UTS Careers Advisers and Teachers Day

Good morning everyone.

Lovely to see you all here today and thanks to the team for getting us all organised. The team have given me a few pointers on what they think you guys want to know based on feedback that you've given them um over the previous years. So I hope this hits the mark for you and of course we'll have time for questions if it doesn't. Um but as we get started I'd also like to acknowledge the Gadigal people. We are on Gadigal land and it's unseated land. always was, always will be Gadigal land. And we as a an educational institution really want to acknowledge elders past and present for their custodian of indigenous knowledges um the care for land and waterways around us and for their culture, their everlasting culture um because they mean a great deal to us and we have a a huge contingent of staff and students who are indigenous and we value their import.

So, reshaping the future, which is what's been happening here over the last couple of years and and will culminate this year hopefully in um a sustainable UTS that will be very forward-looking. So, I'll talk a bit about how we've been future proofing UTS, how we're transforming the curriculum and what that means in terms of reshaping some courses, but also what we're doing within courses. um and how some of the streamlining of entry pathways and um entry schemes and over the course of the day you'll hear more about that from other people who are very close to some of the work that's going on. So I won't steal their thunder.

So in my space which and I'm the PVC students so I look after all things that are student related outside the classroom if you like and then connect very heavily with activate UTS which is our student clubs and societies guild um uh the UTS students association and other student fora we are very focused on how we've been reshaping ourselves around the student experience framework and the student experience framework has been in place now for about three years. Um, this is part of the design of the deputy vice chancellor academic, uh, Professor Kylie Reedman, who apologizes for not being able to be here today. Um, she's off campus. Um, and what we've been doing is looking at how we can reshape ourselves, reorganize um, how we work together. And it's very much about how we work together, but also the types of initiatives that are in place that really strengthen um, belonging, well-being, partnerships, and that's partnerships with students and academic engagement. Because at the very center of the student experience framework is student success. And for us at UTS, student success means whatever the student defines success to be. And as some of you some of you will know all well all too well, success for some students is surviving their education and making sure that they get out and get a degree. For others, it's I'm aiming for a high distinction every single time. So we work with students to help them achieve what it is that they want to achieve. And I'm sure you're aware of the university's operational sustainability of initiative. Um, as the name suggests, it's an initiative to help set UTS up for the future success of the world and the way it's changing very very rapidly. Uh, the course offerings that in 2026 we put on pause and suspended their intake for this year is part of that. Some of them have been considered for discontinuation in part because students no longer really want to do them and a lot of them are going to come back in 2027 redesigned and reshaped in a way that is fit for the future and what students are looking for for from the future. And I'm I'm really pleased to advise that actually we've made a lot of progress in that regard um over the last year. And as we step forward into 26, we're at the point now where we should be able to start going through our own governance processes and making sure these courses come to life and get to market so that your students can um you know, preference them when it comes to uh the point in time where they're making their choices about what to do next year. But I'm jumping ahead a bit. In the education and students division, which is the division um I'm in, my colleagues and I have put together um as I said our operational sustainability plan and we've put students at the very center of that. So we're aligning our teams, we're aligning our systems, and we're aligning our processes. And importantly, the work that we are doing um is responding to student demand. So in particular in terms of the types of supports they're asking for nowadays and the types of services and of course some of that support is them trying to come to terms with things like gener generative AI and how they can and can't use that in their learning experience. And of course that leads us to how we're um transforming the curriculum. So we've embedded many uh improvement opportunities into the student experience framework harnessing student insights. We do a lot of listening to make sure that we're hearing what it is they want. We have students involved um quite a lot of them in the co-design process of many things that we do. So they actually put feedback into well what if we did it this way or what if we did it that way. Uh and it's you know it gives us an opportunity to look at things through a different lens as well which has been very you know useful to us. So one example of that is the academic administration working group where students call out some of the challenges that they have particularly those students and we have a lot of them doing combined degrees where the way one faculty might handle a request for say an extension is very different to how another faculty might handle that same request. and how can we make that a much more streamlined process for students right across the board and give them the type of opportunities um that they need to succeed while balancing study with work. Many of them have caring opportunity uh obligations as well. So they've got full lives like the rest of us and they're trying to study at the same time. Um, and some of them are trying to do that with full study loads, which is pretty miraculous because a full study load is a good 35 hours a week worth of work. Um, we're also aiming to have our three-year student experience and success um, strategy in place by the end of June. And that will be solidifying everything that we've been doing over the last little while and set us up for the future. We toyed with the idea of a 10-year strategy or a fiveyear strategy, but we settled on three because, as you'll know, things are just changing so rapidly. So, we don't want this to be something that we put on the shelf and then it's useless to us in two years time. In two years time, we'll be ready to re, you know, revise it and reframe it. And if we made need to make changes in between, we will. And if we've learned anything over the last couple of years, this evolving environment that we're living in um is is evolving quite rapidly and we need to be able to respond quite very quickly to it. But of course, the upside of change is opportunity and that's opportunity for improvement. So everything we're trying to do at UTS, whether it's in the classroom or around the classroom, is make sure that we use operational sustainability to seek those improvements and those improvements for students. And we want to partner with you as well so that you can help us better understand what students that you're teaching right now are looking for as they step out of um high school and into the tertiary system. So, I did grab a little quote from um the deputy vice chancellor academic professor Kylie Reedman who couldn't be here today. Um, and I think the sentiments in there just pretty much echo everything I've been talking about. And she is very much a leader in this space in the university. And um because I'm on the student side, I have a provice chancellor education who I work very closely with and of course Kylie works right across that and operational sustainability has meant that a few other student centric areas have moved into Kylie's portfolio which is terrific because we are now working so closely together in the best interests of students. All right, transforming the curriculum. So this is really the work that's going on in the provice chancellor education space um and with all the faculties. the faculties are taking the lead and you'll hear from a few people today including um Karen Wan from the faculty of engineering and IT about how they're approaching uh the future of their curriculum and embedding into it all the types of assessment developments um generative AI etc that they need to to really revitalize the curriculum but also set students up so that they are work ready when they walk out the door in a world where as Kylie put it uh generative AI is now ubiquitous. So at its core, it's reimagining um the digital learning ecosystem with the aim of proving improving student experience of course and ensuring no doubt that our financial sustainability makes um stays on tact with the course portfolio optimization which does mean we have lost some courses but those cost courses as I said are courses that students are not choosing because they're not relevant to them in this day and age. Our focus areas are um generative AI, developing secure AI supported assessment strategies so that students don't have to worry about whether they will fall foul of how they use AI, but it's there in a way that they know it's secure and it supports them. um assessment reform more broadly and shifting to authentic process focused assessments and adopting new security measures within um our curriculum management system which is called course loop. Uh employability of course embedding those professional practice and industry relevant skills throughout the course is hugely important and we've always been known for our industry engagement and our work ready graduates and we want to make sure we remain the leaders in that space and most students nowadays are choosing us for that very reason. Um and it's a dig digital focus first approach moving to a unified learning management system and enhancing the online curriculum. And we have a lot of online students now as well. And a lot of students are on campus students who are looking for online opportunities to help them balance their workload with their you know um workload outside of university. But our guiding principles which are all up there are adaptive, connective, inclusive, transformative and evidenced because everything we want to do is evidence-based. So the timeline for this is um the end of this year. We have spent a lot of time in 2025 working through the curriculum redesign. Some faculties are have marched ahead much faster than other faculties, but you will see over the course of the year and the team will keep you updated as more and more courses come out for 2027 um that have either been paused and then being brought back in their redesign form or where there have been changes to courses that we've still had intakes in and current students as well will get opportunities to benefit from those changes as well.

And I'll talk briefly about two course areas which we did pause the intake for for this year which we are bringing back next year in a completely different way. Our entire teacher education suite. Um and so we're looking in that space the team there and you'll be speaking to the dean of the faculty of design and society and the these two course areas fall within his faculty. He's very new so you know be nice to him. He's been here I think maybe five weeks, seven weeks, something like that. Um, but he's really supportive of the team and the work that they're doing. And what they're doing is looking to, you know, make sure it's streamline and time efficient. So it allows students to specialize in their undergraduate degree while working towards completing a post-graduate um, masters of teaching as well. They're introducing um well they introduced actually the year before last the bachelor of education futures and it's a new way of looking at how uh teaching will happen going forward. So students study subjects that are not only provide expertise in teaching um and the New South Wales curriculum, but it offers value added subjects in digital technologies, sustainability, indigenous perspectives that gives them a bit of an edge over other teachers as well. The secondary teacher education courses, of course, there's a big focus on English, math, science, and human society and environment. um and they're the foundations that they can move forward with for strong disciplinary knowledge. We're also making sure that students who are doing our teaching degrees have going forward have a really good opportunity to take up T-OLE and teacher um applied linguistics subjects as part of what they do because we recognize that they need to sharpen uh their experience and expertise in language literacy and multilingual learning. Um, excuse me for one moment. Bit croaky.

Um, and we want to have some unique teacher placement opportunities in there as well. So, I'm sure that you'll see some of these students coming into your schools, uh, where they're looking for guaranteed highquality school placements that align directly with the coursework that they're doing. and the faculty will be, you know, in touch um with the right people in your and your colleagues to make sure that they can move forward with that. But they want it to be in in core um one of Australia's most respected professional experience programs and reflected in the quilt rankings that you will see going forward. And of course, we have uh indigenous perspectives and I've talked about the importance of that for us. Um this commitment is led by the very amazing professor Benny Wilson who has n is a national leader in indigenous education and whose work with UTS's team um has been strengthening community-led partnerships and builds this more authentic cultural grounded learning within the curriculum for future teachers. Meanwhile, the Bachelor of International Studies um is going through its own complete redesign. And I'm not sure how familiar you are with the old program, but I won't spend too much time talking about it. This going forward is a new 4-year global degree that's divine designed to combined with degrees um such as communications, business, engineering, creative production, and law. Um, it's building real international capability which includes language skills, intercultural communication and global problem solving so that they're not looking just from an Australian context. There's study languages in flexibility. Um, allowing the students and advanced students to learn together in a tailored way. So you don't have to come into the program with a certain language level, but you can work with students who perhaps don't have the same language level as you. International and intercultural studio capstone where students comprise projects with industry, community organizations, and global partners. So they can do some of those opportunities offshore as well. Um the global skills will include intercultural communication, multilingual capability, digit digit digital literacy, which is all important no matter where you are in the globe, and international collaboration. And these graduates that are being prepared for these global degrees um will be looking at media, diplomacy, policy, international business, development, education, and other creative industries as well. And in Australia, we're a leader in the creative industry space and we want to take that offshore.

Now, I want to talk a little bit about the early entry program. And I'm sure all of you are familiar with the university's early entry program and just show you what it is looked like for us over um the last five years, which is since its inception. So, when we first introduced it, we saw about 12,000 applications um and around 2,000 students accepted and enrolled based on those applications. And a reminder, I guess too, that this pro the our um early entry program has a conditional piece where you get a conditional offer based on a calculated ATR that UAC did for us based on their year 11 results. So not every applicant got an applica got an offer and then you also had to meet a threshold when your actual ATR came out. So not every conditional offer holder got an unconditional offer just before the December round two offers. But over the years the number of applications has increased dramatically and it's um just about doubled in that fiveyear period. But interestingly the number of students who are taking up the offers even though the offers have have increased naturally in line with the number of applications has almost h haveved. So it's a space where um how students are using their early entry offer is changing. They've all worked out that this is a great thing to have. Yes, I can see how it offers a bit of peace of mind for a lot of students, but many students, I think, are just putting it in their back pocket and no doubt collecting them, which is a great thing for them. That's exactly what I would be doing if I was in their position. Um, but what it does mean is they're still choosing to come to UTS through UAC and they're still putting a great deal of stock on the degree they get into on a competitive basis through UAC, particularly in December round two. So while we appreciate the peace of mind that this gives um students and while we recognize that it's conditional and then unconditional uh there's a very small number of students who are now actually make taking advantage of this and an even smaller a very tiny amount number of students who would not have got in through UAC on a competitive basis. Um unfortunately the government's requirement to tight tightly manage the number of Commonwealth places supported places that universities are making available to students going forward has meant that this year in particular the early entry program has forced us to push up a lot of our cuto off rankings because we have had to limit and cap and stick to our Greek cap with the government and that has made us rethink think what this might mean going forward for the equity for all students to have the same type of opportunity to get into UTS if this is not the the most um used pathway for them if UAC remains that how do we make sure we level the playing field so what we have decided to do is disestablish the early entry program so we won't be offering it this year for next year's intake and all students will have the same equitable um opportunity to come to UTS through UAC and hopefully we won't need to be pushing up ATRs in order to balance our new caps that we have with the government. I'm sure all universities are trying to work through how they're going to manage that as well. we've all been particularly the Sydney metro universities um and in the on the east coast of Australia more broadly regionals don't necessarily have this same problem and it's not really a big problem on the west coast of the country but on the east coast where there's a lot of demand the the Commonwealth is making sure that we stay very um narrowly within our swim lanes from a student uh cap point of view and I'm sure that the EP will come or the discontinuation of the EP will come as um disappointing news to many, but it has its critics out there. As I'm sure you all realize, some of your principles might not be all that fond of it. We do hear from a lot of principles. Um the deputy premier and minister for education is no fan of early entry programs whatsoever unless they are very equity focused. And that's another thing about ours when we put it out there. It didn't change the dial for us on equity students. It didn't make it more accessible for them at all. Um it we you know proportionately we have the same number of equity students coming through the early entry program as we do having coming coming through UAC. It's our pathways programs and the programs that have um generous entry schemes that are really where we uh the rubber hits the road for us and for equity students trying to access UTS. And you'll hear more about that from Kalia a little later when she talks about our pathways programs and our uni ready scheme. Um so we're working closely with the center of social justice and inclusion which is where Kari is from and where the the pathway schemes are most closely managed to make sure that we are creating the space for equity students at UTS. But of course we still invite all students to come to UTS including all those high performing students that you have as well because we welcome them here too.

