Foundational Excellence
Our stakeholders are seeking significant changes in what we represent and deliver. They demand that universities show they are listening to discontent – and responding. We acknowledge that there are features of how we operate that need fundamental change. UNE’s first Vice-Chancellor, Sir Robert Madgwick, declared that UNE students were here to become leaders; they were expected to apply discipline to learning. Achieving Foundational Excellence is a basic requirement of this strategy.
Our Vision, Purpose and Values will guide our Strategic Plan delivery and instill meaning and urgency. In the immediate future, we will be required to transition to a new UNE Operating Model to achieve cultural and financial stability and to deliver foundational services to our regional communities and learners. UNE must maintain and build operational excellence. Meeting our Foundational Principles and quantitative and time-bound Foundational Objectives will enable us to achieve Foundational Excellence.
The centrality of academic freedom
In an era in which the very existence of universities is being questioned, UNE maintains academic freedom as central to institutional excellence. Both the Higher Education Standards Act (2003) and UNE’s own policy suite define academic freedom at UNE. We uphold academic freedom as a shared right and responsibility, exercised within the requirements of governance, quality standards and community accountability. The choices of which courses the university delivers must be made through a rigorous, defensible and transparent process based upon a set of principles and associated rules, agreed by our institution. The investment of strategic funds in research is guided by the needs of our communities and partners, and the strategic priorities of UNE, matched by academic capability and willingness to participate.
Foundational Principle 1: Academic freedom is core to UNE’s existence and meeting our Purpose.
Our learners, their environment and outcomes
UNE must be a safe environment. We must offer learning that meets the needs of students, industry, partners and society. It is imperative that UNE continues to attract more learners but, even more importantly, they must complete their degrees. College leadership culture and the physical and learning infrastructure for distance and on-campus learners must meet changing expectations.
Foundational Principle 2: UNE must be safe for all learners – physically and psychosocially.
Learner Satisfaction
UNE has a right to be proud of its unparalleled public university track record in overall Student Experience ratings (Good Universities Guide) – five stars for 20 consecutive years. However, underlying scoring has been decreasing in recent years so we must work to maintain and even boost this rating.
To increase the attractiveness of UNE, improve student experiences and retain those learners who commence, we must listen to them. UNE’s learners are not dominantly school leavers, and we need to improve our efforts to attract and retain more learners. Current and emerging regulation, combined with new societal expectations, require the university to develop and implement plans for improved learner engagement and supportive cultural environments. Improving our physical infrastructure (see below) includes the needs of learners beyond the classroom – real or virtual.
Learning offerings that meet learner, industry and societal needs
To ensure that UNE has a course portfolio fit for purpose (including our financial sustainability), we have established principles for reform and renewal aimed at meeting the market and strategic needs of our communities. This will reinforce our historical strengths and see UNE take responsibility for its share of deep national discipline excellence. We acknowledge that transitioning our course portfolio into a new, highly performing portfolio is a major undertaking.
Learner retention must improve
UNE ranks last in the sector in terms of learner retention. This is not a mark of academic excellence, and it is imperative that this ranking is remedied under this strategy. To increase retention, UNE must understand deeply what drives learners, e.g., connection and belonging to the institution and one another, and the ways in which our offerings do or do not match their requirements.
Foundational Objective 1: To improve the experience of learners, irrespective of their mode and locations of learning (remaining in the top three of public universities for Quality of Overall Educational Experience in the QILT SES ), by 2030.
Foundational Objective 2: At least 75% of the course clusters in UNE’s active course portfolio will meet all the benchmarks (success, retention, total EFTSL, commencing EFTSL, QOESAT) by 2030.
Foundational Objective 3: To raise learner retention, recognising the multiple life pressures on our learners, to meet UNE’s benchmark university group median by 2035.
World-class research
Australian universities must all meet world-level research across at least half their fields of education. UNE aims to become more broadly active in research.
Foundational Principle 3: UNE will be renowned for the quality of its research partnerships, which will create greater critical mass and broader research impact.
Across universities and rankings, our research reputation lags. UNE has become too localised in its research strengths. Broader impact is possible by:
- activating more of our research-focused human capital;
- increasing the scale and breadth of our partnerships; and
- including the building of international relationships.
