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Vice-Chancellor’s Planning Guidelines for 2000

The 10^th anniversary of our foundation as a university, and the 150^th of the foundation of our earliest predecessor institution, in 1999 have been occasions to look anew at the links to technical and vocational education that dominate our history. In the year ahead, we face external policy and funding settings that will reward those universities who are competitive in attracting students, research grants and non-grant income. The year 2000 represents a great opportunity for the University to reaffirm its traditions, while consolidating its position as a leading modern technological university.

The draft ‘QUT Vision’ attached to these guidelines is circulated for comment by faculties and divisions before the release of a final document that will be the basis for external fundraising later in the year. Senior officers of the University will also be using the document in consulting with leaders of business, industry and the professions during the next few months. I would like to get your views to contribute to a concise yet inspiring vision for the University for the next five years. I would also like faculties and divisions to provide examples of particular projects and areas of strength that illustrate the central themes of the document.

The priority areas for 2000 are as follows.

• Performance

  The University took significant steps during 1998 and 1999 to establish and improve mechanisms for measuring performance at individual, group, and institutional levels. Operational performance targets have been negotiated with faculties and divisions, performance planning and review systems are progressively being extended to cover all staff, and the University is aligning these performance systems with our strategic planning. We need to continue to work to integrate these systems with everything that we do and to build a performance culture at QUT.

• Innovation and quality in teaching and learning

  QUT has its roots in institutions that specialised in teaching and learning. We have built on this strength. The University needs to implement sustainable improvements in three areas of priority: flexible delivery, development and assessment of graduate attributes, and internationalisation of curriculum.

• Applied nature of QUT

  One of QUT’s strengths has been our achievement and reputation as ‘a university for the real world’. QUT and its predecessors have excelled in building strong links with professional and employer bodies, providing courses that are highly relevant to employment, and in applied research to solve problems in business and the professions. We need to emphasise our strengths as a university with an applied focus.

I look forward to responses from faculties and divisions both to the guidelines and to the draft vision document.

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