2023
Your support. Our stories. Their success.
Message from the Vice-Chancellor
Scholarships help storyteller find his voice
International experience broadens students’ horizons 03 04 05 06 08 10
A year of giving 2023 Donor Investment Report
Holistic treatment is a step in the right direction
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
Artwork ‘Luwaytini’ by Mark Cleaver, Palawa. Cover: Beau Windon at Ngarara Willim. See page 6.
At the close of my second year leading RMIT University, I continue to be immensely proud of our contribution to the lives of our students; to solving society’s most pressing challenges; and to the future of the communities where we operate. Our approach to education and applied research is both practical and impactful, underpinned by a clear mission to provide skills and knowledge fit for the times.
RMIT was founded, back in 1887, on the generosity of Melburnians who recognised the need for a place where the workers of the day could be skilled for the jobs of the moment. Sharing our vision with like-minded members of the community remains fundamental and, when they are also able to support our efforts financially, it elevates what we are able to achieve together.
In 2023, we lost one of the world’s great philanthropists, Chuck Feeney (1931-2023), whose generosity was core to the early foundation of RMIT Vietnam. He provided support in excess of US$39 million, because he recognised the transformative power of education, research and social equity. Thanks to his generosity, lives have been changed and generations re-shaped for the better.
We have received a number of significant gifts this year which are deeply appreciated. This includes a transformational donation of more than AU$1 million from the Kinghorn Foundation to support research into neo-natal stroke and cerebral palsy.
We are enormously grateful, and I have no doubt that in years to come those responsible will reflect on this decision with great pride – when progress has been made and futures brightened as a result.
Financial hardship is a serious issue for many students, exacerbated by the ongoing cost of living and rental crises. My gratitude goes to the donors who fund our Student Hardship Allowances to cover urgent and essential costs, including rent, bills, food, transport, unexpected medical costs, laptop repairs, or study expenses. It can literally be the difference between someone pushing forward to complete their studies, or not. That’s a life-altering decision no hopeful student should face and, because of you, many have not.
Giving is often done quietly, however, while I understand that impulse, I do like to applaud your generosity so others see that ‘giving while living’ – a phrase coined by Chuck Feeney – is incredibly impactful and, be the gift large or small, you are making a collective difference that will span generations. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Alec Cameron Vice-Chancellor and President RMIT University$7.9M
Total number of donors $ 61
Total given to RMIT $ 22
Donors committed to regular gifts
Total number of gifts $ 520
168
Donors who are also graduate alumni 979
Number of gifts in Wills notified to RMIT
Your generosity allows us to support students and researchers, and progress initiatives that benefit our communities.
First-time donors in 2023
Student support $5M
Gifts that help students thrive at university, through scholarships and prizes, and hardship allowances for when times are tough.
Research $2M
Support for research programs and academic positions that drive discovery and creativity, including FactLab.
Community engagement $45K
Donations that enhance our cultural and social life, including the RMIT Archives.
The RMIT investment portfolio enjoyed a period of recovery in 2023, in line with an overall improvement in broader economic conditions. Investor sentiment shifted from “a recession is coming” to “a soft landing is around the corner”.
Global equities posted double-digit returns in 2023.
The domestic market also posted strong returns on the back of interest rate expectations, although these gains lagged global markets, partially impacted by concerns over China’s post-pandemic recovery.
Both domestic and international fixed income markets also delivered positive returns, driven by declining bond yields towards the end of the year as investors bet that central banks will cut interest rates sooner and faster than expected.
The RMIT Philanthropic Investment Portfolio rebounded from the 9.1 per cent loss incurred in 2022 with an overall 13.7 per cent gain in 2023. Investment income of $5.5 million, up from $2.7 million in 2022, ensured that funding was available for distribution to students and for other donor-intended purposes. The remaining gain was driven through unrealised market value movements (compared with a loss in 2022).
The overall performance of the portfolio significantly exceeded our internal strategy objective and outperformed external policy benchmarks.
In 2023, earnings of approximately 5.2 per cent (2022: 4.2 per cent) were applied to each endowed fund.
At year end the total value of the portfolio was $105.8 million. The shape of the portfolio remained stable with roughly 70 per cent being invested into growth assets, which maintain a reduced carbon footprint and lower exposure to companies with high ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) risk. RMIT remains committed to investing in products which align with our responsible investment principles.