The key thing I think to remember though is that we do have a large number of places and while they are capped and we can't go over that cap they are there and so every year we take in around 9,000 10,000 commencing students. Um, a lot of them, most of them are school levers, but not all of them. Um, of course, we have students who are returning to us after they've taken a break. We have students who are coming to us from other universities where they tried to get in and they couldn't, but they want to transfer to us. And we have students who are returning to higher education who may not have had the opportunity to study with us. But our focus and our focus of this team is definitely school levers and they are the ones we are catering for as we think about this going forward because they are the biggest users of the the program and of UAC.

Sorry I didn't flick the screen when I was talking through that but there's nothing there I haven't talked about. Um so just in summary reshaping the student the the future we are you know have put students at the center as I said um we're not there yet but we're getting much much closer and by the end of this year um the the shape of UTS which isn't from the outside going to look that much different to be perfectly honest we have you know we've had some faculty merges um we are trying to redesign the curriculum as I said a lot of it's about what's going in going on on the inside as opposed to the outside. Um the the faces that you know around the table in the the recruitment team won't be changing at all. Um the support structures for students are being improved um as opposed to under undermined through this process. What we're really focusing on is what nobody needs anymore um from the university and how we can just be a bit smarter and a bit better about what we do. that new range of courses and course offerings will be available uh for 2027. There may be a few that come out in 27 for 28 uh that just have more work to do but the aim is to get everything out there for next year. Um that transformation of the curriculum will definitely deliver an unparalleled learning experience for students and you know we for years have relied on word of mouth and that's one reason students choose to come here. um they hear about what we do differently, how we have offer a different experience inside and outside the classroom to students. And I think that this will set us apart even further and in the right direction. And you know, of course, most students come here because they're looking for that future. um and that future workforce readiness is going to be built straight into the curriculum, especially preparing them for a world that's changing um with generative AI and recognizing that when they start their degree as well um that will evolve year on year because it is just changing so rapidly. But we hope that they will be prepared for the future when they graduate from UTS. So that's it from me. Um, I will hand back over to Yanni.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Jackie. Um, so now is our Q&A session. So, any questions you have for Jackie, now's your chance. Um, we will be monitoring the chat and we'll see what you guys have.

Okay. So, um Jackie, our first question is, how does UTS ensure course quality and positive student experience in the classroom particularly when there might be more students than spots in a course?

I'm not sure about the students than spots in a course and where that feeds into it. From a course quality perspective, um we do a few things and curriculum transformation is very much about the quality of the curriculum. Um both in terms of the content that we're providing, how it's delivered and how it's varied in its delivery as well. So that there's a range of experiences in the learning process um and how it's assessed. And so we're looking at more authentic assessment as part of that. So we're not, you know, we're not going to move away from exams entirely. That's never going to happen. And in certain disciplines, that can't happen. But there are other ways to assess assess knowledge and assess the adaption of skills. And we are going to be using those um more broadly and that's where the learning designers come in and we have a great field of learning designers and they work centrally to support every faculty um and that's where the faculty ingenuity and their connections with industry and of course student feedback tells us what we need to be doing. Um I hope that answers the question. Cool. Thank you. Um also another question when will the new courses that are being designed going to be announced? So that will probably come out in a bit of a drip feed. So the the faculties are racing for this right now. The sooner we can get them out there, the better. But what we're not going to do is say right um we're going to hold everything until we've got them all ready because that will just not be enough notice for the market. That won't be a notice enough notice for you. So as these course suites are redeveloped and as they're ready to go to market, um we have our own internal governance processes in part to make sure that quality is there. So we have to make sure that when it goes through courses accredititation for instance that it meets all those quality thresholds in including accreditation thresholds and some of those things can take time particularly if we're waiting for kryos codes for international students for instance. So we're not allowed to go to market with courses until we have them ready. It's not, you know, it's a regulatory requirement, which means we can talk to you about the things we are doing and what we're working on, but we can't launch those courses until they're ready and they've been through that governance process. So, we will probably be putting them out as and when and you will hear from time to time. Um, and I know the team send out, I think it's monthly updates every month. You'll probably see something new popping on the radar. Maybe not until maybe June you might see the first one. Um, some faculties are way ahead, other faculties are not, but as they come out, we'll make sure that you're aware of them. And if there's anything big that's on the horizon that sits in between, I'm sure they'll also advise you in between those monthly newsletters. Yeah. Um, just as Jackie was saying, we do have our our monthly newsletter in brief. If you haven't already signed up to it, if you just type in UTS career advisor hub on Google, we do have a page there with all of our contact info and all of the resources that we offer as well. So definitely get signed up if you haven't already. Um, another question, what if there will be what will be the alternatives to the early entry program moving forward? So we're not looking to necessarily develop yet another way for a student to get an offer. Um, when Kalia comes and presents, you will hear about the different pathways approaches that we already have. That includes things like the school's recommendation scheme. So there we we're we're going to make sure we focus on how we can make it simpler for students to access UTS and fairer for students to access UTS. I think one of the things that the early entry programs has done has made it quite confusing because every university does something a little different whereas when you look at things like the schools recommendation scheme that's a sectorwide um approach and universities either adopt it or they don't. So, we want to focus on making sure there's not necessarily more ways to get into UTS, but the right way for every student cohort. So, we're not looking at introducing anything new to replace it per se, but we may change some of the parameters around our um entry schemes, how we look at uh adjustment factors for instance, and how we look at our pathways approaches to make sure every student has that opportunity. So another question from the audience. What is the justification for reduction in government supported places? Is it to encourage school levers to pursue careers where there is shortage i.e. trades or is it for some other reason? Um I I think that's a question for the government. Unfortunately I don't know that we can answer why they're doing what they're doing. I mean, we'd all recognize that over the co years, they relaxed quite a few things. I think it's the government trying to bring things back into a shape that is manageable. Um, so we're all just focused on the the caps that we have in place. And we've always had caps. Don't don't get me wrong. The caps predated CO. It's just that during co the caps were uh less rig rigorously looked at from a government perspective and now they're bringing back that rigor. Amazing. Uh another question, what was the motivation for such dramatic and speedy change at UTS and what confidence can we as teachers and careers advisers give to students to apply to UTS? Uh if you're talking about the change in terms of the courses that we suspended um pending either redevelopment or discontinuation, a lot of that was based on um our own financial situation. Uh and other universities as you know are all going through similar maybe not as dramatic or maybe not as public um or and we're going ahead of quite a few others which might be why we get a lot of airplay on this. Um but it was really financially driven and in looking at our finances we started looking at the courses that were not getting traction with students because they are not seemed as relevant anymore to students. So this is where um we looked at the social importance of some of those courses like teacher education. We never wanted to discontinue it, but we knew because the the students that we were attracting were fewer and fewer and fewer in number that we needed to do something about it to really redesign it and make it far more attractive to students. So what we have done is gone through a year through every faculty looked at the entire curriculum offering and we have a lot of courses on offer and a lot of majors within courses and a lot of study choice blocks in courses and we've really paired back to what is it that students want now from UTS and what is it that we can offer them um redesign and make really valuable for them for their futures. So it was a confluence of things coming out of um co but also then saying what are we what are we setting ourselves up for for 2030 which is where our next plan will come in and beyond. Amazing. So another question from the audience um how does the discontinuation of the early entry scheme assist in equity for the uni? Um I think it has never helped in equity for the university. So it's not about assisting equity, but what it has done this year and again it's it's a problem that we've had this year and we'll have in in future years with these caps coming back in more rigorously is it has forced because we put out offers early and because we need to honor those offers early it means that the the students who are applying through UAC and getting offers in December round two we've had to adjust the ATR cuto offs to make sure we can stay within our cap. So if we are not giving out students um early offers then every student comes through UAC and every student has the same opportunity um to enter into the university with an offer and we can better manage those ATRs. The last thing we want to do is disadvantage any student because we've had to creep that ATR up to manage um our caps. So what we're aiming to do is make sure that as I said make it similar uh streamlined um simpler and have fewer pathways so that the pathways we do have are really focused on equity students and the students who need to come through to UTS via an alternative method um and use the UAC system really well um so that it is a broad system available to all students. Cool. I guess leading on from early entry, um the discontinuation of it, is this something that is potentially going to happen at other universities or is it just a UTS initiative? Do you see it as a growing trend? Uh look, I don't know. I'm not I I can't say what they may or may not do. Um I think because uh Prukar and others have been very vocal with vice chancellors about their dislike of it. Um, I wouldn't be surprised if once we announce to the market, which is effectively what we're doing today, I might add, um, that we are going to discontinue it and won't be offered next year, there may be pressure put on them to do the same. I don't know. Or they may just decide, okay, well, if UTS is not doing it, we won't do it. Or they might go, great, UTS is not doing it, we will double down on ours. So, it's really hard to predict what other competitors will do in this space. and we've been very careful not to take a view of what we need to do based on what they might or might not do. Um we recognize there's a risk there for us in doing it this way, but we've thought about what we need to do for what's right for um commencing students and students who are applying to come here and access UTS. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for all of your answers, Jackie. Really appreciate it. Um again if you guys have any unanswered questions uh we will be holding the expo afterwards and we also will be posting all of those online as well. But thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you guys for the update. Um, again, all of this information is also available on our website as well. So, if you missed the phone numbers or the emails, you just type in UTS career advisor hub. All of our faces are on there along with our emails and phone numbers. So, next up, I would like to introduce Kahlia Kim-Sheppard to discuss one of our various admissions pathways, the UniReady Enabling Program. So, please join me in welcoming Kahlia to the stage.

That is if she's here. Whereabouts is she? All righty.

Well, you're going to get more of me then.

All righty. Might just skip Just a moment. Everyone feel free chat, have a drink, do your thing. Yeah,

there she is. Okay, perfect. Amazing. So, please join me in welcoming Kahlia to the stage.

Hi everyone. Uh my name is Kahlia and I'm from the centre for social justice and inclusion here at UTS and um I'm here to talk to you today about a program called Uni Ready. Uh so this program is run with the centre and in conjunction with Jumbunna which is our in institute for indigenous education and research here at UTS. So Uni Ready is a fee free course and is an equity pathway program into undergraduate study here at UTS. Um, with Uni Ready, uh, we're looking at supporting students build their academic skills and their university readiness and also help find their strengths and passions for university study. Students can work in an uh, invol in in a supportive learning environment. Um, they'll have small classes uh, with academic and cultural support built in. At the end when students successfully complete Uni Ready, they'll receive an offer to study an undergraduate degree here at UTS. Um the program does have some eligibility criteria that students need to meet uh in order to start the program. So first of all uh students need to be uh Australian, New Zealand uh Australian or New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident of Australia. uh they need to be at least 17 years old or older in the year that they commence the program and in addition in addition to this they need to be uh Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander andor have experienced financial uh disadvantaged as evidenced by the criteria below. So

uh so financial hardship can be evidenced by things like uh the area that they live in. So their socioeconomic area uh whether or not they've received any sensing uh payments uh so income asset tested tested entitlements or if their parents or guardians have received family tax benefit a whilst they're in year 11 or year 12. Um if you're unsure if students might meet this, the easiest thing is you can contact with us and we can type with the student and um sort this out and discuss this with them.

