From the Vice-Chancellor (Alumni Newsletter - March 2019)

Earlier this month the Chancellor and I travelled to India with other University staff to take part in a series of events celebrating Deakin’s 25 years of engagement in India. Deakin’s history with India dates from 1994 when Deakin became the first international university to open an office in India. Today there are 5220 students from India enrolled at Deakin and it’s our largest international student cohort. While our early focus was on student enrolments, Deakin’s relationship with India has evolved to include deep partnerships with some of India’s leading universities and corporations, conducting research of strategic benefit to both India and Australia.

The events held to celebrate this important milestone included an international conference on Building World Class Universities and workshops and seminars on diabetes research, advanced manufacturing, health promotion, sports governance and integrated reporting.

Closer to home there are a number of events coming up, including the Canberra alumni event on the perils of marketing on 27 March, the School of Architecture and Built Environment networking event on 30 May and a series of webinars covering a wide range of issues. From 11-26 May Deakin is a sponsor for the Queenscliffe Literary Festival, with an exciting program that celebrates the work of Australian writers and artists. Do you have Deakin friends who’ve moved and may have lost contact with us? Remind them to update their contact details so they can keep in touch with what is happening at Deakin.

The Alumni Office also welcomed Deakin’s new Chief Advancement Officer in March. Mr Jimmy Buck comes to Deakin from the University of Sydney where he was Director of Development.

Enjoy this month’s dKin Times – and wherever you are in the world, I do hope you’ll keep in touch with your University.

Jane den Hollander AO
President and Vice-Chancellor