic advantage
• Aim to recruit 50 research-capacity professors by 2016 with increased representation of women and Indigenous people. There also will be a continuing focus on entry- level (ECARD) appointments as a dimension of that capacity-building effort
• Continue to provide research career development opportunities for our most promising early-career and mid-career academics and ensure gender equity initiatives are in place
• Aim for 430 annual higher degree research (HDR) completions by 2016
• Increase the proportion of higher degree research students in the student population to at least 6 per cent by 2016
• Enhance QUT’s performance in winning competitive fellowships in our areas of strength
• Develop categories of academic appointments with appropriate rigour to enhance QUT’s engagement with the researchers in hospitals and medical research institutes, with accomplished professionals in business and health, and with leading scholars from around the world
• Increase the proportion of higher degree research students from overseas.
Impact
• Develop a research culture supportive of
commercialisation and a broader view of knowledge transfer and uptake of research by end users. Such a view embraces consulting services, customised education, implementation of evidence-based interventions and practices in the community, and use of advanced scientific infrastructure by end users
• Increase the number and scale of collaborations with end users, and significantly enhance QUT’s research income from business, government and international sources
• Improve the level of international engagement of researchers across QUT, ensuring that researchers are connecting with global leaders in their field
• Develop Masters by research programs in selected fields relevant to industry and clinical professions
• Improve QUT’s research-based involvement in public policy and practice
• Promote a culture of impact assessment of research in the research planning process
• Extend commercialisation support for innovation emanating from alumni with a view to building better alumni relations and enhancing QUT’s brand via increased commercialisation impact
• Enhance PhD training to prepare graduates for a diverse range of careers including business, industry and government, and to encourage talented professionals in the workforce to undertake PhD training.
Quality
• Aim to lead at least six nationally endorsed centres of excellence in thematic areas of strength
• Aim for ‘top-two’ position for national competitive grants in broad areas of education and creative industries
• Aim for ‘top-two’ positions nationally in niche areas of STEM as indicated by:
• national competitive grants in applied mathematics/
statistics and robotics, avionics and automation
• end-user-sponsored research in industrial biotechnology, transportation and transport safety, power engineering, and information technology.
• Distinguish our health research through leadership in prevention and early intervention and the use of technology to achieve better health outcomes. Aim to be a national research leader in the areas of health determinants, health systems, injury prevention, trauma management, chronic disease and ageing
• Ensure our institutional support keeps pace with rapidly evolving changes in science and research infrastructure.
These include new ways of publishing and accessing research findings; new research data requirements; and support for software including that produced and used by academics
• Continue to create greater focus in business and law research and aim for national pre-eminence in intellectual property, health law, property and commercial law, entrepreneurship and innovation, management, economics, and philanthropy and non- profit studies
• Aim for all research disciplines at QUT to achieve an ERA rating of 3 in the medium-term and to achieve an ERA rating of 4 and 5 in the long-term
• Provide one of the best research training environments in Australia, emphasising supervision excellence, a high standard of pastoral support and facilities, and enhanced engagement of PhD students in teaching activities and career preparation.
Culture
• Enhance our focus on the leadership role of heads of schools/disciplines and the professoriate in building a culture of enquiry, scholarly debate and passion for ideas where research seminars, formal and informal reading groups, both face to face and virtual, and engagement with visiting scholars shape the intellectual climate of the institution
• Promote a strong culture of research integrity and ethical research practice via appropriate training for academics, researchers and students
• Enhance broader student engagement with the research culture by optimising the involvement of research-intensive academics in undergraduate, honours and postgraduate coursework teaching, mentoring and coaching
• Encourage and facilitate the engagement of professional staff with the University’s research agenda and develop strategies to acknowledge the contribution made by key individuals
• Improve communication of research activities and profiling of research achievements through interactive events and on-campus media to ensure university-wide coverage, and ensure appropriate focus on under-represented cohorts such as women and Indigenous people
• Promote QUT’s research strengths to the wider community via public seminars aimed at the Brisbane CBD audience physically and to an international audience virtually
• Host or co-host major international conferences at QUT in areas of research strength to communicate QUT’s research progress externally.
People, culture and sustainability
People
Achievement of the University’s aims is critically dependent on the skills, commitment and effective deployment of the people who work here, and on the cultures within which they operate. By 2016, QUT will have strategically recruited and further developed staff to enhance the University’s capacity to deliver on its aspirations and to enable strong, influential leadership within the University and within relevant disciplines. We will continue to build our reputation as a preferred employer and strive to remain at the forefront in our use of technology.
Strategies will include:
• building a strong and effective leadership culture by embedding leadership development programs at all levels, making coaching support available to strengthen leadership effectiveness and continuing to encourage leaders to act and reflect on feedback from their staff on their style, effectiveness and engagement with staff
• strengthening support, recognition, integration and development for sessional staff
• maintaining the momentum of building academic quality and achieving major demographic change by recruiting 400 people to the Early Career Academic Recruitment and Development program by 2016 and appointing 50 research-capacity professors by 2016, including appropriate proportions of women and Indigenous people
• aiming for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff to be 1.7 per cent of the workforce and to ensure all staff have sufficient understanding and knowledge of Indigenous perspectives to contribute to Reconciliation in the undertaking of their duties
• significantly increase the University’s community engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their involvement in decision making
• aiming for women to be 40 per cent of senior staff by 2016
• continuing to build a professional staff profile that is in step with the needs of the University.
Health and safety
Provision of a safe and healthy environment for students and staff is of fundamental importance for QUT. This encompasses the relationships among people, and between them and the University, as well as the physical environments within which we go about our business.
We aim to go beyond simple compliance with formal
obligations to embrace a deeper understanding of, and commitment to, the principles and practices involved.