So when students start at uni ready, we want to make sure that they're prepared for the academic work that's part of the program. So we also have some academic eligibility criteria. Um so the first is for school levers. So that's somebody who's completed year 12 in the previous 18 months. Um for these students, we're looking at their ATR. Um and we're looking at an ATR range between 55 and 60 between 55 to 68.95. Um if they don't fit, their ATR doesn't fit within that range, we can also look at their subjects and how well they performed. So we're looking at a minimum of two subjects in a band four. uh for non-current school levers. So this is somebody who uh maybe didn't finish high school or since high school has gone on to do study at TA or um has some work experience. Um we assess those on a case-by case basis. Um so that can be their high school uh results, their ATAR, or if they've undertaken further studies, this can be their diploma or a CR 4 whether at TA or a private college um or evidence of work experience. Um, so if they don't have any of those academic results, that's fine. If they've undertaken full-time work experience, um, we're looking at a minimum of one year full-time paid work experience.

Uh, so just to give you an idea how this program is run, for example, this year um, we're running our next intake in April. Um, from the 7th to the 7th of April to the 26th of June. Um after that we'll most likely be running a September intake. That's yet to be confirmed. Um but in terms of what study looks like for the program, it is a full-time course. So it is expected that students are doing between 20 to 30 hours of study per week. Um this course is offered completely online or on campus or if students decide they want to do a mix of both and that suits u their needs better, they can do a mix of both. Um the between those 20 to 30 hours, three of those hours are teach three hours of teaching per week. So that can be face toface uh with on campus or Zoom classes where the teachers will meet you on Zoom and run the classes online. Um again, Uni Ready, it's completely free. So it's supported by the government's fee free initi university courses initiative. um which means students will be enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place and they don't need to make any payments for this course. However, if they decide to go on to undergraduate study um there will be further fees for their bachelor degree.

So what do students learn in uni ready? So uni ready is a preparatory course for undergraduate students. Um it for undergraduate study um and it's four subjects. So the first is academic foundations and university skills, data and evidence, writing for academic purposes and introduction to disciplines.

Uh so in these subjects first of all we have academic foundations and university skills. In this subject, you're looking at things like academic integrity, um ethical scholarship, uh what the foundational expectations of university study are, and the responsible use of AI tools, uh which is a big part of university learning. In data and evidence, they're working to build capacity with digital tools uh in an academic setting. So they're looking at numerousy uh data literacy and ethical reasoning tasks um that will be beneficial for their post uh undergraduate study. Um and then in writing for academic purposes they're really looking at deepening their academic communication skills focused on reading, writing, referencing uh and all different uh referencing and revision. And then finally the last subject is introduction to disciplines. um they're really exploring academic and professional pathways in a chosen field uh that they're interested in. Um and they'll get to look at discipline specific texts. Um really kind of giving giving them a taster of what's to come in undergraduate courses. So when they choose their undergraduate course, it's really aligns with what they want to study, their passions. Um, so, uh, they're kind of getting a little example of the course that they're committing, you know, the possibly the next three years or more to.

So, uh, like I said, it goes for 12 weeks with nine weeks of teaching. Um, so to give you an idea how it's run, there's a schedule up for the 2026. Uh, so students really do these subjects in block mode, which means in the first three weeks, they'll do academic foundations and university skills. They'll have a break and that subject's complete. Um they'll do data and evidence and then for three weeks another break and then writing for academic purposes for three weeks and have a break and that's done. Um but in the meanwhile uh introduction to disciplines is a fully online self-paced subject that they do on from weeks four to nine. So that will kind of teach the students some little discipline, time management skills, um skills that they'll definitely need for university studies.

So in terms of applying, we have two methods of applications forms for current school levers. Um they will apply through UAC. Um so for of course 2026 it's already come and gone but just keep an eye on our website for future years. We'll keep updating which uh rounds that we'll be participating in. And then for non-current school levers um applications are direct through the UTS uh student portal.

So all in all uh with Uni Ready, we want to make sure students feel connected to the classes that they're in and we want to really make sure they're getting a good experience as part of the program. Um so we have a lot of different support mechanisms built into the program for these students. Um there are orientation workshops, uh undergraduate course selection workshops where we have ambassadors and current students come and talk to the students um about each specific course that they're interested in where they'll have the the opportunity to ask them, hey, what are the assignments like? Hey, what are the classes like? And get a good idea if that's something they want to commit to. Um just so that they're making informed decisions when they're committing to uh selecting a bachelor degree. Um students get access to the uh library uh career advice uh computer labs are already in the uni ready program um and also that one-on-one guidance from teachers and success advisers advisers when they need it.

So just a couple of FAQs that we get. Um so uh do participants really get a direct entry to UTS and if so what courses can I study? Um so yes uh everyone who successfully completes the program so that's the four subjects will receive an offer to an undergraduate uh course here at UTS. Um there are a couple of courses that have their own special requirements that they need to meet. Uh so this is things like nursing and midwifery. They just have a higher English language requirement. Um and with law as well the places um are limited but uh there are quite a few. Um but in addition to completing the program, they'll also need to do a an interview with the faculty of law. Um with the Bachelor of Engineering, we don't have that as a direct offer, but the faculty has provided a pathway into that if students are interested in that um that they can uh transition into without all their subjects credited over.

So how much does it cost? So again it's completely free um supported by the government's fee free uni ready courses initiative. Um so all the students will enroll in a CSP place a commonwealth supported place which is a place uh subsidized by the government. Um but again uh if they choose to go on to undergraduate studies there will be fees and the cost of each uh bachelor degrees varies and we can check out the website uh for those fees.

Um, another question that we get also is, do I have to go to UTS? Um, so the uni ready program is uh only going to offer you a place at UTS. However, at the end of the program, if you choose to apply for other universities, um, or you decide like students decide the university is not for them, that's absolutely totally fine. Um, uh, we won't hold you to it. You don't have to take your offer to UTS. Um but that's part of the program kind of figuring out uh what the students want to do. You know they might go through the program and say hey this is you know I went into this thinking I was going to study one thing but at the end of it I decided I want to study another thing. Um that that's what it's all about helping them figure out what they want to study and do.

So um yeah that's it for me but if you have any uh questions um you can always email us at uniready@uts.edu.au and yeah, thanks very much for listening.

