Academic Enterprise Plan (2021-2025)

Action 1.3 within Strategic Priority 1: Growing and Celebrating Enterprising Staff of our Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025 states: In support of the University’s ongoing commitment to Aboriginal engagement, we will recruit, advance and recognise a cohort of Aboriginal academics and Aboriginal research degree candidates.

The University is committed to growing Aboriginal research and engagement, in a manner that reflects these aspirations and the principles that underpin the Aboriginal Research Strategy 2019-2025.

It is in this spirit that the University is pleased to announce the continuation of three internal grant schemes in 2024 that support and advance Aboriginal research and engagement.

These are:

• Aboriginal Research Strategy Seed Fund – the scheme, launched in 2022, is designed to support novel research that is of high value and high impact, and benefits Australia’s First Peoples. The grant will provide up to $25,000 in seed funding to staff projects that align to the Aboriginal Elders and Communities’ research priorities, and leverage competitive grant opportunities in Aboriginal research in Categories 1 to 4. More information about the scheme can be found online and questions may be directed to Sophie Murray, Partner Engagement Manager: Aboriginal Research.
• Aboriginal HDR Establishment and Development Funds – the schemes, launched earlier this year, support Aboriginal research degree candidates, and their learning and research training experience. HDR Establishment Fund is designed to support commencing students establish themselves in their research program and degree, and the HDR Development Fund is designed to enhance current students’ learning and research training experience. More information on the schemes can be found online and questions may be directed to Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy.

Action 3.5 within Strategic Priority 3: Enterprising Engagement of our Academic Enterprise Plan (AEP)  2021 – 2025 states: To ensure our industry contacts are well informed of our research strengths and partnership opportunities we will create new, and foster our existing valued relationships, with professional and clinical placement providers.

Established in 2022 as AEP Action 3.1, the Enterprise Hub (Yangadlitya Kumanaka) introduced a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system holding 6500 industry partnerships. The Hub offers 25 partner aligned services and aims to support and engage partners in student-involved ventures, project-based research and industry-based Work Integrated Learning (WIL) internships and placements. In addition to the Enterprise Hub, Academic Unit teams support and manage the extensive WIL internship and placement activity occurring at UniSA.

WIL enables coursework and research degree students to engage with industry through authentic activities that integrate theory with practice within a purposefully designed workplace engagement and/or workplace-based research project. Our placement management teams use the enterprise wide placement administration system, InPlace, which allows us to plan, monitor, allocate and evaluate WIL activities at UniSA. In 2022, over 15,500 WIL placements were recorded in InPlace.

UniSA offers diverse project-based PhD scholarships. Industry partners can contact the relevant Business Development Manager or the Partner Engagement Manager: Aboriginal Research at the Enterprise Hub, or the research administration of local Academic Units, to discuss how to address business challenges by engaging UniSA Masters or PhD scholars. 

Research internships enable research students to engage with industry and develop technical and professional skills that employers value. To bolster industry engagement, the Commonwealth Government has launched the National Industry PhD Program to support both industry-linked PhD candidates and Industry Researchers, as well as offering financial incentives to PhD graduates who have completed research internships. 

Currently, UniSA operates a range of disciplinary focused WIL and public support through clinics, practice labs, studios and professional experience outreach services in the areas of health, law, marketing, social work and human services, maths, engineering, film, taxation, marketing and communications, and psychology. Many are accessible to the public as Community Clinics, providing professional and cost-effective services, with some even being free.

Key collaborators for strengthening connections between the Enterprise Hub and industry partners are: 

Enterprise Hub: Mr Peter Stevens

Community Clinics: Professor Esther May

Work Integrated Learning: Professor Deirdre Tedmanson

PhD Internships: Professor Sandra Orgeig

UniSA is proud to be a high-performing and culturally enterprising organisation, driven by our exceptional academic and professional staff across metropolitan and regional campuses. We highly value our people and are dedicated to nurturing their growth and success.

Starting in 2023, we are launching the new university-wide Unstoppable Awards scheme to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our staff. This scheme encompasses the existing Research and Enterprise Awards, as well as the newly established Teaching and Learning Awards.

These award streams serve as a realisation of our Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025 Action 1.10 which states “To acknowledge our outstanding staff, we will establish a University-wide Unstoppable Grants and Awards Scheme”.

