Community Collaborations
UNE will initiate Community Collaborations that mark a new, expanded way of working that harks back to our foundations. It was a time when academic staff went out into the communities and “gave them what they needed” in terms of knowledge and its practical use. Today, our communities continue to need UNE, but our approach will be less about delivery and more about collaboration.
Resilient Regional Relationships
The centerpiece of Community Collaborations is a network of Resilient Regional Relationships. UNE will focus its leadership on contributing to regional communities – especially rural communities – by establishing solutions hubs. These solutions will apply to major global issues, including sustainable economies and landscapes, climate change mitigation and adaptation, human mental wellness and disaster management. The UNE-initiated network will provide the knowledge and innovation capital to support research and information sharing, commercial activities, people exchange and education to ensure regional vitality flows from network activities.
Locally, we will focus on the relationships between people and landscapes, and the ways in which technology contributes to this. Internationally, we will distinguish our approach by building strategic relationships (including directly with schools, economies and communities), providing industry-integrated education, research and innovation pathways, and differentiated teaching delivery models. We will bring the lessons learnt from city-rural interactions that have spanned 70 years of operation in the New England and Sydney.
Community Collab Objective 1: To convene and co-govern 15 regional relationships, each of which carry a focus on at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal, by 2035.
Upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander holistic educational rights
UNE must uphold the right to education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, working with elders and communities to better understand their aspirations and the role we can play to support them. We need to decrease systemic barriers, create more culturally safe environments and make available education that serves the purposes of First Nations learners. We will conceptualise, develop and implement co-designed programs to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational journeys from early childhood to university and employment via learning network partnerships and collaborations
Community Collab Objective 2: UNE will demonstrate a new approach to co-supporting education success by deep listening and joint responses to facilitate rightful opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities.
Live and Work to Learn regional partnerships
People in Australia’s rural and regional communities face different challenges to their metropolitan counterparts. UNE was founded by the community for the community. We have enabled regional people to thrive courtesy of their education. Our research has also resulted in significant long-term industry and community benefits.
UNE has not previously taken responsibility for its role in easing systemic pressures in rural communities, notably in aged care, health care, childcare and sport. A lack of human capital prevents regional economies from realising their full potential. UNE will form new types of service-delivery partnerships with the public and private sectors by creating a life “wrap-around” for learners – a new experience for them, our communities and ourselves.
Community Collab Objective 3: To have 10% of our domestic coursework learners in Live and Work to Learn arrangements by 2035.
Regions of tomorrow
UNE will commit to establishing the New England Northwest as a regional AI education and innovation centre. We will embed ourselves as collaborators within local and regional communities to deliver in-demand outcomes from our research. We will match our capability to community and industry ambitions.
By supporting the wide adoption of AI, UNE aims to make doing business in regional areas more efficient and attractive. We will support our community to become a high productivity hub for regionally based enterprises, by doing what UNE is so good at: using technology to remove the perceived impediments of distance. UNE will be client zero for a connected community and business and will test new ways of operating and new prototypes in-house. This includes developing human and platform capability across the university, then extending this capability internationally as we learn.
Community Collab Objective 4: To support 100 businesses across the New England Northwest, uplift their productivity with AI, and create 20 new businesses based on AI by 2035.
Renewable Energy Zone alliances
Many rate the global renewable energy transition as the challenge of the 21st century and our major means of mitigating climate change risk. The Australian and NSW governments have declared the New England Renewable Energy Zone (NE REZ) a core component of delivering such mitigation. It is the only zone with a university at its heart, and this presents exceptional opportunities for communities, the government, industries and UNE.
UNE is willing and able to partner in workforce development, research, community support, accommodation provision and new industries. UNE will play an active role in guiding and supporting the community through physical, social and economic change. We will partner with leaders in the NE REZ space to focus on collaborations that bring the greatest community value.
