WARDEN’S REPORT

2021 tested the mettle of all aspects of the College – academic, financial and cultural. Though many of us were hopeful that some sense of normality would return to the world in 2021, it was not to be, as a new variant of the coronavirus swept across the globe and sent many cities, including Melbourne, back into extended lockdown. Then, when we weren’t in lockdown, we were adhering to government mandates around mask-wearing, density limits and check-in procedures, among other things.

This meant there was ongoing disruption to teaching and living arrangements at Trinity, but, after successfully navigating the challenges of 2020, we were well-equipped to give our students the best possible experience under the circumstances. Our teachers in the Pathways School and Theological School continued to deliver lectures and tutorials online, and our Residential College staff ensured that students felt part of a community and thrived both academically and personally despite the interruption to usual College life.

The ongoing nature of the pandemic meant the College faced continued financial challenges as it became clear that the effects of the pandemic would persist for years, not weeks or months. As a result, the College undertook an important restructure to align our staffing and service operations with markedly reduced revenue. This restructure necessitated a number of redundancies, reorganisation of work groups and relinquishing some of our leased teaching facilities. These decisions were not made lightly, and sadly affected a number of valued and long-term staff, but were required to ensure the longevity of the College.

I am very grateful to everyone in our community who supported Trinity College in 2021. That includes our staff, who, often working from home or living on the College grounds, continued to deliver an exceptional educational or residential experience for our students, and the members of our alumni network and greater community who kindly donated to the College or offered words of support.

I am also very proud of our students from all three divisions, who worked hard, supported each other, and took the challenges of the year in their stride.

I continue to be grateful to Kerry Gleeson, who was appointed to the role of the Board Chair in May, former Chair Charles Sitch and members of the Board and committees for their support during this testing year.

Here are our updates from each area of the College – I believe they reveal how we were tested and how well the College continued to deliver on its core promises to students.

PATHWAYS SCHOOL

We had 982 enrolments in the Pathways School and 934 Foundation Studies graduates in 2021, and 718 students were offered a place at the University of Melbourne. Students in our February Main intake were able to attend some classes on campus, while some of our January Comprehensive students studied online, but stayed in Melbourne. All up, 98 per cent of our classes were held online. The Swanston, Bouverie and Victoria Street teaching facilities were mothballed for the year.

In 2021, we introduced our January and July Comprehensive and Comprehensive Plus intakes, which replaced our extended intakes to better prepare our students for university study. Our main intakes were renamed ‘standard’ intakes.

We continued our online live lecture series ‘Trinity Talks’ in 2021, which attracted 6372 attendees.

RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE

We had 405 applications to join our Residential College in 2021, and, from these, we welcomed 113 new students, who made up 30 per cent of our residential community. Unlike 2020, when a number of students opted to go home during the lockdowns, none of our students left the College due to COVID-19 in 2021. Remarkably, of the students resident in the College in 2020 and eligible to return in 2021 (that is, first and second year students), over 92 per cent elected to return to the College in 2021. This was a heartwarming vote of confidence in the College and acknowledgment that our culture is alive and well.

We delivered 689 hours’ worth of consultations and 142 tutorials as part of our tutorial program, and offered a range of on-campus events and activities in line with COVID-19 restrictions. Students continued to perform exceptionally well in academic studies with marks that are, on average, higher than other University of Melbourne students.

THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL

In 2021 we had 128 students enrolled, of which 25 per cent studied with us full-time and nearly 70 per cent studied online. Two-thirds of our students studied at a postgraduate level, including eight students studying a higher degree by research. Sixteen scholarships were awarded; two of these were for PhDs. A total of 39 students graduated in 2021, and six were ordained as deacon, while three were ordained as priest.

Five books were published by our faculty members throughout the year, and our teaching staff also published numerous articles.

We entered into a new agreement with the Dalton-McCaughey Library (DML) and renewed our partnership with Wollaston Theological College (Perth) for another year. We also formed a new partnership with the St James’ Institute in Sydney, through which we will offer our ‘Trinity in Sydney’ intensive courses from 2022.

ALUMNI NETWORK

The College continues to benefit from the incredible support and generosity of our alumni and non-alumni supporters, receiving $3,490,498 in donations from 493 donors in 2021.

Despite lockdowns and restrictions on events, throughout the year, we had 1304 attendees across 20 events (eight of which were held virtually). Our Drinks Under the Oak alumni gathering attracted 340 people and, coming as it did soon after the end of lockdown, it was a joyous occasion.

By the end of the year, we had 3263 alumni signed up to our online platform, My Trinity Connect.

I congratulate everybody in the Trinity community for their persistence, resilience and achievements throughout the year, particularly given the draining nature of the pandemic as it ran for a second year, and the ongoing uncertainty that we all faced. I am very honoured to be surrounded by such intelligent, generous and inspiring people and look forward to seeing what our community can achieve in 2022.

Professor Ken Hinchcliff

Warden and CEO