From the Vice-Chancellor October 2021

Dear Deakin community,

Firstly, my congratulations to the recipients of the 2021 Deakin University Alumni Awards, who have just been announced. You have inspired us, and reminded us about the great many things happening in our community and the role we play at Deakin in working towards a better future. The best measure of our success as a university is, and always will be, the quality and achievements of our alumni.

This is the tenth year of the Awards and is a major event that honours only the most outstanding contributions of our alumni. You can read more about their awards and achievements on the Alumni Awards webpage.

In further good news, the Victorian State Government has released its International Student Arrivals Plan, which outlines a staggered and safe return for international students from late 2021. This is a welcome announcement that declares Victoria and Australia are reopening to the rest of the world. We greatly look forward to seeing more of our international students on our campuses over the next few months. The plan continues to be updated, so bookmark our COVIDSafe page which has the latest information and explains what it means for our students and staff.

Our focus is on ensuring that life on campus returns as fully as possible from the beginning of next year; a fully vaccinated work and study environment is the safest way to make this a reality.

As I mentioned in my September message, we conducted an all-staff survey on attitudes to mandatory vaccinations for our community to attend our campuses, and the results clearly demonstrated that this was the preferred policy for the majority. It was also encouraging to see so many staff already vaccinated. We are preparing for Deakin to be a fully vaccinated work and study environment for all staff and students, which will align with the Victorian Government Roadmap and Australia’s National Plan. Our intention is that by 31 January 2022, all staff, students and visitors attending, working or studying on campus are required to be fully vaccinated (barring exemptions).

The road ahead will still have twists and turns, and through this we will always prioritise safety for those in our community; however, these are long-awaited changes that will enable a much greater range of opportunities and experiences in the new year.

I hope you enjoy this month’s edition of dKin Times, which features the latest developments in education, research and innovation. You’ll read about the soon-to-be-built Aquaculture and Feed Innovation Hub on our Waurn Ponds campus, our partnership with Samsung to launch a trial ‘Vital Monitoring System’ for a safe return to work, and so much more.

Best wishes,

Iain.