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Agility a first step for Fed Uni educators
Exciting times: Federation University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Duncan Bentley says, the university will offer Australia’s first globally recognised cooperative education model.
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COMMENT BY PROFESSOR DUNCAN BENTLEY
AT Federation University Australia, our history in Gippsland dates back to 1928 and the establishment of the Yallourn Technical School. Set up at the request of the State Electricity Commission, the school provided technical and engineering support to staff. As the population grew and the Latrobe Valley developed as a coal mining region, the college expanded its course offerings in response to industry and regional needs. Fast forward to 2022 and we are again experiencing a significant time of change that requires similar innovative thinking and application to the future needs of community, industry, and training skills. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the globe and its effects on community and industry will be felt for years to come. Technical innovation, job skills shortages and internal migration away from our big cities into regional areas places Federation, as Victoria’s leading regional university, at the forefront of this change. Through a long and strong history of industry collaboration, we are delivering learning and working experiences, like cadetships in Gippsland’s growing sectors of allied health and renewable energy, that prepare students to engage in real world settings, enhancing employability and career opportunities. Federation is now ready to take this to the next level - by becoming the first university in Australia to embed the globally recognised cooperative (co-op) education model across all our offerings. To gain the practical skills employers are looking for, every student will complete an extended period of accredited workplace learning. Every co-op degree will: - Include transferable skills as well as the technical skills to prepare students for their career; - Include at least 150 hours of workplace learning that contributes to course credits. This could involve options for paid cadetships, internships, or working on real projects on campus to deliver practical outcomes for industry, and; - Give students the opportunity to work with employers and build their work experience and resume so they can go straight from university into their first job or your new career. The co-op model is more than just traditional work experience. It is a coherent, deliberate set of learning experiences where we bridge campusbased learning with learning in the workplace, so when our students graduate, they have real work experience, as well as the skills to succeed. Not only will we partner with industry to ensure graduates are job ready, but we will continue to support them with real opportunities to upskill throughout their careers. Federation will be the first choice for regional students wanting a head start on having a successful career, and for regional employers wanting graduates primed for the workplace. We will work with industry and employers where they are located, supporting students to stay in our regions - to address skills shortages and drive jobs and economic growth. Importantly, this new model will enable us to reimagine our Bachelor of Arts program, to ensure it is fit for purpose to meet the future needs of our students. We will set up a review group comprised of employers, students, staff, and experts to redesign the Bachelor of Arts so that it is contemporary, multidisciplinary, and digitally driven. Through an early pilot of the program, we will bring multi-disciplinary student project teams and industry and community partners together to develop and deliver practical solutions to real business problems. This will provide students with the opportunity to apply their university learning to an actual business opportunity or challenge, as well as experience working in multi-disciplinary teams, pitching an idea to an audience and networking with potential employers. The pilot, to begin shortly, will employ best practice methodologies in creative thinking, problem solving and project management to deliver valuable outcomes for industry and the community. Then next year we will start rolling out the co-op model with a focus on IT and business programs. Federation is excited to announce that we will have our co-op education model embedded in every program from 2025. This will ensure that our students have experience working with the latest technology and the practical and transferable skills that will place them ahead of the pack when they graduate.
