La Trobe Business School Statement of Strategic Intent

Future-focused: We will adopt an innovative, responsible, and engaged approach to learning and teaching. We will offer our students authentic learning experiences that prepare them to become future leaders of communities and organisations.

Innovative: We will focus our research strengths, identify grand challenges and take smart risks to optimise the impact of our work on academia, business and the community. We will develop a cultural mindset that seeks to identify practical solutions to the global challenges of our time.

Responsible: We will focus our teaching and research on areas where we can have the greatest social impact on organisations, markets and the communities we serve. We will be guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education.

Engaged: We will build strong partnerships that enhance the social impact of our teaching and research, locally, nationally and internationally.

Culture: We will embody La Trobe’s cultural qualities by being accountable, connected, innovative and caring. These cultural qualities will inform the way we work with each other, our students, partners and communities.

The La Trobe Business School is comprised of a strong team of academic and professional staff who work together to support our core missions of teaching, research and partnership engagement.

We will build a high-performance culture grounded in effective, evidence-based decision-making. We will be open, collaborative and caring to create a workplace that is safe, diverse and inclusive, and supports the health and wellbeing of all our staff.

We will collaborate, share ideas, and drive innovations that further strengthen our work and impact. We will create a culture of shared practice that encourages best practice.

We will champion professional development, supporting staff to attain the skills and capabilities that they need to play their part in our collective success.

We will promote flexibility in working, while being accountable for maximising efficiencies. We will ensure our operations are consolidated, efficient and sustainable.

We will build an outstanding learning and research environment. Students and academics will have access to world-class facilities and infrastructure, to optimise learning and make impactful discoveries.

We will recognise and celebrate the achievements of our staff and students, and continue to foster a culture of excellence. We will promote the activities and achievements of our staff and students within and outside of the University.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goal to develop a positive culture when we improve the Employee Experience as measured by a La Trobe Employee Experience Survey.

The La Trobe Business School offers programs in Management, Marketing, Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance. These programs graduate high quality professionals that are agile and innovative, with a commitment to positive social impact.

We will partner with business, government and our communities to ensure our curriculum is innovative and responsive to their emerging needs. It will be informed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education.

We will seek triple-accredited status from the European Quality Improvement System, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and Association of Master of Business Administration. We will maintain or enhance our discipline and course rankings, with a focus on Quacquarelli Symonds World Rankings, to build reputation.

We will optimise our footprint, and grow our diversity, by offering students a range of entry pathways into our courses, including through the University’s Aspire Program, articulation agreements and sub degree programs.

We will grow our portfolio of undergraduate, postgraduate double degrees and graduate certificates, according to industry requirements and student demand, to enhance our range of distinctive interdisciplinary offerings.

We will support our academics, across all campuses, to ensure teaching quality and contributions are best practice. We will partner with the University and industry to develop world-class, technology-enabled teaching innovations.

Our flexible approach will allow students, where possible, to engage in learning at a time and place of their choosing. Where appropriate, we will deliver purely online courses to reach new markets, geographically and demographically.

We will offer our students authentic, bespoke placement experiences – with opportunities to explore specific careers, roles and industries, both in Australia and abroad – to prepare them to become future business leaders.

We will collaborate with our industry partners to become a market leader in continuing professional development programs, with a focus on creating individual credentialed offerings that lead to higher academic awards.

We will welcome international students into our courses, supporting their journey to be globally employable graduates. Will we train them on-campus, online and in our international partnership university courses.

We will develop strategic partnerships with universities around the world to increase student intake and enhance reputation. We will develop staff exchange programs, offer joint or consortium courses, and build industry connections in key global markets.

We will optimise our facilities to offer students a technological and skills-based understanding of current and emerging innovations in business.

We will achieve sector-leading graduate employability by supplying highly skilled workforce entrants. We will continue to embed research pathways into our courses and support students to explore postgraduate research options.

We will engage regularly with our alumni to build lifelong connections and affiliations with the School, and collaborate on initiatives that support the next generation of business professionals.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goal to ensure quality of teaching when we achieve top 12 nationally in the Student Experience Survey for Teaching Quality and Overall Experience and have the majority of our courses ranked in the QS top 50 globally.

The La Trobe Business School is comprised of a strong team of outstanding researchers who work with industry, government and the community to conduct research that transforms business practice and drives social change.

We will advance business thinking and practice by focusing our efforts on social impact, underpinned by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We will collaborate with business and our strategic partners to provide leadership, and practical solutions, to the global challenges of our time.

We will build our core research capability and capacity, leveraging our strength through interdisciplinary collaborations that align with the University’s research themes, and School-level international collaborations that enhance our reach and reputation.

We will develop discipline-specific strategies, and engage with University-level initiatives, to support our academics to achieve competitive research funding.

Our prestigious research centres, the Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition and the Centre for Sport and Social Impact, will continue to play a strong role in our research success and impact.

Strategic partner relationships, primarily embedded in research centres, will be leveraged to fund or co-fund sponsored activities and positions, and provide opportunities for collaborative research, internships and employment.

We will seek collaboration or contributing membership with University-level research institutes.

We will build research capacity through our postgraduate research program, with a focus on industry engagement and employability. We will reinvigorate our postgraduate student experience to prepare our students to become the business leaders of the future.

We will create an outstanding research environment, where academics will have access to the world-class facilities and infrastructure needed to collaborate with industry and make transformative discoveries.

We will promote our research activities externally. Our research outcomes will have a positive impact on individuals and communities, with impact also measured through publications and research income.

Our contribution will align with La Trobe University’s research themes: Social change and equity; Healthy people, families and communities ; Resilient environments and communities ; and Sustainable food and agriculture.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goal to ensure high quality impactful research when we have increased our Excellence in Research for Australia ranking to 4 at the two-digit level across the Business School.