The Unstoppable Teaching and Learning Awards stream will shine a spotlight on the exceptional and innovative practices of our academic and professional staff, and foster a culture of excellence in teaching and learning. Our Unstoppable Teaching and Learning Awards complement the existing recognition awards coordinated by the Teaching Innovation Unit, creating a robust awards pipeline that propels teaching and learning excellence to new heights, both within UniSA and at the national level.

We are excited to celebrate and recognise the outstanding achievements of our staff through the Unstoppable Awards. For a comprehensive overview of the award categories, nomination criteria, timeline and more, we invite you to visit our Unstoppable Awards website.

At UniSA, we are committed to celebrating and showcasing our unstoppable teaching, learning and research, which is exemplified in Strategic Priority 4: Shaping a Better World Together, outlined in our Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025, where Action 4.4 states:

To showcase UniSA’s academic enterprise to the world, we will extend the ‘Images of Research’ competition to include ‘Images of Research and Teaching’ at UniSA.

In 2015, we introduced the  ‘Images of Research’ competition, inviting talented students and staff from all disciplines to represent their remarkable research conducted at UniSA. Over the years, the competition has evolved, with the inclusion of videography entries in 2019.

Since 2021, we’ve extended the competition to include the Teaching category and rebranding it as ‘Images of Research and Teaching’, which showcases the diversity and extensive scope of our research and teaching efforts to our community, business partners, alumni, and donors.

The ‘Images of Research and Teaching’s' popularity has grown over the years – in 2023, we received an impressive 863 votes for the People's Choice Award, the highest number of votes to date. The winner of this award will be announced this coming Monday.

We encourage all staff and students to participate in the ‘Images of Research and Teaching’ competition in the years to come. By unleashing imagination and passion through visually engaging presentations, they can contribute to enhancing the collective tapestry of innovation, enterprise and excellence that represents UniSA.

This week marks the one-year anniversary since the official launch of the Enterprise Hub and the creation of the Enterprise Partnerships Unit.

There’s a lot to celebrate; below are some key achievements.

• Launch of the Industry Partner CRM and search tool. Search our Industry Partners to identify an existing relationship with an organisation. Submit an industry referral to the Enterprise Hub triaged by the Enterprise Hub to the appropriate staff member or team in the University.
• Launched the new Enterprise Hub brand, including a comprehensive website, making it easier for industry to connect with UniSA and highlighting the different services to support them.
• Restoration of 9 Light Square into UniSA’s Enterprise Hub. We are honoured that the building has been bestowed the Kaurna name Yangadlitya Kurmanka, meaning for the future together. This week marks the six-month anniversary of staff moved in.
• Creation of the Enterprise Partnerships Unit, bringing together UniSA’s commercialisation, business incubation and business development to better identify research translation and opportunities.

These milestones represent a truly unique and innovative industry engagement model in the university sector. There’s still a long way to go to fully realise the vision for the Enterprise Hub, however these milestones are a chance to reflect on our achievements.

This includes acknowledging and thanking everyone who made the Enterprise Hub a reality and those working in the Enterprise Hub to realise our ambitions for a partnered approach to research and enterprise.

To contact the Enterprise Hub for advice or information, please email: enterprisehub@unisa.edu.au

The project team would like to respectfully acknowledge the Kaurna, Boandik and Barngarla Peoples and their Elders past and present, who are the First Nations’ Traditional Owners of the lands that are now home to UniSA’s campuses in Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Whyalla. We also acknowledge all First Nations Peoples of lands across Australia with connections to UniSA. 

The Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025 helps to advance the University’s commitments in Aboriginal education, and our approach to curriculum development and delivery intends, always, to centre Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing in this work.

The key objective of progressing the Aboriginal Curriculum project is to create sustainable and enduring transformation in supporting staff to decolonise curriculum and engage with, and incorporate, Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing in teaching and learning.

Our approach to achieve this involves three streams of work, with a view to building staff capacity and sustainable practice:

1. Development of an Aboriginal Curriculum Design Hub, for staff to access curated resources, frameworks and tools that support them in decolonising curriculum and co-designing ways to embed Aboriginal knowledges within curriculum, including a UniSA Aboriginal curriculum framework;
2. Professional development and support, including a suite of workshops and short courses tailored for individual academic staff and program teams; and
3. Sustainability, to ensure our university systems and structural supports facilitate sustainable practice beyond the scope of this project.

