Innovative governance support system earns top ATEM award

Victoria University today received an excellence award at the 2022 Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) Awards.

VU’s new Council Professional Development Program and Knowledge Centre – a comprehensive self-service hub that empowers VU governance members to develop their skills and knowledge – took out ATEM’s Governance category.

The award recognises its excellence and effectiveness in helping VU committee members and board directors manage increasingly complex risk, policy and legal affairs in an ever-changing university operating environment.

Developed by VU’s Council and Committees’ Governance and Secretariat team, the project is believed to be a first for the Australian tertiary sector.

In light of the extraordinary challenges due to the pandemic, the program modernises VU’s governance support system as an efficient, customisable, and easily-accessible one-stop shop.

Its professional development side comprises a range of active learning opportunities with facilitated expert panel discussions, Q&A sessions and break-out groups on topics such as graduate employment, education policy, and employment in Melbourne’s West.

Knowledge hub adds value to members

The Knowledge Centre is an online collection of critical resource material, curated thought leadership, strategic internal communications, and governance and secretariat information.  

Overall, members have opportunities to deep-dive into current and strategic matters, which drives team productivity to address more strategic governance matters, and value-adds to members’ professional development.

Compliance Audit Risk Committee member Bronwyn Wellings called the project “world-class.”

“Board and committee members have ready access to a wide range of current, relevant and thought-provoking resources prepared by domain experts, which serves to deepen and inform their discussions and decision-making.”

“This is not the product of happenstance, but the result of a great deal of care and thought in planning, design and delivery.”

The annual ATEM Awards for Excellence recognise outstanding performance in disciplines essential to the professional management of tertiary education in Australasia.