President and Vice-Chancellor's Message

Hard to believe that the end of the year is almost upon us, the year seems to have flown by. Your University has had much to celebrate in 2017. Deakin continues to perform well in the international rankings, at 213 in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) it is 11th in Australia and 3rd in Victoria. But most importantly, we continue to rank 1st in Victoria (5th in Australia) for graduate satisfaction (Graduate Outcomes Survey) and 3rd in Australia for the employability of our students (Times Higher Education). Earlier this month we learned that Deakin received the Governor of Victoria’s award for Education and Training for an unprecedented 4th consecutive year.

Deakin is on a strong trajectory and we believe our success has come by learning to work in partnership with industry, government and the professions to ensure our teaching programs and our research are relevant and responsive to fast changing global needs.  Deakin’s growing reputation comes in no small measure from our students and alumni, past and present.

For all of us at Deakin, and most particularly our first graduating class, next year will be extra special as we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of our first graduating class. For 40 years Deakin alumni have been making a strong economic and intellectual contribution to the communities Deakin serves. To celebrate we will be launching a new suite of alumni benefits so there will be even more reasons to stay connected to Deakin. We will be in touch soon!

For many of us the holidays and the festive season is a time for giving back, and so I ask you to consider contributing to Deakin’s Humanitarian Leadership Scholarship Fund Open Minds Open Possibilities.  Your gift large or small, will primarily support students from developing and disaster prone countries to access courses at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, a partnership between Deakin and Save the Children. The Centre is delivering education, innovation and research for the humanitarian sector and is changing the way the world responds to humanitarian crises.

I wish all our Deakin Alumni Community an enjoyable festive season and a safe and relaxing summer.  Thank you for choosing Deakin.  We look forward to keeping in touch with you in 2018.

Jane den Hollander AO
President and Vice-Chancellor