New positions within the TIU have been created to progress this project. A steering group will be formed soon, and will collaborate with the Office of the PVC: Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy, each Academic Unit, and UniSA Online.

This project’s early work includes developing a workshop series for both individual academic staff and program-teams to enhance their capability and confidence in taking a decolonising lens to curriculum and weaving Aboriginal knowledges into teaching practice. More information will be shared once the steering group is formed.

UniSA is dedicated to enhancing the employability of our students. This commitment is embodied in Strategic Priority 3: Enterprising Engagement, within our Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025, where Action 3.3 states:

To further advance our national leadership in career-ready education, we will build on our relationships with industry, businesses and government to further extend our work integrated learning opportunities to our coursework and research degree students.

The Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Project was initiated in 2020, following a comprehensive internal and external review of the University's guidelines and systems for overseeing student internships and placements. To implement key recommendations from the reviews, a Steering Group was established under the WIL Project, with workstreams dedicated to advancing important policy, procedure, system upgrades and establishing a Community of Practice.

The WIL Project wrapped up in 2022 resulting in the following:

• Developed new WIL Policy and General Procedure in consultation with the Academic Units, Central Units and key stakeholders to effectively manage WIL activities.
• Reviewed & improved InPlace functionality for contract storage/naming, reporting & training.
• Established WIL Community of Practice that fosters the sharing of best practices, supports continuous improvement, and provides staff with opportunities to engage in the development of WIL in a meaningful way.
• Created WIL website as a central location for WIL resources, including links to essential information and Academic Unit specific resources.

WIL is an important component of the student experience at UniSA, and these initiatives will support student safety and wellbeing while maintaining consistency in University practices.

The WIL initiatives are overseen by Professor Deirdre Tedmanson (Dean: WIL), in collaboration with Professor Esther May (Pro Vice Chancellor: Teaching & Learning). Together, they provide institution-wide leadership over Academic Units involved in WIL activities such as clinics, outreach centers and associated innovations in WIL activities. Vanessa Matthews has oversight of InPlace (Students and Research Registrar), and the WIL Community of Practice is co-chaired by Daryl McMahon (Program Manager: Internships, UniSA Business) and Dr Jane Andrew (Senior Lecturer, UniSA Creative).

In October 2022, to align with the goals of the Authentic Assessment project being undertaken across the University (Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025 Action 2.2), the STEM Executive team allocated funds for an Immersive Authentic Assessment initiative.

This project partnered course coordinators with the Project LIVE development team led by Professor Tom Raimondo, to produce an immersive experience that authentically replicated a physical site visit or activity and allowed students to explore this on demand.

The goal was to enhance the real-world learning opportunities for students by providing them with a way to experience laboratory or field sites that are logistically complex to visit, have limited availability, or are otherwise inaccessible.

The resulting activities encourage self-directed rather than teacher-directed learning, and better cater for student diversity, access and inclusion by offering flexible learning for those who are usually unable to participate due to disabilities, illness or other factors.

A total of eight projects spanning five disciplines were approved for development, encompassing a broad range of themes, locations and applications of experiential learning – from an immersive coral reef dive to a virtual flight deck experience, and from an active construction site to an operational data centre. 

You can explore each of the completed projects at the dedicated Project LIVE webpage here.

A key action within our AEP is a commitment to minimise the number of textbooks students are required to purchase during their program of study.

This commitment is embodied in Action 2.7, which highlights that this will be realised by transitioning some courses from using traditional textbooks to high-quality research-driven resources.

At the November 2020 meeting of the Academic Strategy, Standards and Quality Committee (ASSQC), a Textbook Minimisation pilot was approved to explore reducing ‘cost to student’ textbook use while at the same time seeking to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning experience through exploration of other evidence-based resources.

A reduction of 50% of nominated limited license textbooks was set as an ambitious target to indicate a highly successful project.

The Library has subsequently been working with Course Coordinators to replace textbooks either not held by the Library electronically or held under a limited eBook licence, with more flexible alternatives that are freely available online for all students.

The project's objectives have been widely promoted across UniSA's academic community, and student feedback regarding the impact of textbook costs on their program selection and overall spending has been actively sought.

Over the course of the pilot project, a total reduction of 47% in the use of limited license textbooks has been achieved in targeted programs. When the costs saved per course is multiplied by the number of student enrolments in those courses/programs (14,096), a potential total saving to UniSA students of approximately $9 million (print) has been realised.

