Welcome from our Vice-Chancellor
Deakin University was born of a powerful and clear idea: ‘to provide tertiary education at university level to all qualified persons whether within or outside Victoria by means of distance education programs’.
Ever since, people and ideas have continued to shape our University and made a positive difference to our students, our graduates, our staff and the many communities – both local and global – that we serve today.
And it is perhaps today, as the world twists and turns in ways that are changing us profoundly, that the role of universities – as beacons of new discovery and innovation, as fearless critic and conscience, and as drivers of engaged debate – has never been more important to help us collectively understand and realise our best future.
At Deakin, we acted swiftly in response to the pandemic, successfully transitioning to remote learning and services to maintain our teaching and research activities, while striving to keep our community safe and well. This transition was not without challenges, especially for our students, many of whom faced an urgent need for support. It was humbling to see how our community mobilised in response.
We are proud that throughout the past year – indeed, across the decades that our University has grown to become one of Australia’s pre-eminent higher education institutions – the heart of what makes Deakin remain strong.
This is excellence in both education and research, leadership in digital capability and distance education, a commitment to Indigenous Knowledges and equity, and the desire to ensure that our impact makes a real difference. These are qualities that will serve us well over the next decade, as we fulfil our aim to be Australia’s most progressive and responsive university.
Deakin 2030: Ideas to Impact – sets out our new ten-year strategic plan, which we hope you will be interested to read.
Philanthropy is also a very important part of our history, our present and will be an essential element to helping us realise our future plans. We see how philanthropic support is woven into our fabric, playing a critical role in driving new opportunity, innovation and excellence across education and research at this University, and having a real impact across the many communities we serve.
Whether it’s creating solutions through breakthrough research, supporting the future ambitions of a student on scholarship, or helping to bring Indigenous Knowledge into the mainstream, we recognise and are exceptionally grateful for the impact that philanthropy continues to have.
We hope you enjoy reading The dKin Difference. We’ve certainly enjoyed putting this together – a first for us. It captures just a few of the many, many ways in which our donor community is making a difference at, with and through Deakin.
From myself, the Deakin executive, and the wider University – thank you.
Professor Iain Martin
Vice-Chancellor