In a triumph of circumstance over planning, the only conference for Australia’s higher education thought leaders, marketers and strategists will take on new significance, examining the sector’s future narrative in the wake of yesterday’s caps decision.
HE FEST has attracted leading professional staff as well as academic leaders from both HE and VET, offering a unique opportunity to reconsider the nation’s tertiary narrative.
HE FEST is much more than a conference. Each speaker will be interviewed and open to q and a from the floor, and in recognition of the sector’s apparent need to improve its community standing (or ‘social licence’ as Education Minister Clare likes to call it) we are shaping an interactive workshop-style megasession called Pitch to Australia led by one of Australia’s leading creative minds, Rory McLean.
The session will begin with insights from literally Australia’s newest institutional marketing leader, Eric Knight, who will take the helm of Macquarie’s marketing and workforce strategy as DVC (People and Operations) within days of appearing at the conference. Eric has had remarkable success engaging the business community as Executive Dean of Macquarie Business School and brings an extraordinary breadth of knowledge to the table.
Straight after lunch, George Williams, the Vice-Chancellor of Western Sydney University has carved time out of his diary to beam into the conference and will expand on why he is leading the calls to rethink the way the sector presents itself to the community.
Maree Meredith, the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous from University of Canberra will also provide perspectives on what we can learn from best-practice Indigenous community engagement.
The session will culminate in a forum to co-create key elements of the ‘pitch to Australia’ – seeking to take steps forward in demonstrating relevance and value to the public.
We are seeking to craft a new way of meeting. A conference that allows networking, but also a level of engagement that draws energy and insight from the room.
Sounds all a bit hard? Too ambitious? Maybe, but now the sector needs ambition more than it has in a generation.
We aim to create the bones of something. It could be a brief, it could be some creative, it could be just a few killer points that could help the sector be seen and heard the way it wishes to be. But after the last couple of months, anything that takes us forward in being more highly valued by the community has got to be worthwhile don’t you think?
The new (hopefully almost final) program for HE FEST is out today. A limited number of tickets are still available.