Before we get into the panel session, could I just get everyone to mini introduction of themselves? Starting with you, Moana. Um, I'm Moana. Uh, I work in the centre of social justice and inclusion and I've been working in the educational access uh schemes space um for the past year. Hi everyone, my name is Lizzy Grech. So I am the senior indigenous outreach events officer at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. So I'm a proud literature woman born and raised on Dary country and I've been in this role um for a little over a year and a half now. Hi, I'm Peter Harris. I'm the executive director of future students at UTS College, the pathway to UTS. Uh I've been invited back for a second year, so I must have done okay last year, but it's good to be here. Awesome. Thank you everyone. So while the questions roll in, we do have a few frequently asked questions that get asked a lot. So starting with you, Kalia, um what evidence do students usually need to provide to demonstrate financial disadvantage? Yeah, so for the Uni Ready program, um for to demonstrate financial hardship, uh it's either the uh residential address that you had while during the periods that you were affected during year 11 and 12. Um, and that's according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Um, again, if people aren't sure, just send us an email and we can double check that for you, see if that address is eligible. Um, the other method is if your you or your family are receiving a Centerlink uh, Centerlink asset in asset tested income. Um, so this could be like your family tax benefit, uh, youth uh, youth allowance. um along with their application, they'll just have to provide a copy of their income statement from Centerlink and make sure the name matches. Cool. Thank you for that. So, next question for Moana. Um how does inputs and the school's recommendation scheme work exactly? Uh yeah, so inputs is the educational access scheme, uh EAS for short, and it's facilitated by UAC. Um so all of your students would submit an application via the UAC website. Um what inputs does is that it acknowledges that students face challenges um during the period of study year 11 and 12. And if there are challenges that impact your students results, um it acknowledges that hey, we understand that something has happened and we're going to try and make an equitable admission process and open that pathway for you. So what does it involve? Inputs. Um on the UAC website there will be an application guide and in that guide it will have about nine categories that UAC acknowledges that a student can face. An example is a financial support which is what Kari has mentioned before uh center link benefits. Um another example is caring for yourself or others. um which is as an example a student might be working um a few hours to support themsel but also maybe their family as well um which means that that's less study time for them to focus on their studies which means it might impact their studies and so those are just some examples and so a student can apply and to be eligible for EAS um some of the circumstances that they apply requires supporting documentation. Um, so it's important that if you are aware of a student is experiencing something and you can see that it's impacting their results, um, it would definitely benefit the student if you were to refer them or show them like, hey, EAS might be something benefit that you may benefit from. Um and yeah they'll provide supporting documentation and uh yeah it's all done via UAC and terms of eligibility requirements. So there's citizenship status which is Australian, New Zealand or permanent residency and there's also an ATAR requirement. The minimum is 69 um for a majority of the courses. if they're applying for a law course, the minimum ATAR requirement is 80. Now, if they meet uh eligibility requirements and they've met the ATAR requirements, uh what happens is that whatever the ATAR rank the student has, they will get a bonus flat 10 um on top of their ATAR rank. So, that's inputs. Uh with SRS, school's recommendation scheme. Um, basically it lets year12 students um, pretty much apply based on the year 11 results um, and also your school's recommendation. Um, in terms of eligibility requirements, they need to meet um, EAS circumstances. Um, so in terms of the EAS circumstance, there's specifically three. they need to meet one of the following which is either financial challenges. Um they are living in a the lowest 25% social economic indexed area and then the third one is is that they're either in a rural or regional or remote area um studying a school there. So that's one key criteria and then the citizenship requirements is the same. And um what happens is is that if they are successful in their SRS application um they'll get one or two one out of the two offers. They'll either get an unconditional offer or a conditional offer. So an unconditional offer is is great. They get an offer in November before their eights come out. It just means that if they got their dream course offer, they actually don't have to worry about their ATAR. Um, which is fantastic. If they do get a conditional offer, um, the ATAR is a requirement and I believe it is uh 60 um, for most courses and then 71 for law courses um, which is still lower than the requirement. Um, they're all submitted via UAC and yeah. Yep, I think that's how it works. Awesome. Thank you. Next up for Lizzie, how does the Jambana admission program work? Thank you guys. So, um the Jambana admission program is a free entry scheme into UTS for all Aboriginal and Toristra Islander peoples. So, this applies to all um all aiginal tourist island peoples of all ages, but for this instance for recent school levers. So it's a program that's been designed to support the aspiration raising and the empowerment of our young people to come to university. It looks beyond your ATR. So it isn't an ATR requirement pathway. It is a pathway that is through Jambana specifically. So students do not need to apply through UAC. They apply directly through our Jambana admissions program portal. Um it looks beyond their academic skills such as their ATR and it looks more broadly at their academic readiness, their personal strengths um and the individual qualities that they bring as indig indigenous learners to the university space. So the requirements that they need to apply are include their school reports. So they need to upload their school reports. They also need to provide a personal statement where they can showcase their individual strengths, their community leadership, and their desire to be at university along with a letter of recommendation. So that letter of recommendation can be written by school personnel, but it also can be written by a youth worker, community leader, or someone that's close to that young person. Um and also they need to provide a confirmation of Aboriginality or our Jambana statutory declaration along with two Aboriginal community references that are either not directly related to them or from their school. Uh so that is the requirements for current school levers. Applications are aiming to open around the 29th of June and will close very early January, usually the second week of January. So yeah, so it's pretty simple. It aims to support our young people in aspiring to come to uni, breaking down those barriers and also helping them understand that the ATAR isn't just their only entry point into university. Cool. Thank you, Lizzie. So last but not least, Peter, um people might assume UTS college is only for students who don't get direct entry into UTS. from your experience who are the students that choose the college pathway and why? Excellent question and I might just pick up on fantastic these other pathways we have and the Jambana students a lot of them come through the college on scholarships as well. So we're really proud and happy to play a part in their success as well. Great question. Um, at the college, our main purpose and mission is of course to for students who don't quite get the grades for UTS, but really want to go to UTS and we think are capable of succeeding at UTS to provide that access to them. Equally though, we're seeing an an emerging group of students who are using the pathway as part of their strategy for university success and really for to create that year that really changes everything for them. Now the advisers here in the room know of course that you know ATRs that students receive don't necessarily reflect the students ability. Um that could be because um you see this every year. Um students have got strong HSC marks but the subjects don't scale. Um they might have had a challenging last year through um engagement or loss of self-esteem or confidence or personal issues and you know the difference between ATR and HSSE can be 10 to 15 points at times. So our role at the college we we use HSC as an entry entry point and because we can see within that by using that we can see potential in the students that are not necessarily reflected in their ATR scores and I know the advisers in the room and teachers can are aware of that as well. So students who who have we assess their readiness for study and their readiness for success at university based on HSC. Um the types of students that career advisers you know really think and and recommend to the college are exactly that. some that have got strong observed or proven academic potential. Um some that have had those challenges or underperformed in that last year. Uh you know really valid strong HSC performance but again that scaling issue they might be have chosen u it might be a cohort issue. They've got to you know been part of a stronger cohort. They might have chosen been creative subjects that haven't scaled as well. They might be strong technically in maths and technical subjects but English has been struggled at English. So they've scaled down, but it doesn't really reflect their their ability to succeed at at university and succeed at UTS. So we understand that the the challenges that teachers and counselors and advisers have to, you know, build that motivation and and to counsel those students effectively. You know, we're also seeing a small but growing group of students who do have access to un you can go direct to university but are choosing the pathway as part of their strategy. It might be for a few reasons. Maybe some of them have gone to universities or other universities and found it to be too theoretical and not practical and they really haven't thrived in that environment. You know the diploma gives them a chance to try in that first year and work out where they want to specialize in. Some of the stronger students just really feel that you know because we provide that transition between high school to university in a high school sort of like environment small class sizes high touch points you career peer mentors peer tutors study success advisor some students even with stronger marks might feel they're not quite fit or ready for that university transition and see the pathways as part of that strategies so when they do go to the university you know they're stronger independent learners they've got those skills course to succeed and and thrive and and we know it works. Um you know if we look at our you know the students who complete with us you 90 95% of them qualify and transfer to UTS which is you know fantastic outcome when they go to UTS their grade average their pass rates are comparable to the direct entry students you know they're a little bit below but certainly comparable and again it's really good because of the you know they're coming up against the stronger students who have done really well in that last year. So again, it's a really good vindication of of what we do. You know, career advisors know better than anyone that students at doesn't always give the whole story and that and and a strong ATR doesn't necessarily mean a good fit. So I think that's where the the college provides this alternate pathway and this alternate strategy for those students. Our role at the college is to recognize those capable students whose HSSE performance shows that they can succeed at the university and then provide them with that right community right support for them to succeed and thrive when they go to UTS. So when someone asks me you know who are those students that go to the college I think it's ones that want to be about strategic you how they want to approach that first year and how they want to set themselves up to for that success and how we can play a part to that and when they do acro do go across to university they do thrive and they do so very proud of that so I think it's that that model of certainly those traditional you know our cohort is really about those ones with a good HSC but poor ATRs but in career is expanding to students who see this as part of their strategy for success Awesome. Thank you for that Peter. So now we will move on to questions from you guys. So first question here for Kalia. Is there a list of courses Uni Ready gives guaranteed entry into? Um because uh our list of undergraduate courses is constantly changing. It's hard to get that one list up there. But we do have a list on our website of the excluded courses. So it's just a handful of courses mostly courses attached with honors um courses that uh such as the bachelor of enrolled bachelor of nursing enrolled nursing obviously that one's for people who completed a diploma of nursing so that one's excluded um they think the bachelor of accounting that's a co-op scholarship course. So really the courses that are excluded are because they're attached to other specific programs, but um they can all be found on our website. Perfect. Next question for Moana. Will most courses be available through SRS and where can I find this info? Um so it's the same as Kalia. Um there's a list of excluded courses. Um and it can be found on our website. Um and if it's not, you can just email me and I'll tell you what it is. Cool. So, next question is for Kalia, Moana, and Lizzie. Um, do students who come through the various pathways programs receive ongoing support while studying at UTS or is it just more so of an admissions pathway? If they do receive ongoing support, what does that nurture look like for the student? Yeah, so I can absolutely answer this one. Uh so for um the uni ready students uh when they go into un uh when they transition into university uh university studies we have our student priority success team looking after the students. So they'll do orientation workshops with them um check-ins with them make sure that they're constant that they're doing well provide them with uh the support but also academic support um with our uh first nation students. Jambana also provides that support for them that's culturally appropriate. So there's free academic tutoring. There's events that students can go to. Um one of the feedback that we had from one of our students that started undergraduate this year uh studies this year that completed the program last year was they went to class and you know they already had their first they already knew their friends. you know, they came into class feeling confident and then when everyone was struggling in class trying to log into Canvas, trying to use the resources, um, first they were really intimidated and really scared about going to class, but then they got there and they were teaching everyone else how to use Canvas. Um, and so the students go into that with complete confidence and that's been really really encouraging to see. Um, and then yeah, being able to have that good friend cohort uh going into university um and then having your advisers check in on you um and we have events for our students um that we're constantly keeping in touch all through the end. Um we want to make sure these students succeed uh and that we're setting up for setting them up for success. So we we do provide that wraparound support for them. Awesome. Just to add on um with Kalia uh for students that come through um the educational access schemes um they do have access to all of UTS's support services. Um one department is like that's their job. Um and it's called the higher education uh learning uh presentation support services um where they provide literacy support, academic presentation skills. Um and they also uh have the ability to um support the student with their assessments, not necessarily do it for them, but just to see if they're on the right track um and give them feedback as well. Uh other supports that's available is subject specific supports. Um we call them pass subjects. So for subjects that have the highest failure rate, there's additional support for those subjects and so all of our students will have access to these classes um if they feel like they would benefit from this additional support. Um the library is also a useful resource as well um if they require support with referencing um or looking for resources um but also just navigating our systems. The library is a great touch point as well and there's many many many support services that UTS that is free for our students to access. Yeah, I might touch on a little bit more but um absolutely. So as Kalia mentioned, students that do come through the jumbo admissions program but also through uni ready are available to receive support through our student services team. So something that we really drive home and articulate with our students is that when you enter university, you leave with a degree, but you actually leave with so much more. You leave with a community, a sense of belonging, friends, and you have support the day that you enroll to the day that you leave. And then we can't really get rid of you when you leave as well. So they're always coming back. Um that connection and that sense of belonging is continued. So when they do come into Jambana, they do receive that um ongoing support in terms of JTAZ. So the tutorial assistance scheme where they can receive peer um peer hourly whether that's work uh fortnightly or weekly tutoring for their subjects along with a generalized learning and development team that sits within our unit that actually supports and provides students a more generalized academic um support. So writing essays, how to site properly, how to actually engage in the university space. Um because we do articulate to our students that it is a learning curve coming to uni. It's different to high school, but it doesn't mean they can't do it. So there is that intense wraparound support because that's a community. Um they're leaving a high school community and then they're entering a university community. They also receive support with housing, scholarships, any queries that come up. It's it's honestly like a family and so when students do arrive, they're not forgotten about. Um and they can come through with any concerns that they have. So it's more than just an admissions process. It's actually the start of them being a young person at university and getting to experience another sense of community and belonging. Amazing. And does Jambana run on campus events during the year for indigenous students? They do. So, um, we have a wonderful dedicated student services team that aims to put on as many events as possible for students. So, whether that's community lunches, whether that's, um, kind of Friday night hangouts at the movies, things like that, or even just student celebrations throughout the year. There's always opportunities for collaboration and community. And our student lounge is open 24/7 for students. So they're able to come in and use printing services, but also just use that space for whenever they need a bit of a reprieve um as well. So yeah, there's always things happening on campus. There's always things for students um to be involved in. Amazing. Next question for Peter. Do UTS college students have the same social life opportunities as UTS students and can they get involved with clubs and societies on campus? Excellent question. Yes, they can. And we've got our own clubs, but also they can access all of the act activate UTS clubs and do so really well. So, they've got really high engagement. We're on campus. We're in building five. All the students study on as part of the UTS campus. They're seen as UTS students and they get really involved in the um in the UTS clubs and activities. So we have our own activities but also they're very very active in that. Amazing. Um another question about UTS college. Is the UTS college full fee paying and what is the average cost of a diploma through UTS college? Very good question and it comes up every year. I would just set some context around this and I must say that the college is not for profofit um and we're part of the university and unfortunately we do not get any government um support at all. So not a scent from the government. So, our fees are high. Um, the cost of a diploma is $38,000. Uh, we have fee help. Uh, and students access that. Um, but it's unfortunately the fees are So, when we do talk about fees though, um, I'd certainly like to put it in terms of value rather than cost. Uh, and for the students who see this as a really key part of their strategy, um, if it's going to set them up for university success, it's not for everyone, of course. Um, but the there's a high fee. There's a fee attached to it. Um and that fee really reflects the sort of the high support model we have small class sizes but unfortunately also reflects the fact that there's no government support for the college. Sure. So next question is for Kalia. Um it's kind of a two-part question. So what credentials do you graduate the Uni Ready program with? And is Uni Ready equivalent to the HSC? Yeah. So Uni Ready is a non-awward course. So um at the end of it you do complete the program. It is a enabling program that the students can complete. Um they'll have a transcript and a certificate for that but unfortunately um it uh it is a non-awward course but that gets you uh entry into undergraduate studies. Sorry, what was the second? Um is it equivalent to the HSC? Uh no it is not equivalent to the HSC. It's a 12-week program with four subjects. Um different universities have a a uni ready enabling program. Um uh but that guarantees them entry into their specific institution. Um that might change in the future but for now our uni ready program uh uh guarantees you entry into UTS at this moment. Awesome. Um next question for Moana. Can you please explain what the difference is between EAS and SRS in the UTS context? Yeah. So, uh, EAS, um, acknowledges the challenges students face during the period of their study, um, and how that impacts, uh, their academic results. Whereas with school's recommendation scheme, um, you're a year 12 student, but you are seeking entry based off your E1 results and also the school's recommendation. Um, and there's different eligibility criteria as well. Um, with EAS, uh, to get an offer, um, you need to meet ATA requirements. Um, but you get a bonus 10 points, um, with your application if you are approved, but for a student that's trying to get into their dream course, it may not still be enough um, to get entry. for someone that's doing an SRS application um it's not based on ATA at the beginning and if they get approved for an unconditional offer they don't have to worry about their ATAR which is a relief for the student. Um whereas if it if a student does have a conditional offer the minimum requirement is a 60 ATAR um and then 71 for law courses. Now if they meet that at requirement the conditional offer gets converted to unconditional. So even though they haven't met the at requirement of what's the normal like for example maybe law 98 and maybe the student got a 72 and they got approved for SRS um or they've met the ATR requirement which is minimum 71 ATR um and they've got a conditional offer they would get unconditional offer they would get access to law. So hopefully that lightens up the difference between SRS and EAS. For sure. Um, next up, back to UTS College. Does applying for the UTS college impact other UAC preferences? That's a very good question and we're not part of UAX, so it doesn't impact that at all. We we're separate. Um, so you can apply to us directly uh outside of the UAC process and you can still have UAC offers. many of our students have offers from other universities uh and they go through the UAC process and we we're not in as part of UAC so doesn't impact it um and um when we even get up closer and closer to intake students that have accepted our offer then may decide to accept uh offers from other institutions which they've got through the UAC process. Cool. And will UTS college widen pathways to other degrees such as exercise and sport science, architecture, criminology is also a big one. And what would you say is the split between domestic and international students within college? Fantastic question. Um, we offer part our departments go to all majors, but this just how much credit they get for it. Certainly to architecture they do. Sports science I don't we don't really have anything that leads to that. Um, good question. Maybe something we'd look at. Domestic students at the moment it's about 40% domestic students, 60% international. Um, and that varies by intake. Uh some it's pretty consistent uh for our numbers at the moment. Cool. And Moana, back to you. Is SRS based on region like other unis? And can you confirm the points that are available through EAS? Yeah. So with SRS, um one of the EAS requirements um so with SRS with the eligibility criteria, there is an EAS circumstance that's required. So, one of the following um regional, remote, and rural schools is included in that. Um what was your second part of the question? Uh where is it? There it is. Can you confirm the points that are available? Yeah. Um so for EAS, educational access schemes, it's 10 points flat. So if a student got an 80 um and they got approved, they'll get a 90 in the eyes of UTS. Awesome. Well, that's it for the questions. Um thank you so much to all of our panelists. Give him a round of applause.