Guidance from our investment advisors maintains a cautiously optimistic outlook for the coming 12 months. Slowing jobs growth and declining inflation are signs the global economy has begun to cool. The Federal Reserve and many central banks are contemplating easing interest rates sometime in 2024. While macroeconomic uncertainty remains elevated, Australia is likely to avoid a recession due to strong population growth and less restrictive policy relative to other developed markets.
As a child, Beau Windon’s aim was simply to finish high school. Now he’s on his way to completing a PhD, thanks to generous financial support.
School was not a fun time for Wiradjuri man Beau Windon. As a child he was diagnosed with ADHD, autism and OCD which, he says, put a target on his back for bullies. And at home, generational trauma led to other challenges.
“Coming from an Indigenous background, my family had a mistrust of the school system and there was no expectation to finish high school,” he says.
Beau intended to leave school as soon as he legally could, but when his older sister dropped out, he decided to hang in there.
“I wanted someone in our family to have finished high school.”
After completing high school in 2005, Beau spent the next nine years working a variety of unfulfilling casual jobs. When he moved to Melbourne in 2014, a question from his therapist changed everything.
“She asked me what I would like to do if money was no object and there were no other barriers. I love storytelling and I used to write a lot as a teenager, so I thought, maybe writing?”
With the help of a support worker, Beau applied for some courses and was accepted into RMIT’s Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing.
In his first year of study, he received a scholarship of $2,500 and a grant to buy a laptop.
“The scholarship took some of the financial pressure off and having a laptop meant I could study at home instead of using the shared computers at uni, which always gave me anxiety.”
It took Beau four years to complete the program part-time and he graduated in December 2019.
After seeing how successful Beau was at uni, his parents changed their mind about his education. “Mum and Dad both flew to Melbourne for the ceremony. It was a huge matter of pride for my family. Not only did I do it, but I graduated with distinction.”
He was keen to continue studying, but years surviving on the disability support pension and part-time jobs meant finances were tight.
Thankfully Ngarara Willim – RMIT’s dedicated support service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students – reached out. They supported him to apply for scholarships and he was awarded an RMIT Study Support Scholarship of $8,000 per year. It covered his Bachelor and Honours degrees over three years.
“$8,000 might not seem like a lot but when you haven’t had much, it’s amazing,” he says.
“Before receiving the scholarship there were times when I only had dinner three times a week. I’d make those meals big and nutritious and then eat cereal and things like that the rest of the time.”
During his Honours degree, Beau investigated the complexities of neurodivergent writing.
“The whole Honours year was so rejuvenating and it got me excited about writing again. My supervisor told me that the research and practice I was doing would shuffle really easily into a PhD in Media and Communications.”
In 2022 Beau was the winner of a Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards for self-told stories by writers living with a disability.
“The judges’ comments made me think ‘yeah, I want to do a PhD and continue down that track’,” he says.
Being accepted into the PhD program and receiving an RMIT Indigenous Higher Degree by Research Scholarship to support him through it, has been life changing.
“Not only am I able to eat but I’m able to pay rent without going into financial distress. It’s such an unusual feeling having this extra money to be able to buy things like new clothes. It’s removed the anxiety about how I’m going to survive.”
RMIT researchers are bringing healthcare – and hope – to thousands of people affected by limb loss and other disabling conditions.
Millions of people in developing countries are in urgent need of prosthetic devices following the loss of a limb, but few can access the help they need.
A team from RMIT are aiming to change that, with a program that is creating self-sustaining healthcare for people in regions where landmines, chronic illness and injury have led to thousands losing mobility and quality of life.
With the help of a generous $1.6 million gift from an anonymous funding body, the Digital Health Hub Rehabilitation Project (DHHRP) is currently supporting communities in the eastern islands of Indonesia, TimorLeste and Cambodia – with plans to expand to Africa and Indigenous Australian communities.
Dr Dein Vindigni OAM, DHHRP’s Director of Relations, Partnerships and Clinical Training, says an integrated and holistic approach is needed, as those with limb loss often experience ongoing pain as well as mental health issues such as grief, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.
“In these regions, if you’re poor and sick or have a disability, there’s no real access to healthcare and certainly no access to therapies such as osteopathy, chiropractic or remedial massage,” he says.