Student feedback has highlighted the importance of addressing the financial burden associated with textbooks.

The project has fostered ongoing dialogue between the Library and Academic Units regarding the setting of textbooks as learning resources – specifically, to encourage Course Coordinators to contact asklibrary@unisa.edu.au as early as possible to review set texts and scope opportunities for replacement of limited-access titles with resources available through the Library’s catalogue for all students.

The Library will continue to work with the Course Coordinators and Academic Units’ Teaching and Learning Strategy Groups, to identify and capitalise upon strategic points in the program lifecycle where teaching resource identification occurs.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Lin Crase, Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance) from UniSA Business, will be the new co-chair for the Authentic Assessment Project.

Professor Crase will work alongside Associate Professor Sheridan Gentili to further drive the implementation of authentic assessment activities across our academic units and UniSA Online.

We would also like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to Professor Abelardo Pardo, Dean of Programs (Information Technology & Mathematics) from UniSA STEM, for his exceptional co-chairing leadership and ongoing support for the project.

Professor Pardo will continue to play a crucial role as a member of the Project Steering Group, and contribute towards shaping the future direction of the project.

The implementation of authentic assessment will continue into 2023, and to ensure its success, Professor Crase and Associate Professor Gentili will establish an Implementation Project Forum to work in collaboration with the Deans of Programs to take a whole-of-institution approach to authentic assessment implementation.

The project forum and the steering group will work together to discuss and implement changes to existing practices, which will enable the sustainability of authentic assessment and become an integral part of the University's business as usual activities.

The members of the Authentic Assessment Project Steering Group will continue to provide updates on the project's progress through the Teaching & Learning Steering Group (TLSG) meetings of Academic Units.

Action 1.7 within Strategic Priority 1: Growing and Celebrating Enterprising Staff states: As part of our commitment to developing an exceptional research community, we will provide researcher development opportunities for research degree candidates and staff throughout their careers.

In support of this action, a Working Group was established in 2020, with key outcomes identified as augmenting a vibrant research workplace, producing work that has impact and relevance, and enhancing a global reputation for quality, evidenced by growth in key areas and KPIs identified within the Research and Enterprise portfolio.

The key principles to achieve these outcomes are for the curriculum to be living, dynamic and aspirational, encompassing different disciplines and fields of research, while promoting interdisciplinary approaches, innovation and industry engagement.

This project builds upon UniSAEDGE (Enhancement of Doctoral Graduate Employability) which acts as a framework.

Deep thanks to the project team based in the UniSA Research Office for building a needs-based researcher development program that embeds continuous career and personal development for employability as well as research excellence.

A Researcher Development Action Group (RDAG) was also established in 2022. Currently, there is a staged rollout of the program which should be up and running in 2024.

For further information on the project and some of the activities on offer, visit the website.

An aspect of UniSA's commitment to being a culturally enterprising and high-performing institution is the recognition of the abilities and valuable contributions of our staff. This commitment is embodied in Strategic Priority 1: Growing and Celebrating Enterprising Staff, where action 1.9 states:

To celebrate the pre-eminence of our academics we will recognise a cohort of Distinguished Professors to acknowledge their contribution to education, research and enterprise.

The designation is named in honour of the University’s former Vice Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley. The title recognises significant contributions to UniSA, and the impact recipients have had on the broader national and international community through research, teaching and learning. Conferral of this title is a high honour that is not bestowed lightly, with candidates identified through a comprehensive nomination and assessment process.

This project commenced in 2020, with People, Talent & Culture colleagues working closely with the Deans of Research. The initiative has since seen four inaugural Bradley Distinguished Professors named in 2021, and an additional two in 2022, who have been honoured for their outstanding achievements in leadership, engagement, education, creative activity and research. We congratulate the hard work of the project team in completing this key cultural action and ensuring the success of this prestigious initiative.

Moving forward, we remain committed to continuing the success of this initiative and seeking opportunities to augment the engagement and recognition of our Bradley Distinguished Professors.

The Enterprise Hub is a space where research meets education and will make it easy for businesses, industry and community groups to partner and collaborate with the University on research and business innovation projects. 

Our Industry Relationship CRM is a key component of the Enterprise Hub which will provide the University the opportunity to interact with our most important partnerships holistically, creating opportunities for new partnerships to develop to the benefit of researchers, the University, and our partners.  