Hello, I'm Professor James Bennett. I'm the Dean of the Faculty of Design and Society. I want to spend 10 or 15 minutes talking to you about what the faculty offers for students. Um, and why it's a great place to come and study in a range of different areas. Um, and then we'll have a chance for a bit of Q&A. Um the faculty of design society is a new faculty uh that was established last year and it was established by UTS in order to bring together all of the creative disciplines from architecture to media production um from um design to fashion from built environment um to journalism into one space. And in that space, we have the opportunity to make sure that all of our students benefit from a cross-disciplinary approach to their learning, where creativity is the heart of what they do. And we in Sydney are at the heart of one of the world's most creative cities. And we're plugged into that industry and we're plugged into the future challenges that they're facing and the opportunities for that. Um, one of the most exciting things about being able to bring those different creative disciplines together is the opportunity that creative industries afford for uh exciting, interesting careers and leadership, not just in a career, but through creativity across cultural sector and a kind of platform to inform social life across Australia and beyond. Creative industries in Australia are big business. They're worth 67.4 billion dollars to the Australian economy. Um rising year on year, a six.6% increase from 22 to 23. The sector is about 5% of the Australian economy. So it's bigger than agriculture. It's bigger than housing. It's bigger than transport. It's bigger than electricity. It's bigger than gas. The list goes on. This is a serious sector with serious opportunities for students to grow. Take fashion alone. It's worth 27 billion dollars to the Australian economy each year. It exports seven billion dollars worth of product and as an industry it's 77% um led by women. So there are amazing kind of careers and opportunities that are growing across the creative sector and that's just in Australia right um when we think about where our graduates go and the opportunities globally these kind of figures compare. Uh I don't know what my accent's doing anymore, but I've spent 27 years in the UK and I've just arrived back. Uh I grew up in Brisbane, but having spent those 27 years uh in the UK, you know, my knowledge of that sector is that, you know, the opportunities in the UK are worth 13% of the UK economy, the creative sector. Um there are over three million jobs in the UK working in the creative sector directly. Um so this is an area where we bring we prepare students for careers and challenges that are in a growing sector and we prepare them for a world of uncertainty through focusing on creativity and innovation and those skills and we do so with deep industry partnerships. But I think one of the things what's really great about uh UTS and these kind of programs is that creativity is a much bigger skill set than just the creative industries. Nine and a half% of Australian workforce holds a qualification in a creative sector or a creative discipline as its highest qualification because creativity is a skill that transcends one particular job. It transcends one particular sector. Creativity is resistant to automation. It is resistant to um uh kind of like change because creativity is about addressing change and uncertainty. And these are the skills that we equip students with u to go on and have amazing careers. And in those nine and a half percent of uh Australian workforce holding creative programs, the most prevalent of those qualifications are communication and media, graphic design, design more generally and architecture. All things that we do here and all things that we bring together. So let me give you a few examples of how this works for our students. Um we start with deep industry engagement from the start of their studies. Um here we have our students who won the international advertising agency uh national marketing campaign challenge of 2025. The competition involved more than 150 undergraduate students working on a live brief from Telra. So these students were working on the same brief that Telster had set for companies and they were working with company guidance. Students developed and pitched and integrated a campaign to industry judges and the experience builds those career ready skills that students need to have in creativity, presentation, client thinking and importantly responding to feedback as well as dare I say it uh group work. Um the the um other sort of group work that they do um is example here from landscape architecture where our students worked with um a uh legendary architect Tanya Wood on a landscape architecture project with C with JJ Cahill Memorial High School. Students here conducted a site analysis. They consulted with school leadership and students about what was trying to be achieved. and they're designed with the school and community volunteers to include an approach that built habitat restoration, a biodiverse landscape, and an outdoor classroom that supported well-being and learning. So, students learn about creative landscaping, they learn about well-being, they learn about mental health, they learn about working with um some of those most challenging clients of all in students in themselves. Um our mission is to provide three pillars that define what we do. A future ready skills, industry engagement, creative and critical thinking. And that creative and critical thinking is crucial because we live in a world of uncertainty. Every day as we wake up and read the newspaper that is more and more true. Um so we equip skills students with the skills to uh focus on that uncertainty and build resilience alongside that as part of what they learn along the way. and they do that by working in real world situations across their career across their time with us. Uh last year we had students working at channel 9 working on live broadcast workflows um that led immediately into a job on graduation. We had students working in journalism at Guardian Australia. uh working on professional reporters on the live federal election cycle. And we had community exhibition projects where design students created um uh with Lyard Women's Community Health Center for its 50 and 50th anniversary. If this works, we might be able to show you a little bit of what we do. That's not going to work. We'll move on to what happens next. Um so three disciplinary areas broadly. Um we have three schools inside the faculty. architecture and built environment, communication and social sciences and design. I'm going to talk a little bit about each of those areas um in turn to to outline the degree programs that we offer. But in terms of the approach um a key aspect is the employability rates of our students. So we're eighth in Australia overall, number one in New South Wales for employability and sixth in Australia for salary of where our graduates go. But importantly, as I was saying, our students move from just graduate jobs into leadership roles. And that's something that we're immensely proud of. And I'll show a few examples from our alumni um to put some uh color to that um story. So, if we start with architecture and built environment, we run undergraduate programs in design and architecture, design and interior architecture, and bachelor of landscape architecture. The portfolio entry for 2027 is a 69 ATR and an accepted portfolio. And we have these unique streams where from year two students add a stream in a second architecture discipline without extending the standard three-year duration of their degree. This is the only school in Australia that works this way. And because they're part of the faculty of design and society, they have opportunities to engage across the creative curriculum and as we see with architecture and built environment increasingly placebased knowledge and experience economy uh ideas that allow them to spread their wings creatively and in particular work alongside our students in communications and social sciences where the Bachelor of Communications and our new Bachelor of Creative Production allow students from animation, media arts, music and sound design to work along the critical social sciences including international studies um as well as a a stream in sustainability. And that sustainability stream runs across most of our programs so that they understand some design thinking about sustainability, how to design waste out of programs, but also think critically about the decisions that are made in any um job or any creative production about where we can reduce our carbon footprint. And then finally the school of design where we run undergraduate programs in Bachelor of Design and the new Bachelor of Fashion Business. This opportunity to have crosscutting careers is really key to us. So we build skills that allow students to access not just a design set of thinkings but also work with the business school and understand how they can create value, how they can create their own careers and be in control of their own businesses. Um it's important to say that in terms of all the uh degrees I've listed, these are just samples. They're indicative of the list that would go much longer on the website. Um new this year, we have the Bachelor of Fashion and Business, which I've mentioned, the Bachelor of Creative Production, as well as um a refresh in our communications program. Um the as I said the portfolio entry scheme for 2027 allows students a 69 ATR and portfolio as their main way of entry. Let me conclude with running through a few examples of where our students get to on their careers after UTS. Um going back away to a point where even I was back in Australia at this point. uh Vanessa Gorman, one of our graduates who created the award-winning documentary Losing Later and obviously an Australian icon as television producer, journalist, and writer. But those sort of graduates come back and work with our students and provide career pathways as well as beacons to show what UTS degrees and where they can take it. um in design. Uh Jake Dowski um is a bachelor is a a graduate from 2016 who is a recipient of the UTS young alumni award who won um the SPS uh uh led team of the Wakeley award-winning South by Southwest winning my grandmother's lingo in interactive indigenous language app. Uh he's a designer, animator, and director using animation to share indigenous storytelling and a strong advocate for uh integrity in the power of interactive stories to connect history, culture, and audiences. Whereas, as I say, the value of our students work goes much beyond the economic and into the quality of the life they have, the opportunity to platform great ideas above and beyond themselves. Um, graduate Ying Yi Yinglu, a Bachelor of Design from 2008. um famously created the fail whale emoji for Twitter um alongside including emoji design like dumplings, boba tea, chopsticks, fortune cookies, and as a creative leadership role that includes global creative director at 500 startups and IDO's first global creative collaborator in China. Um and finally, Hugh Jackman. We don't always create a Hugh Jackman, but we do create the Hugh Jackman who was a graduate from 1991. Um, and uh, so Hugh's career here was about that idea of creativity and being able to work across a whole uh, load of different disciplines. And it's that opportunity to walk in the the step the the shadows of greatness when people walk around the hall and hear that whisper, Hugh Jackman went here and they know it's true and they know it's an opportunity to follow in those footsteps. So why FDS? Um for students who want to do not just study. We work with applied research and applied teaching. We work with an approach at entry that is beyond the ATR. We look at portfolios. We look at diverse pathways. We look for the human in the student, not just the number. We're careers that are futurep proofed. You know, as I say, it's an uncertain world. Creativity is a crucial skill that we enable our students to graduate with. And we are a new faculty. We're on a journey of making our curriculum as exciting as possible. There's a huge amount of energy in the faculty. And I say that as somebody who's literally arrived nine weeks ago um turned my world upside down to come and join this project because where we are at in our own journey at faculty design society is super exciting. But also we're in the middle of Tech Central and Ultimo Creative where just on our door stop doorstep there are two and a half thousand businesses in the creative industries. Um we see this sector growing faster than any other city in uh Australia. Um, so we're growing year on year by 6% in terms of employment in the creative sector in Sydney and it's got a huge history all the way back to the indigenous people and our approach here fosters that creativity that indigenous people brought to the country and ensures that we design with country and working with a future in mind that is sustainable, inclusive and exciting. So that is why faculty designer society is in the top 100 for pretty much all our disciplines in the world in art and design in education in architecture and built environment communications and media um and the university in the top 100 overall. I look forward to your questions. Um thanks very much.

Amazing.

Thank you, James. So, now we will move on to the Q&A.

