Celebrating our community and our shared future 🙌

As we reach the end of the year, we are taking this opportunity to say thank you for the ideas and insights you contributed to the continuing development of RMIT’s NEXT strategy!  

Through forums, online conversations and workshops, we heard from our community in RMIT Melbourne, Europe, Vietnam and all across the globe.  

Staff, students, alumni and partners contributed to shaping the priorities that RMIT will pursue as we journey towards 2022 and beyond. 

The RMIT NEXT conversation has been led and shaped through our global network together and has explored opportunities that emerge from this incredibly challenging period for the future. 

During the latest Directions consultation phase from July to September, you shared your valuable input on six Directions through online and leader-led discussions. 

Engagement highlights:

• More than 4,600 visits to the RMIT NEXT website during the Directions Phase

• 33 teams across RMIT colleges/portfolios/groups contributed to the Directions Paper​

• 422 comments from RMIT community members on the interactive Directions Paper

• 15 dedicated Townhall sessions exploring the Directions

• Global community members from 5 countries contributed to the interactive Directions Paper

• 6 discussions and workshops with Academic Board sub-committees 

• Dedicated opportunities for students to share their ideas on RMIT’s future

There were many recurring ideas and aspirations that emerged across the six Directions. For example, there was a strong recognition of the need to protect our natural environment and address our climate reality head-on and a shared vision for RMIT to be sustainable, impactful and to provide opportunity and expertise where it is most needed.  

What came through clearly from students is they want to shape a better society, and they want to start now. Our academics and researchers highlighted a growing demand for sustainable, innovative economic development that creates new opportunities through a collaborative ecosystem of education, research and community partnership.  

Read more cross-cutting insights here.

The input shared in the Directions Phase will guide us towards the next stage of discussions and strategy development, informing RMIT’s mission, vision, values, goals, and priorities for now, through our AOP, and into the future, with our final strategy. 

You can find the playback from across the RMIT Community right here on the RMIT NEXT website.

While there is a lot of progress to celebrate, there are plenty of big questions still to be answered as we get ready for next year. 

Heading into next year, we will work through unresolved challenges, together with a new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alec Cameron, and a new Chancellor Peggy O’Neal, finalise RMIT’s next chapter and confirm our collective strategic choices. 

Like Ready for Life and Work, the new strategy will continue to have the community at the heart of how it’s shaped and implemented in the years to come.