All will be an important focus under this strategy. UNE has unique research infrastructure, particularly for animal-focused research, which needs to be prioritised for implementation. Community Collaboration offers excellent opportunities to develop sophisticated and impactful partnerships. Further, we will track and measure the impact of our research on our own learning offerings.
Foundational Objective 4: Increase research activity and impact by:
A. Increasing research income (2X 2025 income by 2035) and increasing the load of Higher Degree Research learners (1.5X HDR enrolments by 2030).
B. Activating more of our talent, with all balanced academics research active by 2030.
Staff satisfaction
UNE cannot operate well, let alone transition to a new operating model and optimistic future, unless people can attend work as their true selves, enjoy their work environment, are well and know they deliver meaningful outcomes.
UNE must provide a work environment conducive to safety, enjoyment and productivity. The skill, experience, wellness and morale of our people will always underpin and drive our success. Through embracing diversity and belonging, and appropriate retention, support and progression opportunities, UNE’s workforce can continue to be the driving force of our institution. Attention is required across all aspects of accessibility to achieve this objective.
Changes required to improve the work environment for the people of UNE include:
- workload and its management;
- staff skills development;
- the embedding of values into behaviours; and
- a closer productive working relationships between all staff, including those in formal leadership roles.
Foundational Principle 4: UNE must be a safe, enjoyable and productive work environment for all.
Foundational Objective 5: To achieve staff satisfaction by unifying our people in a rebalance between authority and collegiality, workloads and resourcing (at least sector benchmark for agreement across wellbeing, employee engagement and performance in Staff Engagement Survey) by 2030.
Governance
The Commonwealth Government has accepted the final report of the Expert Council on University Governance, which sets expectations for university governance. UNE recognises that an appropriate balance must be struck between the time and resources allocated to governance and the university’s other core functions. Today, broader expert and social commentary communicates that the balance to date across the sector has given insufficient attention to governance.
The UNE Council and its academic and management governance committees will continue to progress current reforms and build upon these as government and regulators provide further guidance and instruction. An ongoing important aspect of governance is academic, staff, learner and community voices. UNE has a number of excellent means for listening to these voices and will meet the governance expectations set by the Expert Council on University Governance.
Foundational Principle 5: UNE will meet the expectations set by the Government in relation to University Governance.
Operational fitness
UNE is not currently fit enough to meet its operational requirements. Recently (2024 and 2025 surveys), only ~10% of UNE staff rated our operational efficiency as good. Further, the maintenance and replacement of our digital and physical infrastructure have been low priorities for many years, creating significant infrastructure debt. Tweaking current systems and operational processes will not suffice. UNE must transition to a new operating model – supported by a formal capital management plan and resourcing allocations – to achieve a step change.
Changing how we operate and what systems we use will support our future ambitions. A much leaner university, with less bureaucracy and fewer people devoting time to processes, will allow us to work more effectively and enjoyably. It is proposed that we build (or buy) as much as we can because fixing what we have is likely an impossible target to achieve in any reasonable timeframe. The intelligent and high capability implementation of AI will be key. A bold, clearly articulated and well-communicated framework and plan for (digital) systems and data is a priority.
Foundational Principle 6: UNE can only provide an enjoyable work environment and deliver the community and learner needs articulated in this Strategic Plan with a significantly improved Operating Model.
Foundational Objective 6: We will improve our operational fitness (as measured through staff experience of efficiency in the Staff Engagement Survey) to the sector benchmark by 2030.
Financial sustainability
For UNE to take charge of its own future, effective financial stewardship needs to underpin our approach to decision-making and investment. We will generate a surplus across UNE and its controlled entities for reinvestment in our Purpose (creating and sharing knowledge) and Vision (delivering individual aspirations and community outcomes). We will critically assess our investment in time, assets and resources to ensure we are putting to best use efficiencies gained through the deployment of technology. Financial sustainability is an outcome of good strategy and its implementation, not an objective per se.
This surplus will be reinvested in necessary capital, courses requiring support beyond their earnings, research activities and student experiences, including improving our college physical infrastructure, academic and extracurricular activities.