All righty. So our first question um Jackie mentioned earlier today that education in in international studies will be revamped for 2027. Should we as career advisers and teachers start promoting these courses already to students or wait until more information is available? That's such a great question. I would say if you've got students who are interested in that space, absolutely talk to them about it and promote it. We'll have more material very soon. um within the next kind of like six to eight weeks we'll be able to say more about um some of the structure with the kind of certainly certainty that needs to happen for actually officially promoting it. But we're really excited by the work that's being done um the integration of a lot of um AI into those um programs that enable students to work in in multiple ways um and in a really exciting environment. So the the refresh is is a is a mild way of um saying that actually we're really kind of like taking those degrees back and thinking about how we can make them super futurep proof really exciting uh and ahead of the curve. Cool. And I guess more kind of big picture what is would you say the faculty of design and society's strategic focus moving forward? So our strategic focus is on the creative industries and how those sectors bleed into all other sectors across the Australian economy. So we'll be as I say equipping students with the skills and creativity and innovation as a key area. But to do that and I think this is like really crucial is you can only do that by ensuring that our students work with a huge uh array of crossd disciplinary skill skills. So when they come and study with us whatever program they're on it's the opportunity to um have have a kind of pick a mix to where their degree program sits. So that what we encourage is where innovation comes from is from ideas that don't sit within your own area. It's being able to understand, translate and communicate across a load of different disciplines by which we get really exciting students and it's what excites our staff who teach them the ability to get new ideas that don't come from their own background. So that interdisciplinary cross-disciplinary space where students work together, get to experience a range of different subjects from across our faculty and beyond, I think is probably the most exciting thing. Awesome. Thank you for that. Um, next question. What makes this faculty at UTS distinctive compared with other design and social science faculties globally? That's a great question. Um, so I think there are I'll pick out three things. Um firstly the the staff who work here that ultimately are are here to um provide the intellectual stimulus for the students are worldleading in their fields but in a way that is about the application of their research and ideas to the real world. Our our kind of like mission in the way that our staff worked is to be impactful. So what that means is that our work it takes on kind of like serious global challenges. It tackles the world's uh wicked problems. And so when we talk about sustainability and when we talk about indigenous knowledges being part of our crucial future, this is what drives 100% of our work is thinking about how we can engage in those challenges in in in everywhere that we do. that kind of um worldleading research in an applied space is really unusual and it's very tangible for students in a way that sometimes deep research which which which can um take a long time to come to fruition is harder for students to understand. We're there working with industry on those challenges that are now and near but with that kind of like the understanding of where we're trying to um get to in the longer term. So, so the first thing is is that kind of impactful approach to our staff's research and teaching. The second thing is our location. Like this is unique, you know, to have 2 and a half thousand creative businesses literally in our backyard. I'm talking about a 5 kilometer radius of UTS. We have the Atlassian building. We have um uh the ABC right next door. We have the powerhouse museum. Um and we have a huge array of startups and we support company like we support our students going into the startup space. So this is the space in Australian economy where we see um what you call our unicorns. So the unicorns are those companies that then float onto a billion dollar stock exchange value. Uh this area is produced three that is unique in the world really. So this is a space where creative and technology come together and our creative students have got that opportunity to work with and alongside technology in a way that is I think globally unique and certainly as I say moving from the UK where I led the creative industries national uh research and development lab at Pinewood Studios where we had a global footprint and a global idea. this is a more attractive kind of space to be because of this density of where you get creative and technology coming together and serendipity because we're in such a small area and serendipity and cross-disciplinary um connections are where innovation happens and our students are at the heart of that. So um that's the second thing and that that kind of links into the third thing which is the the cross-disciplinary aspect of what we do to make sure that students really work across um and see things not just from a design discipline or a journalism discipline but from a creative lens across a load of different areas and that makes them unique and compelling. And it goes back to that point of like creative industries are massive, loads of exciting careers in there, but creativity is an inherent skill that we can build and develop and promote into a load of different areas and it is resistant to autom automation. And these are three great things that I think UTS is really leading at because it was a a university of technology. Definitely. And I guess speaking of technology, thank you for the segue. Appreciate it. um with the rise of AI in the design field, how is the faculty embedding this within the programs and how are they preparing students for a workplace with AI after they graduate? Thanks Yanni and whoever asked the question. Um it's never never far from our thoughts, is it? Um look, I I think AI is AI is here. It's here to stay. um it is ultimately um particularly in the the the medium term a tool for um human creativity. So we make sure that our approach to AI is human- centered uh and we work with companies who work in the same space. So what that means is that AI should be something that is about expanding our creativity, expanding our potential to to be better at what we do. Um and that is increasingly where companies are at. Um I think you know the explosion of AI we'll see uh an increase in the amount of in in particular um around if we think about media production we'll see an increase in the amount of content and we'll see an increase in the amount of efficiency uh in how to do things and through that a couple of really exciting things happen is one through the efficiency area we get uh very multi-skilled individuals who are able to do a lot of things because they work in partnership with AI That's really exciting. It doesn't replace jobs. It changes what they are. And we're working with companies who see that opportunity and see that particularly as it links into the first area, content. It's always about standing out and human creativity is what stands out. So, we have a a general approach is to try and integrate AI. um we have a really I think uh groundbreaking approach to AI and coursework that allows students to talk about what they have achieved, how they've used AI and critically reflect on that rather than try and police it. And I think that's uh that's a way that the world is going. Um and it's about like recognizing how to use things as a tool. Amazing. And last question before we wrap up. Um, what advice would you give teachers encouraging students who are interested in design, creative fields, and social impact? I'd say do it. Like um, but I think I think that when they they um express that interest, the world is their oyster, right? Like if people want to are interested in a creative career, I think the exciting thing is you don't know where exactly that's going to take you. So building their confidence, building their trust, um building their self-belief, and building their resilience are probably the best things you can do as teachers to ensure that they're successful as um as creative people. And I think if they've got those skills, then we can help them on their journey. And we don't know where that journey is going to go. We know that Hugh Jackman didn't know that that's where his journey was going to go. Um and I think that's the exciting thing about what a creative career is. It can take you in all different kinds of spaces. Um, so yeah, build them, build that confidence, build that resilience, build their self-belief, um, and tell them the world is their oyster. Awesome. Thank you so much, James. Really appreciate you answering our questions. Thank you.

I would like to start by acknowledging the powerful and sacred lands that we're meeting on today and to pay my respects to the custodians of the lands where we are today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I give my respect to their elders and to um those past, present, and emerging and to any first nations people who are in the room. I think it's really important at the start of anything to stop for a moment and remember the tens of thousands of years in which these have been lands of creativity as we've heard from James but also of shaping environments and technologies um and and creating uh the physical environment as well. Uh I am uh the associate dean teaching and learning for the faculty of engineering and IT. But I I asked to come and speak to you today not to talk specifically about our courses but to talk more broadly uh a little bit about digital futures and digital careers. I am an engineer and an educator. Um and I am also uh the chair of Engineers Australia's uh national committee for women in engineering which gives you a bit of an indication of where my commitments lie uh working within an engineering and IT faculty. What I do want to talk to you about today is as I said digital futures and specifically about cyber security and artificial intelligence and the ways in which they are creating new career paths. I could have come and talked to you about jobs and skills and which courses students could study, but I think it's more important for us to have a conversation about capabilities and careers um and the possibilities for um young people and where they might go to shape a better world. So why why would I want to talk to you about cyber and artificial intelligence in that situation? Well, you're probably aware that every six minutes in Australia there's a cyber incident reported. Um and that as James just shared, artificial intelligence is just ubiquitous. We just cannot escape it. One of the things though that sometimes we forget um is that these aren't technical fields. These aren't um careers where where people sit in a room in front of a screen um in darkness. Actually, careers in cyber security and an artificial intelligence reach out across many domains. And these careers are shaping the way society works. and they're not just about building technical systems. So in the Australian context, um there's numerous uh government initiatives that recognize how cyber security and artificial intelligence are really critical national priorities. They're capabilities that um cut across so many different fields. health care, transport, finance, education, defense, the creative industries as James mentioned, climate modeling, social services, and so much more. So, all of these areas are long-term growth areas for Australia's economy and workforce. So, it's the opportunity for students with an interest in these areas to really um futureproof their careers, if you like, and to set up themselves up for sort of long-term um uh impact on society and the world.

Now I put together uh these few stats but then also found some others after I I put this together. Um there is a very large projected growth in cyber and AI. In cyber security um actually jobs are expected to grow by 21% in this year in 2026. There are more than a thousand open roles currently advertised nationwide and they're across a number of different sectors. We need more technology workers in Australia and as I mentioned cyber and AI are some of the areas of critical um shortage. So what is a what does it look like to work within cyber security or artificial intelligence? Well, a career in those areas has to blend technical, social, legal, ethical expertise. All of those things have to come together because cyber security systems within organizations and a across the world and artificial intelligence um happen uh with humans. So they don't exist in little black boxes um hidden somewhere. They are about supporting human beings. As James mentioned and I was very pleased to to be here to hear the his answers to the questions, artificial intelligence is augmenting human work, not replacing it. And the other uh point I would make is that artificial intelligence won't replace those people who really understand it. There are opportunities that abound in shaping the future of how artificial intelligence develops and is used across different um industries. So these are some examples of some roles that will come into being or are available at the moment. Cyber risk and governance specialists, artificial intelligence product managers and policy advisers, human centered security designers. So we are really looking at a world in which artificial intelligence uh cyber security tools um have to have to be taken on in many different industries and create many different opportunities.

I just want to take a moment here to to speak to um some of the kind of public discussion that is happening at the moment around the way that artificial intelligence um is developing and the ways in which artificial intelligence can now code um and what that might mean for the future of uh roles like computer scientists or software engineers. So um I'll just to tell a little story. My sister is an accountant. She and I regularly have conversations about our different professions and she often as a CFO in an organization bemon to me the lack of accountants graduating. And one of the reasons why um you know there's been kind of a loss of interest in accountancy according to her is about 10 or 15 years ago when automation started to grow and many reports came out around the world saying that one of the professions that would be fully automated is accountancy and of course that actually hasn't eventuated. And the reason is that automation is about tasks. Automation has really helped bookkeeping, but accountants aren't bookkeepers. They work in a complex um professional domain. They they work on abstract and contextual and interpretive judgments. They have to be creative in the right ways. Um and it is absolutely the same with computer scientists and software engineers when it comes to AI doing coding. The people I have seen on my LinkedIn profile who are celebrating the efficiencies that come with AI and coding are the ones who are very experienced software engineers or computer software developers because it does make efficient certain tasks within their occupation but it does never does away with that occupation because the need for that critical ethical and creative judgment has not been removed. Actually, we need some of that critical creative and ethical judgment to come to bear in the development of the artificial intelligence systems. So across the different courses or opportunities that students have to join a career in cyber and in artificial intelligence, those pathways through computer science and software engineering are still there because humans are sophisticated in computational thinking, in algorithmic thinking, and in systems thinking and artificial intelligence is great at supporting coding, but not those more creative and human- centered um critical areas.

So I've mentioned a couple of times that careers in cyber security and within artificial intelligence are not just um technical and there's a reason for that. It's because the hardest um problems in these domains are actually human problems, not computing um necessarily technical problems. Many many cyber failures actually result from human factors. uh people trusting the wrong thing. The ways in which um people make uh decisions under pressure, poor system design which makes it easier for a human to do something that is not secure and also organizational culture around what becomes acceptable practice. So there are a number of government frameworks around cyber security which really highlight the key role of governance of leadership of communication and of ethics and these are core cyber capabilities in artificial intelligence as well. Australia has a number of AI ethics um uh kind of bodies of work that's going on at the moment. Um and Australia's AI ethical principles always emphasize fairness, uh human- centered values, accountability, transparency, and contestability, not just performance or accuracy. In the banking and finance sector, for example, where you know there has been recent announcements by certain banks that they're going to look to use more artificial intelligence. They really are needing to address not just artificial intelligence principles but also the regulation and governance around our data within financial institutions. So artificial intelligence can act as a decision maker and as an agent. we can kind of remove the technical detail a little if you like um from our interactions with artificial intelligence and we are doing that. We're trying uh different ways in which we can create intelligent agents to support some of our decision- making. But this always raises questions of responsibility, of bias, of explanability and social impact. And I think it's important to understand that more complete picture of the careers in both cyber security and artificial intelligence. as I said beyond um being a technical person in a back room working in front of a computer.

So if I was um to give advice uh or to suggest the capabilities that are needed for the future of artificial intelligence and cyber security, I would emphasize the need for critical thinking and ethical reasoning. for actually understanding people and cultures and communities. And again, linking back to James, that's why this combination of creativity and technology works so well, I think, at UTS because it's together that that we actually create better solutions. We have to have communication across disciplines and there are a number of different disciplines that constantly impact and change the way we undertake careers in this space particularly law and policy psychology and design thinking alongside uh coding or or software development which might contribute to the creation of systems. um coding and design of hardware systems as well because there are there are many uh cyber physical systems um that are also kind of um in our environment now. And I I always uh think of um I have a washing machine. I I only recently started work at UTS less than a year and I still have children in Brisbane who live in my house and the washing machine up there is connected to the internet. So I know when they've done their washing because my phone tells me that the washing machine's just finished. So that's you know I'm connected to that system. But you may have seen uh a a few months ago, sometime last year, um a journalist who um uh allowed his robot vacuum cleaner to be hacked um collect videos of him and you know overhear uh what he was talking about. So, you know, these things are physical systems out in the world as much as anywhere else. And it requires quite a bit of thought, quite a bit of human- centered design to think about what that means. I don't think it'll matter if someone hacks my relationship with my washing machine. So again, I would emphasize ethics and trust are core employability skills in this domain. um they're core to kind of becoming engaged with future careers across all those different sectors.

I do because as I mentioned this is part of my core values and commitment as an engineer talk to you a little bit about diversity and inclusion. um these are essential for security, for fairness and for true innovation.

So that that we have there is no doubt at at all that diversity and inclusion are important. Um diversity and inclusion uh is important to every organization and business. There's there's very clear evidence about the ways in which diversity and inclusion drives innovation and drives business benefits. It's also a social justice imperative. We know that homogeneous teams are much more likely to miss risks to embed bias because they get into habits of that's just the way it works. It works for me so surely that will work for everyone. and that they design systems that fail real users. So there are a number of government reports and jobs and skills Australia that highlight um that less diverse workforces are more likely to experience skills shortages. So diversity and inclusion as well as being a social justice imperative uh you know a business driver there also that also is driving critical workforce priorities in cyber security um in particular but also in artificial intelligence.

