RMIT NEXT Forum Vietnam – The role of universities in creating public good

Key Messages   

• We need to embed ourselves into the regions where we operate 

  While planning our strategy for the next five years, we must consider our place and purpose in the society and community where we function. This is critically important offshore – we cannot operate in isolation; we must embed ourselves and play a transformative role. We must understand our place in community and society and aim to be a voice of influence and impact.   

  To achieve this, we need to start seeing ourselves as part of the local ecosystem and cultivate a deeper understanding of the local contexts. We must look to invest in our local communities and co-create solutions to local and regional challenges.  

  The rise in nationalistic, inward-looking views in recent years underscores the need for us to foster cross-sector collaborations for research and innovation. In a post COVID-19 world, it is more important than ever for governments, industry and academic institutions to join hands in building a road to recovery.   

  As a university with a global network of staff, students and campuses, RMIT is uniquely placed to convene and facilitate these kinds of multi-stakeholder dialogues and partnerships.    

• We need to foster local connections in a global world

  For the past 20 years, RMIT has been building a special place in the fabric of Vietnam’s socio-economic development.   

  As we examine what we want our next five years to look like, we need to ask ourselves how to deepen our connections with the local contexts where we operate. What can we do to leverage our capacity as a global university to be more active in addressing challenges faced by local communities? Several panellists referred to the environmental challenge in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta as an example of something RMIT could influence through its research and community leadership.   

  A university holds a unique place in the economy – a place where you can explore ideas that is right in the heart systems.  Given the current global uncertainty, we now need to ‘learn our way forward’ and universities are key to this.  This is particularly important for RMIT Vietnam as an international university in a less privileged but critically important region for the future.    

• Our students need skills suited for a disruptive age  

  The global COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last disruption that the world experiences. As we look beyond 2020, we will need to get our students ready with skills required to manage and thrive in uncertain times.   

  As the world begins to adjust to a new reality after COVID-19, our operating environment will keep shifting. We must remain dynamic in order to respond innovatively to change. That will mean building resilience and developing an agile mindset for our students.  

  When we look at what role we can play as a university in addressing local and global challenges over the next five years, it is also important to continue providing our students with global exposure to cooperate across disciplines and locations and explore the big issues that can bring about worldwide disruption.   

• Being an international university means we need to be accessible  

  Since RMIT’s beginning as the Working Men’s College in 1887, we have always positioned ourselves as a university accessible to all. However, in Vietnam, RMIT is often considered a more exclusive university reserved for the privileged few. Moving into the future, we need to shift this perception.  

  Our robust responses to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates our ability to adapt to changing conditions quickly and innovatively. The pandemic has also prompted a rapid digital transition of our learning, teaching and student services. Therefore, we need to explore how to creatively utilise this connectivity to further transform our value offerings and make them accessible to a wider population no matter who they are or where they are located.   

• Sustainability is a priority topic in a post-COVID world
  

  The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a temporary reduction in environmental impacts by slowing down people mobility and economic activities.   

  In a post COVID-19 world, social and environmental issues will become more complex. As we celebrate our recent achievements with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our rankings via the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, we must ask ourselves how we can reflect sustainability as our priority through the ways we conduct our learning, teaching, research and service activities on a local level.  

  In Vietnam, what RMIT can do as an organisation to respond to sustainability challenges goes back to how much we truly understand the local landscapes and complexities. Therefore, we should build on the unique position that we now have in Vietnam and immerse ourselves further to discover new opportunities for collaboration and co-creation of impactful sustainability solutions.   

Audience Engagement 

• A number of questions posed during the Forum will be addressed in an informal channel such as Yammer to stimulate and motivate participants to stay engaged in the strategy process discussion.    
• The areas of interest included discussions on sub-strategy to position RMIT especially in Vietnam in the changing operating environment to engage with local and regional ecosystem and to be innovative and flexible.
   
• Audience expressed an interest in participating and being consulted throughout the strategy process, which will be addressed in the series of upcoming workshops and forums.