QUT has been very successful at growing the volume of its teaching, research and industry engagement activities.
The development of leading-edge physical and virtual infrastructure and equipment, an increase in the number of distributed sites, student numbers and research students have all impacted on the nature of our risk profile. It is timely to develop a University Health and Safety statement of commitment comprising a university safety vision and a statement of intent that identifies goals and measures of improvement. Engagement by staff and HDR students with the University’s statement of commitment is essential in embracing our risk profile.
Key elements will include:
• exercising continued vigilance in assessing risks and addressing potential problems
• engendering a culture of respect in our dealings with one another
• ensuring safe, secure, supportive and respectful practices are universally understood and accepted and modelled by leaders across the University
• providing effective and appropriate training for all relevant staff
• developing flexible and supportive work arrangements.
Engagement
QUT has a strong record of building partnerships to bring the benefits of education and research to the community.
We must be alert to, and proactively create, further opportunities to engage with our alumni, philanthropic donors, and government, community, professional and industry partners in order to enrich our learning, teaching and research. This will occur in multiple ways and settings across the University and needs to be properly supported and developed to ensure quality and mutual benefit.
More holistic views will be developed to build on the multiple relationships which have been built from local and individual interactions in research, education and other forms of engagement, particularly with key institutions in countries such as China, India and Indonesia.
Sustainability—economic and environmental
QUT needs to remain financially viable to meet the University’s aspirations and to improve the wellbeing of the QUT community. To that end, an important KPI will be that requiring an appropriate underlying operating surplus.
Achieving this will be dependent on improved costing and pricing information and realising the benefits of improved and renewed systems.
Rapid expansion of the University’s research portfolio, increases in HDR recruitment, and regeneration of the academic staff profile are particularly resource-intensive challenges. To meet them, QUT must embrace strategic change, including major streamlining of our processes, at both university and faculty/division levels. A significant part of this activity will focus on reducing our planning and policy overheads. We will also closely align resources with priorities and shifts in activity.
QUT also recognises the growing importance of drawing on accurate and timely data in improving performance and using meaningful strategic evidence to guide decision- making and achieve institutional goals. A more integrated and collaborative approach to the use of our institutional data will be developed along with appropriate expertise in data analytics to ensure that QUT is at the forefront of developments in this area.
QUT is committed to integrating environmental sustainability within the University’s core activities, organisational culture and management systems.
As a university that influences thinking and practice, sustainability features as a core element of QUT’s learning, teaching, research and innovation. This strengthens QUT’s ability to deliver graduates and research outcomes that are meeting the demands of ‘real world’ challenges such as adapting to a low-carbon economy.
A culture of philanthropy and giving
Philanthropy will play a greater part in the University’s long-term sustainability. Growing endowment and major gifts will provide the financial independence to sustain key priorities in student support, teaching and research programs and academic positions. We will continue to foster a tradition and practice of philanthropy within staff, alumni and other communities. We will aim to build QUT’s Learning Potential Fund, QUT’s major strategic investment to provide financial support to students in need, so that it becomes self-sustaining and provides all students in need with financial assistance.
Campuses and infrastructure
QUT will continue to develop integrated infrastructure that supports and facilitates high-quality learning and teaching, research, business support and community needs. Integration of physical and virtual approaches will remain a major priority.
The University will work towards a new “digital future” and incorporate technology-driven reconceptualisations of our notions of place, space and time, as well as the needs and expectations of our students and staff. Most immediately, the implications are being experienced around our learning, teaching and related social spaces.
Major steps have already been taken on this journey, most recently with the completion of the Science and Engineering Centre at Gardens Point, a world-class facility that combines innovative use of physical space with leading technology and opportunities for social interaction and community development. Alongside headline developments such as this and the second stage of the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove, QUT will invest strategically and prudently in a series of minor works and refurbishments to provide the best possible mix of infrastructure for the future.
We will continue to develop the space, equipment and technology infrastructure necessary to support our significant research ambitions. These ambitions are also likely to require further development of offsite locations, in particular Mackay and our presence on hospital campuses.
QUT has two major and attractive CBD-based campuses, whose advantages are likely only to be reinforced over the next twenty years with the completion of major infrastructure in our immediate vicinity. As part of our commitment to ‘real world’ learning and research we will leverage our locational advantages by seeking to integrate our activities with the industries and professions we serve. The purchase of significant freehold sites at both Kelvin Grove and Gardens Point over the last decade provides the opportunity to pursue the co-location of such activities on our campuses, along with other strategic priorities set out in this Blueprint.
Further development of the Caboolture campus, involving partnerships with other educational providers and with state and federal government support, will connect to the social and economic needs of that community, developing significant educational aspiration and attainment for people living between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
The shifts in academic direction and strategic emphasis envisaged in this Blueprint will require continued attention to collaborative work across faculty and divisional boundaries and to the ongoing development of systems and processes which facilitate such collaboration.
Students
• Quality of undergraduate intake
• Share of domestic undergraduate students from low-SES
• Share of domestic undergraduate students who are Indigenous
• International student share of total population
• HDR student share of all students
Learning and teaching
• Bachelor degree attrition
• Percentage of students who have completed Work Integrated Learning units upon graduation
• Student satisfaction: CEQ for bachelor graduates
• Graduate Destinations Survey outcomes for bachelor graduates looking for full-time work
Research and innovation
• Higher Degree Research completions
• Quality of research publications
• Competitive research
• Research income
• Commercial income
People, culture and sustainability
• Underlying operating margin
• Workforce sustainability
• Share of staff who are Indigenous
• Student: staff ratio
• Philanthropy income
• Domestic fee-paying income
• Staff Opinion Survey outcomes
• Environmental sustainability : carbon emissions
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 www.qut.edu.au