A number of staff across the University, including representatives from the key business areas of RIS, ICC, UniSA Ventures, Advancement, Career Services, SAS, CMK, UniSA International, Match Studio and Academic Units, have participated in business requirements and design workshops for CRM-related services for partner engagement. The resulting design has provided clarity to the scope of business processes that will be delivered as well as the required CRM product functionality to be implemented.  

Configuration of the Industry Relationship CRM as well as design of a new self-service facility for UniSA staff to easily search for an industry partner and submit a referral for a lead is now underway. Training for Industry Relationship CRM users will be provided in February 2022 with system go-live scheduled for the Adelaide Cup Day long weekend of March 14, 2022.

We thank all staff who have provided their valuable input and have contributed to the development of the Industry Relationship CRM. We will continue to keep you updated on the progress.

A key strategic initiative in the Academic Enterprise Plan, the Enterprise Hub is a one-stop-shop for creating and sustaining partnerships with businesses, community and industry groups in South Australia and beyond.

Internal requirements workshops and the subsequent Oracle Consulting-led Sales Cloud workshops for the design and configuration of our Industry Relationship Management (CRM) system have now concluded.

Oracle Consulting and ISTS are currently finalising the resulting Functional Design documentation in consultation with key staff, and a final assessment of the project scope for the CRM will be made in early July.

Our Industry Relationship CRM will provide the University the opportunity to steer our most important partnerships holistically creating opportunities for new partnerships to develop to the benefit of researchers, the University and our partners.

Later this year, the Enterprise Hub interim website will be refreshed, with further content and features currently in development. The website will be expanded with information and case studies aligned to the Enterprise Hub’s service offerings.

Work is well advanced in defining strategic industry sectors and priority areas which categorise UniSA’s current and future research strengths and capabilities inviting business, community and industry partners to engage.

We are defining the industry sectors from an outside-in partner perspective to inform both the website and the CRM development and will progress in consultation with the University community and key external stakeholders.

For further information, visit the Enterprise Hub website.

We will continue to provide regular updates on the Enterprise Hub via the Staff Announcements. If you have any queries about the Hub please email DVCRE@unisa.edu.au

A key strategic initiative in the Academic Enterprise Plan, the Enterprise Hub will make it even easier for businesses, community and industry groups across South Australia, Australia and the world to partner with the University in collaborative research and education projects, advancement initiatives, and more, designed to strengthen our economy and society.

The Enterprise Hub is physical and virtual. It is a building, but it’s also about our web pages, our digital footprint and the way we partner with people. It’s about seeing the University from the outside in, making sure it’s easy to find us, to work with us, to partner with us and ensuring our business processes are aligned in amplifying our position as Australia’s leading industry intensive university.

Bringing together the Innovation and Collaboration Centre (ICC) and Accenture, UniSA Ventures and UniSA Research and Innovation Services (RIS) in the refurbished Night Train Building at 9 Light Square on our City West Campus will co-locate our support services in the Research and Enterprise area.

The Enterprise Hub will also support research community success and recognition via the provision of training and networking opportunities, more seamless research administration support, and enhanced supports for funding applications across all categories.

Recent developments in the Enterprise Hub project include:

• We appointed Swanbury Penglase as the Principal Architects for the refurbishment of the Night Train Building, with Aurecon appointed as the service engineers and Hansen Yuncken the managing contractor.
• We hosted a startup workshop in March, with approximately 50 people from UniSA, Swanbury Penglase, Auercon and Hansen Yuncken.
• Preliminary investigations are now underway in the building in preparation for the extensive remedial works required and workshops will be held with internal stakeholders over coming weeks to inform the architectural design.
• On the digital side, more than 50 staff from across the University took part in our series of internal requirements workshops over the last two weeks to inform the design and configuration of our Industry Relationship Management (CRM) system. Thank you to those who participated.
• We’ve had a great response from across the University in identifying our partners and have confirmed a set of partner criteria to support prioritisation by Academic Units of existing partnerships and to support the development of new strategic partnerships.
• We have undertaken extensive work to define our service offerings, through workshops with internal stakeholders and industry partners.

For further information, visit the interim Enterprise Hub website.

We will continue to provide regular update on the Enterprise Hub via the staff news. If you have any queries about the Hub please email DVCRE@unisa.edu.au