So um I did want to uh just talk a little bit about um ways in which you if you have students who are interested in these areas that you could encourage that interest and to let them know that these these are careers that could be for them. It's important that anyone who's engaged in a career involved with technology has an active curiosity about how that technology shapes society. Uh it's technologies are not valuefree. Um, it's increasingly important for those of us who work in technical domains in engineering, in computer science, in cyber, in AI to understand the impacts of our decisions on the many stakeholders across our society. Students should have confidence that tech futures actually need capabilities that cut across the technical and the non-technical. I've put them in quotes because I'm an engineer and I don't actually think they're separable. Engineering is a sociotechnical discipline. As I say to my first year students, an engineer doesn't put on their maths hat one day and sit down and do a bit of maths and then take that hat off and go and do a bit of stakeholder engagement or teamwork. It's all one thing. We deploy in expert ways all sides of our discipline at the same time. And I think that with regard to cyber security and artificial intelligence careers, these should be seen as careers that are about the public good, about safety, about creativity, and about responsibilities. These are not about um actually replacing humans, particularly not artificial intelligence. They're actually about ensuring that we're designing systems that work for humans and that takes all kinds of minds to join into those future careers.

So I will end because I've I've spoken quite a bit about uh just the careers in general. Um, but why why would I, um, encourage, uh, students to come and study with us here at UTS? Well, um, I did mention I've only been here for a short period of time, but I have been really struck since I've been here by the deep industry partnerships that operate at UTS. Um, we have uh, worldleading facilities. Uh we've got a cyber security precinct that regularly attracts government, non-government, defense, all kinds of sectors of industries to come here to be with us to access those facilities. What those what those industry partners are almost always seeking alongside research and other opportunities is access to young people to come and do an internship to drive innovation and to give them um a little bit of that innovation and new ideas and imagining new futures. That connects back to what James said. We also have a very very strong network within UTS of student clubs and societies in a range of different areas who seek to um go beyond their curricular experiences um and engage beyond with the community with each other in ways that really drive connection and belonging. The faculty of engineering and IT hosts a a week in uh June called Techfest which is an opportunity and I'll I'm very happy to share more with you about this an opportunity for our current students to showcase the things they've been working on but to also engage with industry and invite in high school students and others to see what it's really like to study here. Um the other point I would make is that UTS is Australia's leading university in terms of research in artificial intelligence. And it's one of my joys to be able to say to commencing students, the best thing about researchers in a faculty of engineering and IT is that they are changing how the world works and they're also the ones who are coming to your classroom to help you learn. I get tremendous joy myself talking with some of our researchers in AI and the impactful work they are doing with partnerships out in industry around smart transport systems um around cyber physical systems that they are keeping safe for stakeholders across the community. So um it's it's an exciting place to be at UTS with that vibrant community, that vibrant scholarly community around um artificial intelligence, around cyber security and that connection um that is seamless with our industry partners. There are a couple of um jobs and skills Australia reports on cyber security and AI in case you want to see more of the um information about those futures. I will also um be staying around uh uh at the booths outside in engineering and IT. So, I'm going to transition to take questions, but um if you have further questions afterwards, um I'd be very happy to talk to you. And that's me.

Awesome. Thank you, Karen. Appreciate it. Thanks. So, um, yes, we will move into our audience questions now. This is the final Q&A panel of the day, but, um, like Karen was saying, we will also have the expo afterwards. So, if you have any questions for her that don't get answered right now, she's there, so you can go ask her. Um, so, first question that's come in, there is lots of press around AI changing the workforce. How are the engineering IT courses at UTS ensuring that students are futurep proofed when they graduate and go into the workplace? Uh well uh I mean that's um it is as as James said, I listened to his answer. It's you know something that is our focus continually and it requires us to be continually updating our courses. I guess what it um it it means is that we are constantly looking at emphasizing within our courses the key critical reasoning that still has to happen. So in engineering in computer science um that abstract critical judgment and reasoning become even more important to be core within our learning experiences and our assessment design. Um so our courses uh at least in the faculty of engineering and IT are all externally accredited um with either engineers Australia or the Australian computer society and the other thing that we're doing is engaged in constant conversation. So I mentioned at the beginning for example that I I volunteer with Engineers Australia our professional association. So the other opportunity that provides is to be constantly talking with our um industry with professionals within our industry about how the use of generative AI is impacting on what they're doing in their jobs. Um so we've adopted a kind of a closed loop strategy where that constant input is then brought back into the ways in which we're designing our courses. Amazing. Next question. What has been your experience as a woman in STEM and what advice would you give to female identifying students on pursuing a career in this field and some of the challenges that may be involved? Um I it is the best decision I ever made to study engineering. Um I'm quite old. I did it because I loved mathematics and I loved physics. Um, it's not always easy. It can be exhausting sometimes when people make assumptions about you. Um, and that and that sometimes happens still to me. I'm assumed to be an administrative assistant rather than an engineer. Um but the flip side is um actually coming to understand the impact of engineering it on the world. How we are contributing to create futures that keep humans safe um that that face difficult challenges um that address emerging issues. And I would also say there's a reason why I've um joined and become chair of the national committee for women in engineering with my professional association and that's because there are strong networks and connections um across the profession and uh within the university we have a women in engineering and IT program which really builds community and connects. Um and lastly, I would say one of the things that I have um seen uh much more in the last couple of years is the emergence of really strong male allies. Um, and I can feel a real shift in colleagues, male colleagues who will stand beside me and stand beside young women and um, support their success in our careers. That's awesome. Next question. Would studying an AI degree keep you stuck in an AI role or are you able to branch out into other IT roles and what's involved in the course? Um well uh so there's a number of different ways you can study artificial intelligence at at um UTS. So that we do have a bachelor of artificial intelligence which will which will go um in depth but um you know there are there's not just um artificial intelligence roles in companies that are about artificial intelligence if you know what I mean. So um I I the future careers are in all kinds of places. So you may have a depth in artificial intelligence and in be employed by a hospital or health management system because there are artificial intelligence challenges in that space. So it I mean it's similar to uh studying an engineering degree or an IT degree that while that defines your first discipline and your strength, it doesn't define the sector you work in. And I think what that means is that you can create a career path um to follow something that aligns with your values and purpose. um you can also study a broad-based bachelor of IT or a bachelor of computer science and um do broader things as well as artificial intelligence. So there are multiple pathways depending on the depth and interest and all of them lead to careers in many different sectors. Amazing. Thank you. Is cyber security a big industry in Australia or do you more so have to work overseas and do you have examples of cyber security roles and pathways domestically in Australia? Um cyber security is absolutely huge in Australia. Um as I mentioned we have a a cyber security um precinct and um we have connections with a number of industry partners who are constantly looking for interns. there is a skills shortage in cyber security expertise in Australia. Um you you definitely don't need to go overseas. We have some worldleading um researchers within UTS but also um industries of various sizes in Australia who are really um uh you know looking to create new solutions all the time. So, um, I I've I've got some notes of the job, um, and career paths, but I think we're about to run out of time. So, I'm very happy to whoever asked that question to to talk a bit more, um, at the booth outside. Uh, but just to reassure you, um, you know, the there's a thousand jobs open right now in Australia for cyber security skilled, um, people. Amazing. And lastly, just coming circling back to women in STEM, um are there more young women studying engineering and IT now than in previous years? And how do you see ways to empower young women to study these degrees further and get into these fields? Um the the raw percentages are are growing but not quickly enough for me. Um would be my answer in that space. Um this is a kind of whole of system issue if you like. Um it cuts across uh what we tell little girls about who they are and what they can do. Um what experiences they have in schools, what experience they have in universities and what experiences they have in the workplace. Unfortunately, there are challenges across that entire spectrum. Um but there's also a willingness amongst many organizations, the Champions of Change, Engineers Australia, the ACS and others to um build strategies together to shift that. There are many more opportunities for young women these days to engage in um extracurricular activities in in schools. For example, um just last week when the Formula 1 was on, Engineers Australia um paid or sponsored a corner of the race and that corner was called in her corner and it was named after women engineers working within Formula 1. So, um, you know, if there's ways to connect in with strategies like that that show young women women who are succeeding, women who are leading, women who are changing the world. So, I I think we've we just have to keep working at it. For sure. Definitely. Well, thank you so much, Karen. Really appreciate you answering our questions today. Again, if you do have any more questions for Karen, she will be at the booths afterwards, so give her a chat. But thank you so much. Thank you.