The DHHRP team have developed a ‘train-the-trainer’ program to upskill local prosthetic professionals in the production of cost-effective prosthetic legs using the pressure casting (PCAST) method.
PCAST was developed in 2014 by RMIT’s Associate Professor Noel Lythgo, Project Director for DHHRP, and Professor Peter Lee from the University of Melbourne.
“It’s very easy to do and the fitting success rate is 96 per cent. It cuts the fitting time from about 10 hours to four hours,” says Noel.
“Indonesia has very few centres for prosthetics and a major problem is that people can’t get to them, so we are also looking into developing mobile units that can go to the people.”
In addition, the team has a program to train more in-country workers to deliver counselling and biomechanical therapy, which is similar to remedial massage. Biomechanical therapy can help not only amputees, but also those who suffer pain and injury from working in repetitive manual jobs – which often includes children and elderly people.
Counselling is led by academic and clinical psychologist Dr Prasad Podugu, based at Charles Sturt University, and assisted by Dr Dawn Wong Lit Wan. Dr Jennifer Hallam assists with biomechanical therapy.
So far, the team have trained 193 trainers in biomechanical therapy, counselling, PCAST and research integrity. They’ve fitted 156 people with PCAST artificial legs and 3,128 people have benefited from biomechanical therapy and counselling. The project is on target to have about 4,500 biomechanical therapy and counselling treatments and 500 PCAST treatments by June 2024.
“We know that a combination of helping people help themselves with exercise and rehabilitation plus manual therapy is better than a one-or-the-other approach,” says Dein.
“Our goal is for people to keep flourishing on their own so we can step back while they keep stepping forward.”
Timor-Leste staff prepare a patient for their PCAST socket. A prosthetist measures the length of a patient’s residual limb.A study tour to Vietnam is taking students out of their comfort zone to help them gain new perspectives on life and work.
A new program is opening up a world of opportunities for RMIT students.
The McCall MacBain Global Citizen Leadership program gives students the chance to build leadership skills and cultural awareness through a six-day study tour to Vietnam.
The trip – which took place for the first time in 2023 – is fully funded for all 20 participants, thanks to a generous gift from the McCall MacBain Foundation. The program was developed by RMIT’s Global Experience team and aims to help students grow in the areas of empathy, agility, openness, collaboration, and problem solving.
“Feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Philippa Scott, Global Experiences Coordinator and one of the leaders of the 2023 tour.
“Many of them reflected on the impact that one week can have – even when an activity is not for academic credit.”
The students selected for the tour ranged in age, cultural background and gender identity and came from 16 different discipline areas across undergraduate and vocational education.
All had faced substantial barriers to other global experiences. For some, the cost was prohibitive, while others’ timetables or degree structures did not allow for time overseas.
A key element of the 2023 tour was the Big Industry Challenge – a two-day workshop with industry professionals designed to solve a real-world problem for Vietnam businesses.
Students learned about innovation mindset as a key employability skill, then put it to the test by carrying out a micro-internship at one of the 11 participating companies. They were given a real-life issue focused on sustainability and the circular economy and pitched their solutions to industry representatives.
“It helped them think about how sustainability looks in a middle-income country, which is quite different to what it looks like in Australia,” says Philippa. “Seeing all the different approaches was a bit of an eyeopener for the students.”
Feedback from the participants was excellent, with many saying it had boosted their confidence and helped them develop new skills.
“I feel as if I have gained so much from this study tour,” says Kaylee Towart, a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) student.
“It has opened my eyes to challenges in developing countries. I think I certainly have gained better communication skills. I’m more empathetic to others and I am certainly more adaptable.”
“It was a life-changing experience for me … I have gained a different perspective on life.”
For Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) student, Ashlyn O’Brien, the tour was an opportunity to learn how to adapt to change.
“It has reminded me that I can do big scary things such as live overseas independently, which I will be doing soon in Indonesia,” she says.
“It prepares us for a future that is full of chances and different pathways where we can determine which way we want to go. We are putting ourselves out of our comfort zone in order to grow professionally and personally.”
The McCall MacBain Foundation previously funded the Global Leadership Experience which was a global online conference for RMIT students.
RMIT students working together on the Big Industry Challenge.We value your contribution to the work of RMIT. Your generosity changes lives.
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