The world of education is changing, and students are approaching their studies in new ways. Both reflecting and seeking to shape this evolution, we will develop new pedagogical models, new approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, and support staff to broker new learning partnerships with students in physical and virtual classrooms. Seamless integration of learning technologies will be increasingly important on campus and to extend students’ learning beyond it.

We will build stronger communities around our students and provide them with more opportunities to connect with the University and our academic and non-academic programs. This means building cohort experiences, inside and outside the classroom, in our precincts on campus as well as online. We recognise the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as owners and custodians of the lands on which we learn and work and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous knowledges in our teaching, learning and scholarship. This Advancing Students and Education Strategy intersects with our Indigenous Strategy in our support for Indigenous students and staff, our work with partners and our engagement with Indigenous knowledges right across curriculum.

The roles of our academic and professional staff will continue to evolve in response to increasing complexity and demand our attention. The People Strategy will set our course in continuing to attract excellent colleagues and ensuring that our staff thrive, to support the core mission of the University. In the context of students and education, we will recognise and support great teaching, value the time and effort spent engaging with students, remove barriers to innovation and forge new partnership models between professional and academic roles. By enhancing the experiences of our staff, we will enhance students’ learning and engagement with the University.

Our commitment to an excellent, place-based education continues, and we will build on the foundation of our campus-based education to offer students increased flexibility in how they choose to study. Our campuses will remain sites of vibrant dialogue and engagement in learning, based on the dynamic interaction and exchange between academics and students. Recognising the importance of community and in-person interaction for our newer learners, we are committed to a campus-based education for our undergraduate students and will work to ensure we establish this expectation with our students.

At the same time, we will enable students to learn in more places across the world – online, offshore, in industry, and in the community. Our provision of online education will increase, and this will be extended and amplified by innovative hybrid models of learning that harness the value of intensive delivery, offshore partnerships, industry- and community-based experiences, and others. Studying at Melbourne will no longer routinely equate to two or three years studying on campus, and we will particularly embrace and encourage this flexibility for our experienced learners in graduate programs.

As we seek to build a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive community, we want to be a destination of choice for talented students from around the world. Seeking excellent students from all backgrounds means expanding our reach to attract and support more Indigenous students to study and succeed at Melbourne. It means growing our global student population to more closely match the demographics of our region and the world, and ensuring we widen participation for all talented Australian students regardless of their background. This work will transform our student profile, and by 2030 our diverse graduates will be known for their exceptional leadership and impact.

Over the course of our wide-ranging consultation, five clear themes have emerged, around which we have organised the strategy. In many of these themes there are existing programs of work aligned with our ambitions, in some there are immediate next steps we must take; in others there are proposed solutions we need to further explore, testing the best ways to implement these as we look towards the university we want to be in 2030.

In developing this strategy, we have engaged with students and staff over many months to seek their advice and ideas. Student perspectives deeply influenced and informed this strategy through many different discussions, as well as events designed and led by a team of student ambassadors. A supplementary report, co-written with our student ambassadors, describes the innovative ambassador program that centred our students as full partners in the strategy development process.