Felicity Davis Rafferty

Vale Felicity Davis Rafferty

Felicity worked at Victoria University from 2018 until her passing in 2024. She was known as a wonderfully generous colleague and a fantastic connector of people from all over the world. Her leadership, energy and level of care for students were all legendary, and her contribution as Campus Director and Principal of VU Sydney was unmatched. 

Felicity first joined Victoria University in 2018 at a time when the VU Block Model was being implemented across our undergraduate courses. She excelled at translating the new approach for an international student environment, ensuring the model’s equivalence in different locations. At the same time, she continued to seek new ways to innovate at our interstate campuses.

During her time as Campus Director and Principal at VU Sydney, Felicity diversified our offerings in response to border closures, commenced a range of new courses, facilitated robust compliance and collaborated expertly with Melbourne colleagues to open VU Sydney to domestic students. She led a stunning turnaround during a time of great challenge – setting up a very strong foundation for the future. Felicity also played a crucial role during VU’s successful TEQSA reregistration process.

In addition, she was instrumental in the development and launch of VU Brisbane in 2022, growing our partnership with the Education Centre of Australia and expanding our remit for international students. VU Brisbane has had such a strong start, which simply would not have been possible without Felicity’s initiative and energetic wisdom.

In the role of Campus Director and Principal, Felicity focused on the joint responsibilities of both Victoria University and our partner institution, Education Centre of Australia (ECA). Felicity’s role was to ensure that VU Students in Sydney had an equivalent experience to those students who study in Melbourne.  With over 20 years of executive experience in Tertiary Education, Felicity maintained positions at the University of Western Sydney and Sydney Institute of Business and Technology in both management and academia. She held a Bachelor of Commerce (Industrial Relations) and a Master of Labour Law and Relations which complemented her comprehensive experience of the Tertiary Education System, with a focus in the International Education Market.