The collective conversation about our shared future is in full swing, with feedback on the University’s Operating Plan 2020-2024 continuing to flow through in staff engagement workshops and on the digital engagement platform, which has been extended and will remain open until the end of the month.

How will these discussions, ideas, votes and comments translate into the Operating Plan? We asked the Vice-Chancellor to take us through the process and the next steps.

1) Staff have given a lot of feedback through this engagement. How will this be translated into the Operating Plan?
The feedback and ideas that Macquarie staff have shared, and continue to share, with me as part of this process are integral to the development of the Operating Plan, and to its implementation.

I am grateful to staff for being so open and thoughtful in sharing their views and ideas and making this such a collaborative process. For staff who haven’t yet submitted feedback, I would encourage them to do so on the digital engagement platform.

Throughout April and May, I will be working with University Council and the Executive Group to analyse the feedback as part our work to develop and move into implementation of the Operating Plan.  Key streams of work that will be delivered through the Operating Plan will be built around the five key priority areas that have been the subject of the engagement and will be aligned to the overall strategic framework set out in Our University: A Framing of Futures.

2) Are there any new priorities for the Operating Plan that have come from engagement and feedback?
We have heard very strong alignment with the five key priority areas that formed the basis of the engagement in developing an Operating Plan at the whole of University level.  The engagement has suggested strong support from a broad range of members of the community for:

• a focus on the needs, priorities and aspirations of our current and future students, putting students front and centre in our decision making in education.
• building on the work that has delivered a renewed curriculum architecture to enhance the attractiveness and sustainability of our coursework suite and its delivery. Our students are telling us they need further simplification and clearer pathways to achieve a degree and meet their aspirations.
• greater focus in our investment in research and research training, and acceleration in growth and diversification in external income.
• the recruitment, retention and development of our academic and professional staff.
• a significant simplification and improvement in our operating models and ways of working, supported by improved technology, systems, processes and structures.

Also, I have heard from our students the need for us to improve the way we support them so they have a single service model rather than multiple touchpoints around the University which can lead to conflicting guidance.

Over one hundred ideas, hundreds of comments and thousands of votes have contributed new ideas and ways in which we might go about delivering on the key areas of focus that were put forward during the engagement.  We will be analysing and working through how those ideas inform our priorities, and actions over the five year period of the Plan.

3) What are the next steps for the Operating Plan once staff and student engagement is complete?
The University Council will receive an update in the first week of April on the engagement in the development of the Operating Plan and feedback received. The Executive Group and I will then spend considerable time looking at how we put the Plan into place, including thorough planning, budgeting and structures for delivery. It is important that we get this step right, and to make sure we are doing this in partnership with the University community. 

4) How and when will staff be able to find out how the Plan is likely to impact them?
I am committed to continuing to keep our staff and students engaged and informed, not only the Operating Plan itself, but in the initiatives that flow from the breadth and depth of input that we have received across the University community during this process.

We now have to undertake serious work to build the University Operating Plan and to integrate this with budgeting and planning across the University.  My commitment, and that of the whole of the Executive Group, is to continue to update our community throughout this process and to engage further with you in the months and years to come.

I know that our community is invested in our collective future, which has been evident in the time taken to provide feedback. I would like to thank staff and students for their input, and I look forward to working with you in new and different ways to ensure a sustainable future.
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You can add or support an idea on the digital engagement platform until Sunday 29 March. Limited places remain available in face to face workshops.