<p>Welcome everybody today to UTS. I hope you've had a great time. My name is Amanda White. I am an associate professor in the business school. Um so hello to anybody who has a lot of business students out there. Um and my role specializes in student experience. So I teach large cohorts of first year students who come to university nervous. They come wondering, am I going to be able to make friends? What does my future hold in the age of AI? And we recognize here at UTS that being a student is more than just academics.</p>
<p>And so here I'm here to tell you why I still love teaching at UTS after 24 years. I was an undergraduate student here. Um I went to a public school in Kogra. Uh so hello if there's a careers adviser here from St. George girls high. But I did my undergraduate here. I worked in industry as a an auditor at PWC. I did my PhD at the University of New South Wales and now I'm really passionate and I specialise in making sure that university is more than just academic experiences and that we're treating university more than just providing students with lots of content that we're building great people. We're building great citizens for the world. Um, I do have a medal in the Order of Australia for services to tertiary education. Um, it normally happens at the end of your career. So, when I got it in my early 40s, I was like, is this it?</p>
<p>But I know that, uh, what we see at UTS and what I do at every single day at UTS is figure out how do I make things better for my students? How do we make things better for all of the students who are coming in? So, navigating university can be more daunting than starting kindergarten. And for those of us that have been there and cried on the first day of kindergarten, there are so many things that you have concerned concerns about. And we hear these from our students. Universities don't use Google Classroom. That's the first challenge. How do I learn? What does this look like? Nobody is checking on me every single day saying, "Have you done the work? Are you up to date? How's it going? I can see this. So, how do I learn? and what is the learning management system is the first hurdle of trying to figure out what am I supposed to do. I also answer questions on Reddit. Um, and if you've ever looked at a university's Reddit, it's full of students complaining about things. But it's also full of students asking these really important questions that they don't feel like they can ask in the class. Things that we really need to make sure that we scaffold and we structure. So, what is the learning management system and how does it work is a really key one. The second one is I'm so nervous to say something. What if everybody thinks I don't know anything? Or I'm supposed to be smart. Shouldn't I know the answer to this? So being really nervous to speak in class is one of again one of these things that we try and make sure we break down. What does it mean to contribute and what does contribution look like? I know we might have all seen Legally Blonde and that class participation in university might seem like combative putting your hand up. Um, but it's actually more scaffolded than that. It's how do you meet people and build psychological safety so that you can answer a really tough question without feeling like I need to be correct. That's also another big challenge. Students come from high school thinking I always need to put my hand up knowing the answer. We want to encourage students, remind them that failure actually means first attempt in learning. I love that as an acronym because I want you to make mistakes in the classroom. That's something they are sort of not used to doing. I create situations where students are not going to succeed because I want them to make mistakes. I want them to know that feeling. Another big one, do I have to do all of the readings? Is everything on the syllabus included? Um, so making sure that we communicate our expectations is really important. But the biggest concern everybody has when we ask our students about what are you worried about in coming to university is will I make friends? Again, we're taught by the movies that coming to university will be this place where you sit next to someone in week one, you strike up a conversation and then you are BFFs for life. that you do all your courses together and you hang out together. But in reality, it's much more complicated than that. It means coming out of your comfort zone to speak to new people, to go to different events.</p>
<p>So today, I'm going to talk about a little bit about what we do at UTS to try and make sure that we're supporting the whole student. And this is our student experience framework, which says at the heart of everything, of course, is student success. We want students to figure out what success looks like for them. It might not be high distinctions. It might be experiences. It might be networks. And that student acu success does require them to engage academically. A great question I get is do I actually need to come to class? I always remind them that university is all about building human capital. It's about how do we get students to invest in themselves and realize that university is this time for learning. And uh if anybody um has been thinking about what does AI mean for learning certainly there's been some recent work by Leslie Noble uh recently at UTS just published with professor Jason Lodge from the University of Queensland that says we we've got a really critical time ahead of us in how we regulate and examine the usage of AI in our K to2selves because if we're relying on it as a crutch then students might not learn the really important brain wiring that they're going to need to be able to succeed at university. So, we want to make sure that we're engaging them academically, but students aren't academically engaged if they're not engaged as their whole selves. So, that's what our student experience framework is about. It's about making sure they feel like they belong here, that we all feel a bit of imposter syndrome, but how do we overcome that? How do we create that psychological safety? How do we make sure that we're looking after that whole student? I talk with my students in first year about our feelings about coming to university, about the pressure we might feel from parents who say,"Well, you have to go to university for something." And uh I end up with a lot of students in default in business degrees because they're like, "Well, parents say you have to do something, but it can't be an arts degree. It needs to be something with a career path." And I get a lot of business students whose parents say you have to go to university. And so it's how do we figure out how to manage those feelings, those pressures and then how do we ensure that they have the right skills to build resilience? Because otherwise without that idea of understanding where do my pressures come from, how do I manage them? What we find is students then seem really resil resilient but at the first sign of failure or challenge they can become really brittle. they can sort of fall to pieces. So thinking about well-being is really important. And then we want to make sure that students build partnerships with each other, with the university, and with our community. So universities, I think, have publicly lost a little bit of their social license of what we do, right? We're here to build human capital so that we can ensure uh harmonious, prosperous society for all. Not just for some, but for all. And that's really what our mission is here at UTS. And we think about how we partner with alumni, with our organizations, in our community to do that.</p>
<p>So academic engagement is more than just what you learn. Part of it is content. In the old days, university was about coming for gatekept content, but content is available everywhere. The number of psychologists on Tik Tok talking about psychology and mental health means that you might not, you know, need to see one or there are different ways to access it. But it's more than just what you learn. It's how you learn. How do you build the intrinsic motivation to want to do well rather than just well I need to really impress my parents with my ATR or impress my friends or this is what's expected of me. So how do we help students discover what their intrinsic motivation is? And sometimes that's really easy. For my nursing students that I come into contact with, the intrinsic motivation is really clear. Sometimes for others, it's like, oh, this is the degree my parents wanted me to do. What can we find in that to help motivate students to be at university? Explore those feelings of what are you going to do when it starts to get tough? Are you going to go on a stupid mental health for your a stupid walk for your stupid mental health? That's often one that comes up in memes with students. It's like what are we going to do to balance out and not just worry about how we look after ourselves but also how do we look after our peers? How do I notice and have have that conversation where I say Yianni over the last two weeks you seem really different? What I've noticed is this. Is everything okay? So we want students to be able to build that capacity to care for each other and then strategies to help develop the insight to manage the pressure when the pressure gets high. Is it about re-evaluating expectations? Is it about help seeking? Is it about figuring out the physical activity that helps our brains go quiet? And we recognize that as we widen participation to university and we try and encourage more students from more different backgrounds and access schemes and pathways, we also need to be really flexible in that engagement. Um, as a academic who was late diagnosed with ADHD inattentive, I probably know better than most how hard university can be when you're neurode divergent and trying to fit in. So, how do we also make sure that we're scaffolding and we're making accessible learning for everyone? That everything is designed so that we're not having to make accommodations. We're already accommodating in the design of our subjects. And our first year subjects are designed to help you understand the hidden curriculum, all the stuff that's not written somewhere, but is really important to know. like when my my uh son just started high school at Plumpton High last year and it was all the hidden curriculum of hang on, do I pack up at the bell? When do I move? What is expected? Um high school students always expect that they need to wait in the hallway before they can go into the classroom here at university. I'm like, "Oh no, if the door is open, just go in. There's nobody in there. In you go. You don't need to wait for me." [snorts] Um what do you call me? Is it Amanda? Is it doctor? Is it miss? Um, it's more hilarious when by accident students go, "Excuse me, mum." I'm like, "Oh, I think [laughter] so. That's always a funny one."</p>
<p>But engagement is also about capability building. We know that students are going to come to university without all the skills we're expecting. University is about developing, introducing them to new skills, developing, and then later assuring that they're able to do those things. But that also means providing support. So, HEPS is our English language and presentation support. Um, they are fantastic. I've got 1,600 students writing a 500word assessment task right now that is due tonight at 11:59 p.m. And I can tell you our helps team is ready to be inundated at about 3:00 with a whole lot of students wanting feedback on their last minute drafts. We have a great UPass system which is peer assisted support which is talking with a peer and our library um which is online and on campus. And I say to students if you're finding it hard to motivate to study go sit in the room where all the other students are studying. Even just feeling in that space means you're less likely to doom scroll on Tik Tok um or internet shop on your phone. But the other thing is how do we teach students to use AI tools in a way that supports their learning rather than replaces it. And of course again that loops back to that intrinsic motivation. How are we explaining to them that learning requires friction? I want to reduce friction in some ways. I want to make it easy to find the learning materials. I want to make it affordable to actually have access to the textbook. But I want to make it hard when I need you to learn how to think. So, it's about reducing friction in some areas, but also encouraging them to know that learning is difficult. That can be really hard for really bright students who have never found anything tough ever, but important for us to teach them.</p>
<p>Now, besides academic engagement, we have belonging by design. So belonging is how do we feel like we're part of an accounting cohort, a business cohort, a women in engineering cohort. How do I feel like this is the place where I can ask a stupid question, where I can ask for help, where I feel like my peers accept me? And so we know from research um and UTS is probably one of the leading institutions in scaffolding our support to transition to university which includes how do we make sure you feel like you belong from the first email we send to you when you get your offer or you get your early offer to what orientation is about. Orientation isn't just about info dumping. It's about how do you connect with people? How do we help you build some of those first stages through networking with your peers? People go, "Why do we come to class in the first week if we're not actually learning anything? I might not be teaching them accounting in week one, but what I'm teaching them in week one is conversation skills." How what are those first things you say? Hi, I'm Amanda. What are you studying at UTS? What major are you thinking about? How was your day today? It's really weird how sometimes I feel like I'm teaching introductory conversation skills and students often grumble, why is this important? I'm like, well, if at some point you do want to create a relationship with somebody else who's real and not an AI avatar of a partner in an app, you're going to need to learn how to have a conversation. You're going to learn how to have that awkward stumble of like, "Hey, what are you doing here? I like your top today. I I like what you're wearing. You interested in going to get coffee after this?" that if you're ever going to want to have relationships, we're going to need to practice. And where better to practice than coming to week one at university and starting to build those skills. So networking within our classes and then within our clubs and societies. We've got over a 100 clubs and societies of everything you could think of. camping, calisthetics, swimming, matcha, K-pop, um, anything that you've got an idea for, there is a club for to again help students realize that making friends is really hard, but clubs and societies and common interests can be faculty based or other based is a really great way to do that.</p>
<p>Well-being is super important at UTS. Um, and we take that very seriously. So across all universities, but flagship at UTS is our respect now always program where staff and students work together to ensure that we have a really safe campus, we have a respectful campus that we talk with students about what is inappropriate behavior. Um I've had lots of interesting conversations with students about what is this? It's a condom. What do I use it for? What's a dental dam? How do we have respectful conversations with our peers? And how do we look after each other? And that's really important because we see more and more gender- based violence and inappropriate behavior that is gender-based both in high school classrooms and university classrooms. And we know that this is not the behavior we want out of our students. So how do we proactively talk with students about what is acceptable? If you wouldn't say this at work, if you wouldn't say this to your mother, this is not something you should say in a classroom. you would not spray paint it on the wall or put it on your LinkedIn, then that is not acceptable behavior. When students laugh at something that's unacceptable, I always call out and I say, "Look at the people who laughed at listing Jeffrey Epstein as a business person you admire." Those people who laughed thought that that was an acceptable behavior. Would you want to be in a group with that person? And pretty quickly, we see young men backtrack to be like, "Oh, oh, no. I really don't think that I I just was laughing because everybody else was laughing. But how do we make sure that we're arming our students to call out inappropriate behavior in their clubs and societies, in their groups, in their classrooms, in their workplaces to ensure that we're really tackling the problems of gender- based violence. And then we have a great well-being program. So, uh I missed out on a flower from the well-being reps last week, but we have all sorts of well-being programs that are proactive. So it's not just about crisis intervention and help, but how are we providing everyday mental health support to tell students that university is hard and if you're struggling that's absolutely okay.</p>
<p>Now in terms of partnerships, you had the fantastic Karen Wheelen up here from FeIT. One of the best events um on campus any time of year is Techfest. So Techfest is when our engineering and IT students come together to showcase their work. It's available for high school students to actually come through a lot of the different events that are happening. Um so if you haven't thought about coming along or bringing your school to Techfest, it's a really great way that we engage our students with industry and with our community. If you're a school close to here, the UTS library is actually open to all. Our campus is open to all. You'd be you most probably careers advisers would be surprised that once it hits 3:15 the tables and chairs and open spaces of UTS fill with high school students who are looking for places to study, places to feel like they're inspired on their pathway to university. So if you're close to here, encourage them to come along after school um to think about using our open spaces to hang out in those spaces. The UTS startup summit is another great way where on a regular basis we're talking with high school students about entrepreneurship. We're engaging with our industry experts. We have a fortnightly startups conversation where students from all across the university network with our startups community with students who have created startups that have gone on to multi-million dollar success but are working to provide that feedback to help grow our next group of entrepreneurs. because we realize a lot of students don't actually want to work for someone else. Their entire goal is I want to create the side hustle that's going to become the next big thing. We want to support that right from the very beginning.</p>
<p>So at UTS, our experience is designed across our curriculum. It's designed to be within curriculum in the classroom, but that also means we're designing outside of the curriculum. How do we ensure that we provide students with a broad variety of experiences? That we provide them with volunteering opportunities, opportunities to demonstrate their leadership. How do we help them figure out that actually being a manager at McDonald's is a really important thing for your career? I get that a lot. Ah, yeah, miss. My only experience is at McDonald's. What do you do at McDonald's? I'm the manager. Hang on. So, you've got leadership. You've dealt with cranky customers. you've dealt with flaky employees who maybe call in a little bit late to come to work. So, how do we help students leverage what they've got? Work within their communities, give back within their communities to help them build that future that they're after. And there's nothing better than for someone like me, and I've been here for 24 years, than to stand or sit, normally there's more chairs on this stage at graduations and see students succeed. And I'm sure that for lots of people here are providing advice with to their students when you see them at the local shops or they tell you what they they've been doing or they come back to a school event. There's nothing more that I love than to come to graduations to see students walk down, receive their diplomas, shake hands, and meet parents afterwards and find out what students are up to. And we want to make sure that we're building that community. even once they leave UTS, they still get career support for a number of years. There's a great young alumni committee that tries to ensure that our students are really connected with the university, that we're part of where they've been and hopefully part of their future journey. Um, I've seen that recently. Uh, two years ago, I think it was. Um, for the very first time, a young, uh, student came up to me and she said, "Amanda, you taught my dad." Oh my gosh. I was like, "Oh, okay. That did feel old." and she said, "And my uncle and my dad and my mom met here and said, if I was going to study business, we're going to check whether Amanda is still teaching at UTS because it's the teaching experiences that our students remember. It's the belonging that they feel is with individual people. We have belonging for institutions. We have institutional merch that helps us feel pride in our institutions. But that belonging comes from the care and the compassion of the staff that they interact with every day with the staff who are like, you know, one of those is my LinkedIn, one of those is my LinkedIn and one of those is my Instagram where I'm talking with students every day about if this is not the course for you, there's no shame in changing your mind. There's no shame in thinking about other options. And university isn't for everybody, but for the people who do come, we're going to help you figure out what that pathway might be. Um, and it's the people that mean that 24 years on, I'm still here at the institution. I'm still working every day to ensure that our students have the support they need and that we're building not just individuals who are doing good work, but we're building policy and structures inside our courses. um so that that is happening happening systematically across the entirety of institution so that nobody falls through the cracks. Now unfortunately I can take I'm going to be here for a tiny bit longer but I actually have a class that starts [laughter] that has started and my TA is running that entirety of the class. But if you ever have questions please reach out to me on Instagram on LinkedIn. Um, and I'm always here to talk with schools and with students about what university actually means for them and why I love UTS so much. So, I hope you've had a really insightful time here at UTS. Welcome to our house and we hope that we'll be welcoming your students here to UTS again.</p>