By Charlene Gatt
HE’S the new kid on the block who is keen to capitalise on the growth in the West.
Victoria University’s new vice-chancellor Peter Dawkins is working on a five-year strategic plan to grow and re-brand the university as it strives to expand its student population from 50,000 to 75,000.
Mr Dawkins has put out a discussion paper that forms the basis of his plan and is garnering feedback from university staff to help him form a draft strategic plan, which he will present to the university council on 27 June.
Mr Dawkins said his vision for Victoria University had two key aspects: one being the vision for its students, the other for the wider community and industry.
“We want to be the world leader in empowering students from diverse backgrounds, from the many different educational, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, to grow their careers and to be successful local and global citizens,” he said.
“We want to be a leader in solving problems in our areas of expertise through our research and through our scholarship and through sharing knowledge with the community and with industry.
“We’ve got to be out there competing with all the other tertiary education providers for students, therefore we’ve got to have a high-class offer to students to grow and prosper.
“We think we’ve got a very distinctive offer to students and we’re also in the fastest growing region in Australia in the West of Melbourne and I’m very optimistic of our ability to deal with that challenge.”
Mr Dawkins has signed a five-year contract with VU and will oversee an annual budget of over $400 million, and a staff of over 3000 people.
He has held a number of roles in teaching, research, management and leadership in universities across Australia and England.
“It’s been great. It’s got staff with a huge passion for the mission of the university, so I’m finding it to be a very friendly university and my job is to try and build on all of that to help the university get to the next level,” he said.
“I think Footscray is a very exciting place to have the university based, it’s our heartland and we’ve got two campuses here … I’d like to see the university become more and more integrated with the community and with business and be more visible not only on our campuses but across Footscray.”
