VUIC in Hume

In Hume, VUiC is working in partnership with Hume City Council to increase educational participation and attainment and contribute to community and economic development. The partnership aims to make tertiary education and training opportunities more accessible to Hume residents by responding to the needs of the community and workforce.

This partnership has several different areas of focus, including:

increased access to jobs, skills and education pathways for local people, particularly young people and migrant communities
VU's place-based research positively impacting community wellbeing
a sustainable Hume Multiversity, providing educational access and opportunity in local settings, such as the Hume Global Learning Centres.

Background

VU and Hume City Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in July 2020, which will see $2.7M injected into Hume City over five years.

As a result of this partnership, VU is a proud sponsor of the Hume Global Learning Centre in Sunbury, and an active member of the Hume Multiversity.

Since the launch of the partnership, VU has worked with Hume City Council on several exciting initiatives - take a look at them below.

VU-Hume partnership

Victoria University (VU) and Hume City Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in July 2020, which will see $2.7M injected into Hume City over five years.

Skills and Careers: Your Way program

The Skills and Careers: Your Way program was delivered in Hume to a cohort of women who were seeking to re-enter the workforce or change careers.

Participants met online each week to hear from inspiring local speakers, share stories, undertake short courses and plan their futures, and were supported to learn more about their strengths and take ownership of their career journey.

At the end of the six-week program, participants reported feeling more confident and knowledgeable about developing their career opportunities, and motivated to take the next steps in their journeys.

According to one participant, “the program is very helpful to us especially [as] it was designed for women attendees. It also [gave] us the chance to know that there is an organisation that [can] help us through with our career choices. The partnership of Hume and Victoria University is really good and I hope for more programs like this in Hume.”

Skills and Careers: Your Way in Hume

Designed to provide tailored support for marginalised groups in Melbourne’s west, the program prepares participants for working and training opportunities.

2021 Research Showcase

The Hume Research Showcase was presented as an online session during which researchers from a range of disciplines at VU shared their latest projects and findings with representatives from Hume City Council.

Researchers and audience members covered a range of topics including sustainable infrastructure, Aboriginal women's wellbeing, community asset mapping, and improving community connection through sport. As a result of the Research Showcase, VU’s Pathways in Place team have begun to undertake an important piece of work in Hume, creating a comprehensive mapping tool to capture the local employment support services. This tool, when complete, will assist the Hume Jobs and Skills Taskforce to better understand the range of services available to residents, and where additional supports may be required.

The Hume Pathways Festival

In August 2021, VUiC supported the delivery of the Hume Pathways Festival. Originally planned as an in-person event at the Sunbury Global Learning Centre, the festival was moved online at the last minute due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The Pathways Festival was designed to be an accessible event for school-leavers and other members of the local community to learn more about the range of career options, education providers, and support services that are available to them.

The event had 107 attendees across the 11 online sessions, which covered topics like automotive apprenticeships, careers in the police force, courses at VU, and employability skills such as writing effective key selection criteria.

Collaborate to Thrive project

Partnering with Hume City Council and Circular Economy Victoria, VU is contributing to Hume’s transition to a Circular City as a member of the Collaborate to Thrive project. This initiative is designed to support the community to learn, collaborate and take action at a local level.

A circular economy is one that protects the environment by reducing how much waste goes to landfill. This is achieved by communities sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible, and by larger organisations changing their manufacturing and procurement processes.

As part of the Collaborate to Thrive team, VU has presented at educational workshops in community settings, led activities that promote recycling and reusing at local events, and contributed to strategic conversations about how to effectively develop a circular economy.

Hume Early Childhood Education Upskill

As a growth-corridor with an increasing number of young families, Hume has great need for suitably qualified early childhood educators. VU is responding to this need by developing a specialised offering to ensure that the Hume community can access the qualifications they need to progress their careers in this rapidly growing sector.

Diploma-qualified educators working and living in Hume have been able to enter directly into the second year of their bachelor's degree and complete their studies in a combination of online evening classes and locally based monthly face-to-face classes. This model has allowed those who are currently working in the sector to continue with their employment and apply their learning in their workplaces.

This pilot was successful enough to be used as the model for an expansion into other LGAs – an undertaking which has gained significant government support.

Hume Multiversity Scholarships

As a member of the Hume Multiversity, VU distributes funds allocated by Hume City Council to Hume residents who are upskilling in areas of workforce need. Current recipients of the scholarships are studying a range of courses that will contribute to meeting workforce demands in Hume, including in disciplines such as Early Childhood Education, Community Services, and Building Design.

One student, studying Early Childhood Education, stated that “it was super exciting to have been awarded this scholarship, and it’s amazing to know that my local council supports my education and career aspirations. I’m enormously grateful for this scholarship and want to thank Hume City Council for awarding it to me”

VU looks forward to distributing another round of scholarship support provided by Hume City Council.

Hume Global Learning Centre

The Hume Global Learning Centre in Sunbury opened in early 2020, with VU’s contribution enhancing the functionality of the space with cutting edge technology. From this facility, the community can access:

library services
conference and meeting rooms
an art gallery
a business hub
training spaces.

The Skills and Jobs Centre are operating a monthly drop-in session from the Sunbury GLC, which supports Sunbury locals in their study and employment pathways planning and development of their employability skills.

Hume Global Learning Centre in Sunbury

An active, vibrant and welcoming community hub, and an inspiring place to meet, share, learn, create, collaborate and access information in an ever-changing digital world.

VUiC in Maribyrnong